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Traditional
Religious Orders
The
Benedictines of Bellaigue
Over
a thousand years of history are now in the hands of the Benedictines
of Tradition:
At the end of the Roman Empire’s persecutions, as the world was being converted to Christianity, the grace of martyrdom was given more and more seldom. The souls eager to imitate Jesus Christ found a substitute to martyrdom consisting in offering themselves through prayer and sacrifice. St Anthony one day at church heard the following words of the Gospel: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me (Mt 19:21). So Anthony sold and distributed all his belongings and then retired to the desert. After him thousands of men followed his example, in quest of God. The word “monk” originates from the Greek word monoi meaning “alone”: the monk is alone with God. He continually speaks with Him in his heart, staying well away form happenings in the outside world. But this life of solitude cannot be independent nor separated from the Church. One does not simply “turn out to be” a monk. He who looks for God needs to place himself under the guidance of a spiritual Father: Listen, my son, to the instructions of the master with your heart; accept the counsels of a true father and follow them with application. Thus you will return through the work of obedience to him whom you have left through idleness and disobedience.
The monastery is a school where one learns to serve Our Lord under
the guidance of the Abbot, who represents Christ. The objective of
the monastery is simply to form Christians. It has no other ambition.
It can undertake charitable, educational or even civilisational works
(one would today say cultural), but these are not its target. It essentially
is a school of Christian life, a little church within the larger Catholic
Church, symbolised and in some way summarised by the monastery’s
church. The Benedictine day
After Matins, awaiting dawn, the monk spends some time reading the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Reading is extremely important and occupies a large portion of his schedule. The monk is not in quest of worldly knowledge but rather substance for his spiritual life and his daily contemplation. Thou brightness
of the Father’s ray, true Light of Light and Day of Day, Light’s
fountain and eternal spring, Thou morn, the morn illumining…
(Monday Lauds) The rising sun is the symbol of Christ. In harmony
with nature, the monk praises the Lord Creator at daybreak. Lauds
is followed by low Masses said by the priests, while the other monks
pray in silence. There is nothing extraordinary in the monk’s life. It simply consists in doing one’s daily duty. The monastery should not be dependant on anyone and each monk should through his own work contribute to the common well-being in the measure of his capacity. Thus Prime is followed by work. The morning is mainly occupied by studies. Novices learn Latin and Liturgy. The priests and those who are to become priests study Philosophy, Theology and other Sacred Sciences. The lay brothers take care of the housekeeping and other similar tasks. All activities stop at 10 a.m. It is now time for Terce; this is the hour of the Holy Ghost’s mission on the Apostles and the new born Church (cf. Acts 2) Terce is followed by the Conventual Mass, usually sung and celebrated as solemnly as possible – also depending on the importance of the different liturgical feasts. After Sext the monks have lunch in common. A meal is never a secular action. Preceded and followed by sung prayers, it is almost a liturgical ceremony. One never speaks during meals; a monk is appointed every week to read out loud for the others. Generally the reading concerns the Fathers, Saints’ lives or history of the Church. Note that monks speak only very rarely, and this during breaks or in case of necessity: When he speaks, a monk speaks calmly and without laughing, humbly and seriously, with few and reasonable words, and never too loudly, as it is written the wise man can be recognised at the scarcity of his words. The afternoon
is usually occupied by manual work. A monastery should be self-sufficient.
As says St Paul: He who does not work, should not eat. As far as possible
one should find in the monastery all different trades. Everyone works
according to his capacity, manual or intellectual, certainly never
according to his own wishes, but under the guidance of those superiors
chosen by the Abbot. Work is done in silence. This way the monk can
fulfil the precept commanding to pray at all times. After the evening meal the evening chapter takes place. This is similar to a family gathering where information is given or where one shares various thoughts. Then one reads an extract of the Fathers. To Thee before the close of day, Creator of the world we pray, That with thy wonted favor, Thou wouldst be our Guard and Keeper now. Compline ends the monk’s day. Compline is the same every day, and is sung by heart in the darkness. They end with Our Lady’s anthem. The monks may now have their rest or they still can read or pray a little. It is 8 p.m. What on earth are monks good for?
