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I sometimes think I was a monk in a past life (a contradiction in terms when you think about it) for I seem attracted somehow to the monastic life. Indeed, as a teenager, I once spent a week in a Carmelite monastery observing what happened there.
This came to mind recently when I read that the eleven Benedictine monks of St. Augustine’s in Ramsgate, Kent, are to vacate the 148 year-old abbey which was built to accommodate forty men. It seems that the fall in the number of vocations and the rising cost of maintaining the abbey, designed by Pugin’s son, have led to a rethink about the community’s future.
The abbey’s website - http://www.ramsgatebenedictines.com - is an interesting one for the monastic life is summarised by the Abbot, Dom Paulinus Greenwood OSB.
‘We are united in our search for a new site which will enable us to live an authentic, balanced, monastic life of prayer, work, and study, according to the spirit of the sixth-century Rule of St Benedict, and to share that way of life with others who feel truly called to it. This is traditionally characterised by the daily celebration of Mass and the seven liturgical hours of the Divine Office, the reception of guests, manual work, and various intellectual pursuits.’
Perhaps for me the core of monastic life is in the seven liturgical hours of the Divine Office. They are Matins and Lauds, the first two Offices of the day; Terce, the third hour; Sext, the sixth hour; None, the ninth hour; Vespers, the evening Office; and Compline, Night Prayers.
Curiously, the old mediaeval monastic systems, with their prescribed activities for every hour of the day, was derived from the working routines of the old Roman military - so ensuring that Roman working customs continue hundreds of years after the fall of the Roman Empire. The monastic system gave a routine to the daily lives of the monks and a sense of order.
The monks of St. Augustine’s follow some of these old routines. They rise at 0530, and Matins follows twenty minutes later with Lauds after that at 0700. Breakfast is at 0740 and then Terce at 0840 and Sext at 0900. Lunch is at 1230 which is followed by None. Vespers is at 1800, supper at 0900 and Compline at 2030.
Giving some idea of the work done in between times, Abbot Greenwood says, ‘A new Abbey will need adequate provision for a church, land for market gardening, and other dedicated work areas, especially for producing the Community’s successful range of ‘Sanctuary’ products (honey, beeswax furniture polish, organic lip-balms and skin creams), and a shop in which to display and sell them. There is also a pressing need for a practical, user-friendly structure in which to house the Community’s large monastic library.’
The Abbot hopes that whoever acquires the Abbey property will show sensitivity to its historical and architectural significance. The abbey is certainly beautiful and one hopes that its principal buildings will remain accessible to the public to admire the work of Edward Pugin son of the more famous Augustus Pugin.
The Abbey will shortly be launching an appeal to help raise the funds needed for the move, and I wish them well in this.
.
I sometimes think I was a monk in a past life (a contradiction in terms when you think about it) for I seem attracted somehow to the monastic life. Indeed, as a teenager, I once spent a week in a Carmelite monastery observing what happened there.
This came to mind recently when I read that the eleven Benedictine monks of St. Augustine’s in Ramsgate, Kent, are to vacate the 148 year-old abbey which was built to accommodate forty men. It seems that the fall in the number of vocations and the rising cost of maintaining the abbey, designed by Pugin’s son, have led to a rethink about the community’s future.
The abbey’s website - http://www.ramsgatebenedictines.com - is an interesting one for the monastic life is summarised by the Abbot, Dom Paulinus Greenwood OSB.
‘We are united in our search for a new site which will enable us to live an authentic, balanced, monastic life of prayer, work, and study, according to the spirit of the sixth-century Rule of St Benedict, and to share that way of life with others who feel truly called to it. This is traditionally characterised by the daily celebration of Mass and the seven liturgical hours of the Divine Office, the reception of guests, manual work, and various intellectual pursuits.’
Perhaps for me the core of monastic life is in the seven liturgical hours of the Divine Office. They are Matins and Lauds, the first two Offices of the day; Terce, the third hour; Sext, the sixth hour; None, the ninth hour; Vespers, the evening Office; and Compline, Night Prayers.
Curiously, the old mediaeval monastic systems, with their prescribed activities for every hour of the day, was derived from the working routines of the old Roman military - so ensuring that Roman working customs continue hundreds of years after the fall of the Roman Empire. The monastic system gave a routine to the daily lives of the monks and a sense of order.
The monks of St. Augustine’s follow some of these old routines. They rise at 0530, and Matins follows twenty minutes later with Lauds after that at 0700. Breakfast is at 0740 and then Terce at 0840 and Sext at 0900. Lunch is at 1230 which is followed by None. Vespers is at 1800, supper at 0900 and Compline at 2030.
Giving some idea of the work done in between times, Abbot Greenwood says, ‘A new Abbey will need adequate provision for a church, land for market gardening, and other dedicated work areas, especially for producing the Community’s successful range of ‘Sanctuary’ products (honey, beeswax furniture polish, organic lip-balms and skin creams), and a shop in which to display and sell them. There is also a pressing need for a practical, user-friendly structure in which to house the Community’s large monastic library.’
The Abbot hopes that whoever acquires the Abbey property will show sensitivity to its historical and architectural significance. The abbey is certainly beautiful and one hopes that its principal buildings will remain accessible to the public to admire the work of Edward Pugin son of the more famous Augustus Pugin.
The Abbey will shortly be launching an appeal to help raise the funds needed for the move, and I wish them well in this.
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