The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-08-08

race.
from the Dubuque Herald.)
ana TINS our life, exempt from public
lhds tongues in trees, books in the
running brook
sermons oi in stones and good in every
SO you find the monastery a Mace
u real rest?" was the question to
N1aSor Schunk over the telephone
II Is the most perfect resort for the
sort OF relaxation 1 sought that can be
imagined"
DO you follow the monastic rules as
dpPIled to priests and brothers of the
Not altogether. You know. all arise
at : a: m. and until devotions are
neld. From to 6 there is mass. In
CIeSe proceedings 1 usually took part
always attended mass. At s the plain
!are OF breakfast has been served and
Immediately all repair to the work.
mere are no drones, there are no ia
NoIltes, none in good health is ex-
eLhpt. Even the aged abbot as well as
me priests and brothers have the/
tasks IN the field, among the stock or
among the necessary duties in the
buildings. Work is knocked off at II.
"hen dinner is served and no further
activity is required until 3 Most OF
the monks sleep during the heat of the
DAY. Two o'clock finds them again at
thelr tasks. AT 7:30 vesper services
are attended and all lights are out at 8.
followed this routine in the main !
diu not get up always at 2 a, M, nor
ala L do any of the heavy labor, but !.
did find the hours conducive to mental
repose. L found myself ready for bed
ana my stomach for my meals. My fare
was not as plain as that served the
| monks, nor my bed as hard, but it
would have made no difference Ma
ture under the changed conditions
would have made the coarsest food 8
| delicacy and the hardest bed an ideal
couch"
Mayor Henry A. Schunk of Dubuque
is not the first among our citizens to
seek and find haven of refuge for the
times being in the Trappist monastery.
1t is likely, however, that few of the
nancy from the Key City who have
visited the home of the monks in
quest of recreation have been in the
mental attitude to appreciate the
truths that are breathed from the soil
as thoroughly as has the mayor. He
went to the monastery in quest of
surcease of the petty annoyances, the
sham and hypocrisy that enters into
the daily routine of his official life |
For the time being he hopes to forget
the chickering's OF humanity and he de-
clared over the telephone that he is
finding solace at the monastery this
year as he has in the past
This is not themayor's first visit to |
the home of the Trappists. 1t has long
been place of refuge and perfect rest |
for the tired and worn city denizen.
Dubuque is the postal and city of |
transit to the monastery.
SERENITY EVERYWHERE.
Serenity is everywhere. Not essen
TALLY solitude, but peace is the pre-
dominant note throughout the twen-
ty-five hundred acres that make UP the |
landed property of the monks. There
is woodland, there are broad acres of
meadow and pasture. Hundreds of
acres are under cultivation in corn
oats, potatoes. The wind soughing
through the pines breathes a requiem
and darkness falls from the sable
wing of night" like benediction. The
place exhales a religious spirit.
The grounds of the monastery, the
communion with the monks furnishes
a real rest cure. 1t is not a place
where a man would care to spend a
month with business associates. 1t is
not a place where a man would care
to take his family for an outing. It is
1 d
sway in all her solemn grandeur and
where the frivolities of life are as dis
tant as are the poles from each other
OF the score Of business men from
Dubuquewho go, it is seldom they
mention the fact. Men go to COM
mune with themselves, to philosophize
through the inspiration of nature.
There are hundreds of picturesque
spots about the grounds. There are
bubblng springs, grass fringed brooks,
the splendid pines and oaks, fields of
in the country and the whole is
marked by a simplicity that is re-
freshing to the man of affairs The
buildings are substantial, but plain to
severity in their architecture.
The life of the Trappists in the or
der of New Mellary is truly the simple
one lived in absolute forgetfulness of
the world and the things pertaining
thereto. Rising at 2 o'clock in the
beauty of the open fields, and there
many men of Dubuque burdened with
the strain of the business life, have |
gone for rest and isolation. II
INSTITUTED IN '40S.
The Trappists of New Mellary |
rounded here in the early '40s has now
under cultivation in the neighborhood
OF Z,5DU acres OF lana, rO!llnS prairie =
with a wonderful yield. great orchards
from which they distribute wagon
loads of fruit each year to the public
Of Dubuque, and a pine
walk noted the country over for its
beauty. Down this long walk hundreds
have wandered seeking strength in the
sweet pine filled air. And here in the
ong twilight hours after the days ,
work is completed the Trappists walk.
mediate and pray their beads seeking
the quiet of the spiritual life with its .
consultations apart from the world
The Trappists were founded in 1140 I
BY Botrou, count of Perche, at Solig-
1y-a-Trappe, a village of Maui Per-
The. Notwithstanding the strictness of
he order the monasteries have grown
and spread, there being but two houses
If the order in the United States, one
n Kentucky and one at New Mellary,
outside of Dubuque. Another house of
he order is about to be founded in
Oregon. it is alleged, a number of the
members of the order coming from
france as exiles under the recent de-
rec, to begin the monastic life over I