One is condemned not to understand the first thing about the life of monks, if in the first place one does not admit that man was created by God for eternal life, this life consisting in the contemplation and love of the Holy Trinity. It is in order to save man from wretchedness and to guide him to heaven that the Word was made flesh and that He founded His Church. The whole life of the Church on earth is directed towards eternity. On pilgrimage here below the Church is now patiently awaiting the day when “Justice be turned into judgment” (Ps 93) and when thanks to her sanctity she will obtain by the final victory and in perfect peace, the stability of the eternal dwelling place. (St Augustine, The City of God, Prologue) During the earthly pilgrimage the Catholic ideal is in a variety of ways mixed with, or even compromised by the conditions of life in this world. But all these things one and the same Ghost worketh, dividing to everyone according as he will (I Cor 12,11) The power of Salvation and the upward growth of the Church towards eternity require that some of her members live this ideal in its fullness, in all purity and simplicity. The word “monk” comes from the Greek word monoi meaning one, simple. The monks become more simple and more united within themselves. They practice the religion, this means the service of God, in a pure way, and their life, far from being divided, remains perfectly one: they unite their entire being by means of holy recollection, which excludes all distraction in order to tend towards the unity of an existence similar to God and towards the perfection of divine love. (Denys the Areopagite, The ecclesiastical hierarchy, c.6). The monk’s existence is necessary in order that the Church may continue to tend towards eternal life and to lead mankind there. Its members are dependant one upon another as explains St Paul: You are the body of Christ and members of member. (I Cor 12,27). The monks are not only “useful” to obtain graces through their prayers and sacrifices. They are both the exterior example and the immanent strength of Christian life. It is from the monks that the Church, as a whole, and each Christian in particular, receive the impulse that guides them towards eternity. The monastery as a consequence is a school of the service of God, a place of divine peace and restoration of souls; it distributes the divine light to the whole Church. All one could add concerning the usefulness of monks in terms of apostolate, liturgical arts, social and civilisational works in general, is absolutely true and justified, but is beside the essential.
We have chosen Bellaigue first of all because of the site. Since its first foundation nearly 1,050 years ago, Bellaigue has known nearly 850 years of monastic life within its walls. This seems to be solid proof that the surroundings are favorable to the life of a monk. Our monastic life consists in the perfect balance between a life of prayer and manual labour. The beauty of the abbatial church and its very silent and peaceful location is very conducive to the contemplative life. The thought that several hundred or maybe a thousand or more monks have sanctified these grounds with the hidden sacrifice of their life is a great encouragement for us to try and persevere in our monastic life, following their example. As for our life of labour, the ground is fertile and we have access to a spring that has never been known to dry up. Is it the spring of “beautiful water”, for which the monastery was named in 957? With the purchase of the abbey, we were able to purchase a small farm which surrounds the ancient construction, thus ensuring a life of agricultural labor. Our choice also was determined because of the quality of the buildings. The four granite walls of the church, the 14 columns and all of the interior arches remain intact from the 12th century. The vaulted ceiling was restored in 1987. All restoration was done under the strict supervision of the French Historical Monuments, which assures us of the highest quality craftsmanship. There is still much work to be done to completely restore the abbatial church: the stone floor, 2/3 of the roof-tile, the sanctuary, some plaster work, etc... have yet to be finished, but the most difffcult and important part of the restoration has been completed. The conventual buildings, built 300 years ago, were also perfectly restored in 1987. The black slate “ardoise” roof was completely replaced in the early 1990’s. The interior and exterior stucco is all new. The windows and doors have all been replaced. There is some work to be done to complete the attic floor in order to possibly install some extra cells for future vocations, which are already asking for admission. We have also asked advice from His Lordship Bishop Fellay who encouraged us to purchase the abbey. Since the bridegroom of this foundation is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, we have placed all our confidence in Him. May His will be perfectly accomplished in order to re-establish, upon the ruins of this beautiful and ancient abbey, the true monastic life according to the Order of St Benedict with its fifteen centuries of Tradition.
Dom Ange O.S.B. Please send donations to: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Bellaigue, 63330 Virlet, France.
