Just when we think we have it all
figured out, they threw us a curve.
Take monasteries for instance.
We have visited the ruins of Cluniac and Cistercian abbeys and priories
and know the difference between them.
We have learned about the daily life of the monks, their various duties
and their prayer schedule. We have
seen the refractories where they ate, the quires where they prayed and their
chapter houses and parlours, the only places they were allowed to speak. And we have marveled at cathedrals like
Whitby Abbey, which were categorically “suppressed” under order of Henry VIII.
The Carthusian monks, we learned
today at Mount Grace Priory, were a different animal altogether. Like the Cistercians before them, the
Carthusian order wanted a return to the strict rules set down by St.
Benedict. But they carried it to
extremes, at least on the surface. Carthusian monks did not speak. Ever. Not even in the parlour. They did not sleep in dormitories, but in their own
individual cells. They didn’t eat
in the refractory; instead their meals were served in their cells, too. They spent their entire waking day –
and they were long days – either working or praying. Sounds gruesome and tedious, doesn’t it.
But their “cells” were spacious
four-room houses; living room, bedroom, study and a loft for their special
skills, like weaving or pottery making.
Each monk had a large garden, running water and the most modern plumbing
of the time. They spent a lot of
time on their knees, either in the garden or in prayer, but all in all, it
wasn’t a bad life.
