The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-10-15

l ShCSh wei ptdSCu OII llIC lolSuC.
| shifted to new tack.
The rule of your order is the most
severe of any of the orders of the
| Church, isn't it?"
Oh said he, with little shrug, %
| guess perhaps it is
! See No Hardship in Life.
| l questioned again and again
wanted him to tell me how hard a
life the Trappist monks live. But
right here l learned-and I afterwards
| found that all are alike in this-that
| these Trappists see no hardship in
their life. To them it is the ideal way
! of living. Their house is house OF
| happiness and absolute contentment
| not the place of repression and gloom
that had imagined it.
But you have to get up at in the
morning" l said.
"Oh, we get plenty of Sleep" said
he. cit is a little hard at first, but
we soon get used to it,
One time. it is told, a Passionist re
marked upon the seventies of the
Trappist rule.
why, your life is harder than ours,
replied the Trappist. 1--WE get no sleep
after in the morning, true enough
but we get our seven hours sleep
day. But you have to get up at IL
and go to bed again at l. Your nights
sleep is broken. Ours is not
AS matter of fact, in the summer
months the Trappists do not have sew.
en- hours of continuous sleep They
are limited to six hours at night, with
an hour at noon.
Here is the program of activities at
a Trappist monastery in the summer
time:
2 A. NJ, rise; 2:05, Office of the
Blessed Virgin Mary; 23O, medita
ton; 3, beginning of the canonical of.
fee, followed by the Angelus and the
saying of private Masses; $50, con.
tinuation of the office; $3.50, explana.
ton of the rules by the Prior, arrang-
ing of couches in the common dormi-
tory, morning repast of bread and tea,
and brief interval; Z, continuation of
/ the office; I:lJ, community high Mass
7:45, begin work; 10:15, work ends
and monks prepare to go to chapel;
10:47, continuation of office, followed
| by examination of conscience for 5
| minutes; II, dinner; 11:30, Angelus
1l:45, noon sieSta or meridian; | P.
NJ, end of meridian; 1:05, continue
| ton of office; 1:20, brief interval; 1:45
| work begins; 4:30, end of work with
| brief interval; $40, vespers and med
itation: 6, supper and interval; 7:10
conclusion of Office, the Salve, and ex
animation of conscience; o'clock, tc
bed.
In the winter months, the MONDAY
rest is done away with, and all retire
at Z in the evening. With certain mi
nor variations, owing to local condi
| tions, this is the schedule followed al
Trappist monasteries all over the
world.
A Modified Rule.
| Up to fairly recent years, the Trap
pist rule provided for rigorous ant
| long fasts. In Lent, for example, NJ
| food was taken until o'clock in the
afternoon. But Pope Leo XIII modi
fed the rule, SO that today, even il
Lent, three meals day are served.
But meals at Trappist monaster,
are not very elaborate affairs. The
b: eakfast is of dry bread and tea
ard at the other meals neither meat
| fic h
p, sts are rigid vegetarians. Shoul.
ore of the community become serious
ly i'll, however, all rules of diet ar
set aside, and he is allowed anythin,
| that the physician may order
Yet the food is good, and plentiful
and all the community seem to thriv,
on it. Since the monastery was found
ed more than 20 years ago, there hav
been only five deaths in a communit,
of about 80 members.
The refectory, where all meals ar
: eaten, is fitted with rude wooden ta
bles and benches, the work of tn
monks. In fact, practically everything
at the Priory, including the building il
self, has been made by the monks.
At each place at table is a meta
plate, dish, a cup, wooden spoon an
knife and fork. When the meal i
ended these are washed at the tabl
by the monk who uses them, and ar
then arranged for the next meal.
Prayer and work make up the lif
of Trappist, be he priest or brothel
The world over, Trappists are farm
ers. From the products of thei
fields comes their sole support. An
everywhere, as did the monks of oil
: they show the way to their neighbour
!, Splendid Results on Farm.
Today. at the Priory of Our Lad
of the Valley, more than half of th
! 400 acres of land have been brougl
under cultivation. Then there are ric
pasture lands, where the herd of re-
: istered thoroughbred Holstein mile
cows Craze. And other acres are gi
en- over to the poultry yards, whel
more than 5000 birds are being ia
I tened for the Thanksgiving and Chris
mas trade
Whatever these Trappist farmers d
! they do we'll There is no finer hel
of cows in all New England than th;
I in the great barns on the edge of IL
meadowland below the Priory Gov
giving less than 20 quarts of milk
> day are Immediately eliminated fro
J, the herd. Many of them give
:. u1,artc T,ba ,,a;lly ;C hnftInd ~ q ,,,rs