Tales from the cloister - II
The novitiate that fell apart.
Once upon a time, there was a monastery with seven novices. They had a very nice young monk as their Father Master. It was an odd little group, and the Father had a difficult time keeping his little flock together. (It is just too bad I can’t tell the whole story right now.) Suffice it to say, each novice left one by one, until the Father Master couldn’t take it any more either, and then there was only one. Seven monks left the monastery, and only one novice remained in the community. Hence the statistic: only 1 in 8 men understand monastic life; as well as, only 1 in 8 persevere; and the other, 8 out of 9 men have an idealized view of monastic life. (The Father Master may have had the most idealized view of all.) I have other statistics as well, but the former novices are still alive.
The End.
Photo credit: Thanks to D.J. for the photos of the novice class at a little monastery in the middle of a very big country. Br. A. is not shown because he is taking the photo. Novices standing are: br. N. - the only one to persevere; br. D.J. - bearded in middle; br. B. at end with the tv glasses. Novices seated are: br. I - also wearing tv glasses and sitting much too close to; br. C. - the very handsome novice sitting completely sideways, facing fr. R. wearing the black scapular, and then br. L. who was the first to go. I cannot write more because as I mentioned in the story, most of these people are still alive and probably litigious.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:15 am
“N” looks like the level-headed one of the lot. No goofy grin.
July 11th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Yeah - he was the only normal one, and the only one to persevere. Good call.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Odd to call a novice “handsome,” but since he’s no longer a novice and is pretty hairy, I think there are women who like hairy men
Now I know why, when I mentioned that Christian is a huge family name in my Swiss branch, that you said you liked it! If my daughter had been a boy, she’d be Christian Clement. Although, now I do seem to remember you mentioned the name you had taken while a novice previously.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Did you take “Christian” as your name in the monastic life? That is my Confirmation name!!
I remember having to talk our priest into letting me take it, because he initially said, “pick something else, it has to be a Saint.” In my know-it-all, teenager logic, I told him, “well doesn’t that include ALL the Saints?” He finally agreed — just not wanting to argue, I suppose!
Oh me, I was such a lil rebel in those days (may God forgive me).
July 12th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Gette - the novice master wouldn’t let me take the name unless I could prove there was a saint by that name - and then I found a Cistercian Blessed Christian - so I got the name.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
oh, cool, Terry! I need to make a note of that…and find out more about this Blessed Christian fellow.
You make a great Saints Investigator (is there such a thing? there should be!).