You know how smells can influence you? Well, getting off the bus today when coming back from choir there was an aroma of fried onions in the air. Immediately I wanted a veggie sausage, fried onion, baked beans and mash! So I went home and cooked it for lunch! Sorry, getting off the subject.
Well yesterday was our final visit to a Religious Order. This time it was the Carmelite Nuns who live in Notting Hill. It was a beautiful blue sky day and warm and I would have preferred to be outside but I dragged myself away from the lure of the sun to meet my class mates.
The Carmelite nuns are an enclosed community which means they only go out to visit the dentist and doctor, though novices get together once a year with other novices and they do have special occasions when communities do get together - the next big one is a celebration for a centenary of St Teresa of Avila. St Teresa reformed the Carmelites (going back to their roots) and is a big inspiration for the Order, as is St John of the Cross. Their Rule comes from Albert of Vercelli, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Carmelites do have orders that are not enclosed but this one is. Before we went I had watched the DVD No Greater Love which had been filmed inside the walls. The person who filmed there had asked years before if he could do this but it took ten years before they agreed but then he was allowed complete access. It is a marvelous film and without watching it first being there would have been much harder.
When we arrived we were shown into a room where relatives visit. At the end were wooden doors and in front an iron grille. Beneath was a drawer where items are passed through. The room was cold and the sun didn't find its way in here. The Sister arrived and opened the doors and then the grille (we were warned she may speak through the grille). Then she sat down and spoke to us about the history of the Order and about their typical day - silence except for two periods of recreation and meeting for prayers at set times. They eat in complete silence while someone reads a passage from the Bible or some other religious writings. They grow what they can (when I was watching the DVD a sister was ordering their provision online from Tesco, I think it was!). There is one sister who is not completely enclosed and she deals with deliveries, the post, opening the door etc., and makes sure the Sisters are able to carry on without the outside world intruding. They do have a newspaper but no TV. However they do have the computer and sometimes, like for when the Pope came to England, they watched it on the computer.
It was very disconcerting sitting in one room and the Sister in another. It reminded me of prison, the not being able to touch and meet properly. I felt rather uncomfortable at first. But the Sister answered all our questions honestly and seemed very calm and happy in her life, though she admitted that everyone (including herself) has had moments of wondering whether God existed and whether this was a waste of a life.
The Sisters do no outside work but they do make a few items which they sell (see their website). They are self-supporting and make communion wafers which are sold to churches. All the Sisters take part in this. Often when new people join the Order they make donations, or their families do. The youngest living there is in her 20's. The oldest died fairly recently aged 98. They are buried in a special area in the garden. Sisters can only visit family for special reasons, say a death, though they did have a case where a Sister had to leave because her mother had no one to look after her so she left but may come back. It takes about six years until final vows are taken up until which time that person can leave, or they can be asked to leave if the Sisters feel she is struggling and not suitable for that kind of life. It does take a special person for that silent life where much of the day is spent praying, studying and meditating.
Our tutor had bought a book for the nuns (Sister Wendy Becket on art) and we all signed it. Our tutor had given each Order a gift of book when we visited which was a lovely gesture.
I have to say it was nice to be outside again. There was a feeling of claustrophobia about the place but I know from the DVD that it is spacious inside. I think it was just that room. It was a pity we couldn't see the Chapel but it is only open for services.
Because it was such a nice day I got off one stop early on my way back to central London so that I could walk over Westminster Bridge and along to the South Bank and sit in the sun for a while before I went back to Morley College for my second class (about the Pre-Raphaelite painters). I had time for a meal in their refectory. This is something I always look forward to on a Tuesday because I get a lovely veggie main meal for £3.65! Last night it was Vegetable Lasagna with garlic bread. Yum!
Next week is the last class in Religious Orders Then and Now and will be classroom base. We will look at other Orders in London that our tutor considers important and who we were unable to visit (no time!).
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| Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini |
The Carmelite nuns are an enclosed community which means they only go out to visit the dentist and doctor, though novices get together once a year with other novices and they do have special occasions when communities do get together - the next big one is a celebration for a centenary of St Teresa of Avila. St Teresa reformed the Carmelites (going back to their roots) and is a big inspiration for the Order, as is St John of the Cross. Their Rule comes from Albert of Vercelli, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Carmelites do have orders that are not enclosed but this one is. Before we went I had watched the DVD No Greater Love which had been filmed inside the walls. The person who filmed there had asked years before if he could do this but it took ten years before they agreed but then he was allowed complete access. It is a marvelous film and without watching it first being there would have been much harder.
When we arrived we were shown into a room where relatives visit. At the end were wooden doors and in front an iron grille. Beneath was a drawer where items are passed through. The room was cold and the sun didn't find its way in here. The Sister arrived and opened the doors and then the grille (we were warned she may speak through the grille). Then she sat down and spoke to us about the history of the Order and about their typical day - silence except for two periods of recreation and meeting for prayers at set times. They eat in complete silence while someone reads a passage from the Bible or some other religious writings. They grow what they can (when I was watching the DVD a sister was ordering their provision online from Tesco, I think it was!). There is one sister who is not completely enclosed and she deals with deliveries, the post, opening the door etc., and makes sure the Sisters are able to carry on without the outside world intruding. They do have a newspaper but no TV. However they do have the computer and sometimes, like for when the Pope came to England, they watched it on the computer.
It was very disconcerting sitting in one room and the Sister in another. It reminded me of prison, the not being able to touch and meet properly. I felt rather uncomfortable at first. But the Sister answered all our questions honestly and seemed very calm and happy in her life, though she admitted that everyone (including herself) has had moments of wondering whether God existed and whether this was a waste of a life.
The Sisters do no outside work but they do make a few items which they sell (see their website). They are self-supporting and make communion wafers which are sold to churches. All the Sisters take part in this. Often when new people join the Order they make donations, or their families do. The youngest living there is in her 20's. The oldest died fairly recently aged 98. They are buried in a special area in the garden. Sisters can only visit family for special reasons, say a death, though they did have a case where a Sister had to leave because her mother had no one to look after her so she left but may come back. It takes about six years until final vows are taken up until which time that person can leave, or they can be asked to leave if the Sisters feel she is struggling and not suitable for that kind of life. It does take a special person for that silent life where much of the day is spent praying, studying and meditating.
Our tutor had bought a book for the nuns (Sister Wendy Becket on art) and we all signed it. Our tutor had given each Order a gift of book when we visited which was a lovely gesture.
I have to say it was nice to be outside again. There was a feeling of claustrophobia about the place but I know from the DVD that it is spacious inside. I think it was just that room. It was a pity we couldn't see the Chapel but it is only open for services.
Because it was such a nice day I got off one stop early on my way back to central London so that I could walk over Westminster Bridge and along to the South Bank and sit in the sun for a while before I went back to Morley College for my second class (about the Pre-Raphaelite painters). I had time for a meal in their refectory. This is something I always look forward to on a Tuesday because I get a lovely veggie main meal for £3.65! Last night it was Vegetable Lasagna with garlic bread. Yum!
Next week is the last class in Religious Orders Then and Now and will be classroom base. We will look at other Orders in London that our tutor considers important and who we were unable to visit (no time!).
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