Where
joy still reigns
If the future looks sombre, if you are wondering whether it is worth it to bring up children in a world that is falling apart, if you get depressed every morning reading the news about drugs, crime and immorality ... then let me say to you that there are places in this world where true joy exists, where interior happiness overwhelms souls, where hearts are still full of holy enthusiasm. These are places where God is loved as He deserves to be loved. These places are the traditional Benedictine Monasteries. When one happens to visit them, one cannot avoid being struck by the happy cheerful faces of those good monks. A spiritual author has said, “Sadness is produced by looking at ourselves, joy by looking at God.” Yes, when we contemplate God, His goodness and beauty, when we live united with Him, then we feel inside our soul this “sweet consolation” spoken of in the Imitation of Christ. When, in the silence of the cloister, we creatures give ourselves to our Creator to love and praise Him, God - Who is never outdone in generosity - gives Himself to our heart. These monasteries are the great hope of our Western civilisation because in our times:
“A contemplative monk”, writes a Carthusian author, “seems to exhale something that by its fragrance reminds men of God. He is as sweet incense, emitting the good odour of God [cf 2 Cor. III, 15]. Wherever holy souls, exhaling this fragrance, are placed, even in the chilly atmosphere of a population that has lost the faith, strayed from God, and sunk in wickedness, the light of truth and the beauty of virtue are quickly imparted to those around, they run to and fro like sparks among the reeds [Sap. III,7]. Would to God that
monasteries were more numerous and filled with more fervent religious!
They would be centres of fervour, deriving their heat from the liturgical
prayer, and spreading around them their holy influence! Would to God
that devoted hearts knew, understood and realised what they might
accomplish!
“A monk regards his Office as the centre of his occupations; he comes to it by day and by night. When he interrupts it in order to apply himself to the penitential labour which forms the second part of his vocation, or to renew his strength as stern necessity requires, he comes back as soon as he is able to the Office, his great work in God’s service. Seven or eight times each day he offers God the homage due to Him [Ps CXVIII, 164]; he feels the duty of perpetual intercession has been laid upon him, and he makes it a point of honour not to cast aside the burden imposed upon him by his vocation. For long hours these doves of the sanctuary will make plaintive song before the tabernacle, expressing to God the desires of men, and to men the wishes of God. If now and then the words chanted catch your ear, you well realise how they give utterance both to God’s majesty and man’s misery, and you will understand why true monks are large-hearted men. As the chant proceeds slowly, a particle of what is Divine penetrates the soul, and the cry of humanity rises to the ear of God, and a wonderful force of elevation and intercession is revealed. No Divine secret, no human interest is unknown to the monk, though he may seem debarred from both. He can enter into them, and lays before God the interests of this world, bringing back to man the secrets of God. He stands thus between God and man, known always to God, though often unknown to man, and his heart is large enough to contain the miseries of humanity that it is his task to lay before God, and the mercies of God that he has to convey to the world. He knows that though the miseries of men are boundless, the mercies of God are still more infinite, and his vocation requires of him to be the channel of communication between these two vast oceans.” A Carthusian monk writing of the Benedictine vocation
Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in the U.S.A.
“...St Benedict found the world, physical and social, in ruins, and his mission was to restore it in the way, not of science, but of nature, not as if setting about to do it, not professing to do it by any set time or any rare specific, or series of strokes, but so quietly, patiently, gradually, that often, till the work was done, it was not known to be doing. It was a restoration rather than a visitation, correction or conversion. The new world which he helped to create was a growth rather than a structure. Silent men were observed about the country, or discovered in the forest, digging, clearing, and building; and other silent men, not seen, were sitting in the cold cloister, tiring their eyes, and keeping their attention on the stretch, while they painfully deciphered and copied and recopied the manuscripts which they had saved. “To the monk heaven was next door; he formed no plans, he had no cares; the ravens of his father Benedict were ever at his side. He ‘went forth’ in his youth ‘to his work and his labour’ until the evening of his life; if he lived a day longer, he did a day’s more work; whether he lived many days or few, he laboured till the end of them. He had no wish to see further in advance of his journey than where he was to make his next stage. He ploughed and sowed, he prayed, he meditated, he studied, he wrote, he taught, then he died and went to heaven.” John Henry, Cardinal Newman - Historical Sketches
The Monastery of the Holy Cross in Brazil
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