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| Benedictine monks meet eight times a day for prayer - The Divine Office |
The motley crew from Morley College (Religious Orders Then and Now course) arrived at Eailing Abbey just
after lunch yesterday to learn about the life of Benedictine monks. We were met by Dom Andrew on the steps
outside. From the outside you would
never know that this was an Abbey, which is a parish too, but there is no board
with times of services as you would expect.
Around fifteen monks live in the Monastery and several serve as
Chaplains or on the Board of Governors at St Benedict’s School for children
aged 3-18 years (which is next door).
Inside, the Abbey looks very modern and is in fact
only around 150 years old. The stone is
light and there are few decorations, which seemed unusual for a Catholic
tradition, but in keeping with St Benedict’s simple way. The font was large and actually had water in
it! The nave is long and a feeling of
space prevails. The Abbey was hit by a
bomb in the Second World War so the space beyond the altar is new stone work
and the money for its repair was given to them by Germans!
Dom Andrew gave each of us a book of The Rule of St Benedict and explained a few of the Rules and how
the Abbey runs including the set times of day when all the monks meet for
prayer (eight times between 6am and 8pm).
Monks are no longer taken in as novices straight from school. They prefer them to be in their late twenties
or early thirties. They found that
taking young men often resulted in them leaving to go off and get married
whereas taking slightly older men they have had a chance to experience the
world and, as Dom Andrew put it, ‘get whatever is in the system out and done’! Dom Andrew answered all our questions
including, after he let slip that he was expelled from school, someone asking ‘what
for? I won't repeat what he said but we all had a good laugh! He admitted that when he first arrived at the Abbey he was told to ‘calm down’
because idle chatter and giggling is not encouraged! What a lovely man. See even monks are human. It made me laugh that while I was tutor was
explaining something to us, Dom Andrew’s mobile phone went off with some triumphal
sounding music. There was a wiry smile
as he slid away to answer it.
We had a look at where the relics are sealed into the
altar (relics are bones of martyrs) and where the monks sit when they meet for
Matins at 6am (some prayers are said in the Abbey and some in the Monastery).
Our visit ended with tea and biscuits in the school canteen. I found it a really helpful visit and our
tutor gave us a folder of printed sheets to take home and read (still going
through those). Back to the class room
next week.
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