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THE MKNSKXUKlt.Publish**! Evi'ij .Saturday.BYEASTIN BIENVENU.Editor* ami f*ru|*rilt;*Tors. ry_ $1 '*• a year in advanc**.THE TRAPPISTS.A Gloomy Place Where a Woman Never Enters.Cor. Louisville (Ky.) Post.“Wall, you gist take that air road and k»*ep straight ah*»ad. ami if you don't git stuck in h*» mini, you'll git there afore night said a countryman to me at the depot. And, 1 must ay. I found the road much tetter than I expected. On nearing the abbey one’s eye. are greeted oy a large and handsome brick edifice, four stories high, with a cloud-reachiug spire vineyards, gardens and an avenue of stalely English elms. I soon reach the ••porter's lodge, pud, in answer to my ring. Brother Tom came and invited me to the silting room, saying he would inform the guest master of my arrival, lie was dressed, as all the brothers of the order are in a brown jeans cassock and cowl, with a scapular over his shoulder down to the waist, which was encircled by a leather belt, from which was suspended a hunch of keys and a rosary.On the wall was a painting of St. Mary Magdalen in the attitude of serious de- j votion. with all the lines of sorrow, trust humiliation and repentance depicted upon her sad but beautiful face. The pallid and sunken cheeks, the lustrous eyes with tears, aud tlu* hands clasped in agony and grief, are so truly represented on the canvass that it is almost painful to behold. It was by one of the “old Masters. Brother Tom had now returned with Father Joseph, who was introduced and then retired. This venerable monk wore a white woolen cassock and cowl, with a Idack scapular, made in the same style as the brothers, which is the dress of all the fathers of the order. He received me kindly, aud bade me welcome at i he home of the Trappists. I explained to him my mission, to which he replied: The monk does not care for the idle fancy of newspaper notoriety. If you have come simply to write about us, you may go away now; but if you have come to visit us. we are glad to see you and will do all in our poor way to entertain you.1 told him to consider me a visitor, aud lie told me to follow him.“Over this rock no woman can enter,” said lie, when we were in the court—tne Porter I/nlge. This informs the front of the court, aud 230 feet long, twelve feet wide, and fifteen feet high. It Is divided into different rooms for the guests of the abbey. The court is tastefully laid out with trees, shrubs and flowers. To your left is an apartment for pet rabbits, and they have quite a number, in a variety of colors. In the center of the court is a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin, mounted on a pedestal surrounded by rosebushes and other flowers. Id a niche, in the fourth story of the main building, is a statue of St. Joseph and the iufaut Jesus.I was next escorted into the waiting-room when the holy father left me, saying he would return when I had finished ! my supper. T e room is plainly fu -nisht'd. with a long table, on which ; were chess, dominoes and other games.A brother entered, and inquired what I would have for my supper. I asked him if it was not difficult for him to fast and, at the same time, he surrouuded by eatables. He said he would tell me something if 1 would not tell it to theother brothers. “Very often”, said he. “I don't eat anything for two or three days during Lent. Two years ago, I did not eat bnt one meal on every third day, and during Lent last year, only ate one meal the fourth day.” “And will you try next Lent to eat only once In five days?” I asked. But he replied that the abbot had forbidden him trying to fast even thr**e d.»ys out of four. The monk then said he must go. and walked out, little dreaming that what he had said would be read by the readers of The Post. He soon returned, and invited me out to supper, which was a plain, good substantial meal. When I ate u young brother read from an j old volume of the Catholic World. 1 recognized him us Juuiv'9 Keene, a Philadelphia'silversmith I had traveled with a about three years ago; but as neither of us were permitted to speak, of course! the acquaintance was not renewed, j When 1 returned to the waiting room, I found Father Joseph waiting for me. He had on a white circular cloik, with a cowl. He conducted me to a room, bear - ; iug the uame of St. John’s, and with a graceful bow, said “good-night, and tot-terred off to the infirmary. It was with j ' the deepest regret I noticed that he was failing fast, and 1 fear that to soon that voice will be something of the past He is Corredia Collier a renowned opera singer, and had made that same polished bow before the footlights of the leading Europeau and American theaters.He is also a music compoier of a high order, and it was he who taught Nellie (hunt, Minnie Sherman and many others of America’s leading belles music before he became a Trappist. He once had a ; j wife, two daughters and a son. His wife died, and was soon followed by her two daughters bis son is now a clerk in the Patent-Offlce at Washington. He told me about his past life in a modest unassuming way, claiming that he was very happy now. As 1 write, a feeling of 1 loneliness steals over me. The gas burnB cheerfully, but that is all that ischeerful; for silence reigns supreme here with the exception of an occasional toll of the monastery bells, and the low, sad moan of the winds, which makes me feel the more uncomfortable and convinces me that the life of a Trappist would require more moral courage than 1 poe-sess.The rules of the order were first made by St. Benedict, an Italian, born in 480: The first monastery governed by his rules was established by at Maurice, at Glaus-fenil France. St Maurice established 120 houses of the Benedictine order. As the order increased in numbers, wealth and influence so came the not unfrequent sequence—abases crept in, discipline relaxed aud at last the original rule, was modified. The Benedictines of the Abbey of Citeaux in France, established a reform. and restored the rigid order of the Benedictines in 1100. From this circumstance the order since that has been known as Cistercians. They erected a number of houses.. (Continued on fourth page.)
Newspaper Details
Saint Martinville Weekly Messenger
Saint Martinville, Louisiana, US
Sat, May 22, 1886
Page 3
Full Page
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USA 07 Nov 2022
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