Lives Shaped by the Seasons
Every time winter settles in I muse on what life in the monastery would be like if we followed Saint Benedict’s Rule literally. Summer at Saint John’s would be a delight. Winter, however, would be another story. For most of winter, dark and cold would be the order of the day.
In chapter 41 of his Rule we get some inkling of how Benedict allows the seasons to dictate the daily round of life. Here he legislates the time for eating during Lent, and it rings strange to modern ears. “Let Vespers be celebrated early enough so that there is no need for a lamp while eating, and that everything can be finished by daylight” (RB 41.8). Would we really want to finish supper and call it a day before 5:00 pm?
Of course, Benedict did not mean “everything.” The night office, for example, still took place at night, even in winter. But since monks generally recited those psalms from memory, they needed only a cue from the reader, who was the only person who needed a candle or lamp. Obviously, Benedict made no provision for a brilliantly-lit church.
As a medieval historian I appreciate how different life was for Benedict and his monks. There was little illumination at night, though he did allow for one lamp in the dormitory (RB 22.4). I also presume that lamps lit steps and sharp edges to avoid accidents or injuries. Despite that, nights were dark in medieval monasteries — and everywhere else for that matter — and moonlight offered the only relief from the inky blackness.
If Benedict is sparing in his use of artificial light, he’s nearly silent in reference to the cold. He comments on the oppressive heat of summer, which comes as no surprise from a resident of Italy. But about the cold of winter and the occasional need for snow removal, he is reticent. Later, medieval monasteries in Northern Europe indulged in one heated room — the calefactory (sitting room). All the other rooms ranged from stifling to bone-chilling, depending on the season.
What might Benedict think of modern monks and nuns with their electric lighting and central heat? At the very least he’d be puzzled by the rhythm of our lives. For one, artificial light pierces every corner, and the days are as long as we choose to leave the lights on. Meanwhile, central heat allows for the possibility that a blizzard might rage outside while we might be too warm within.
While nature dictated the terms of life for monks and nuns in the Middle Ages, modern followers of Benedict live in perennial greenhouses. As a consequence, the horarium never varies, and nature no longer is the decisive factor that it was in Benedict’s day.
+Today’s post is an article that I wrote and which appeared in the winter 2019-20 issue of The Abbey Banner. The latter is the magazine published by the monks of Saint John’s Abbey.
+On January 18th I attended the wedding of Bill and Kate in Minneapolis. Bill is an alumnus of Saint John’s University, and I have known him and his family since he was a kid. He and his wife live in Washington, DC, and they met while working for politicians of different parties. They are living proof that you can come from opposite ends of the political spectrum and still thrive together. Their experience gives hope to the world!
+Beginning this month the majority of our monks will go into exile for the next year. The reason for this is the renovation of the wing of the monastery that Marcel Breuer designed in the mid-1950s. Since its construction we’ve done precious little to update the building; and finally the single-pane windows, the original heating and electrical systems, and the need for serious noise abatement have finally caught up with us. That means that for a year the monks who live in that building will reside in other spaces on campus. Happily I do not have to relocate because I live in the wing that was constructed in the 1880s. All the same, we’ll all feel the effects of the relocation of our community gathering spaces, and no doubt we’ll be delighted when all of this is over.
+Heading today’s post is an altar frontal made in the 13th century for the monastery of Sant Serni de Tavernoles in Cataluña. On 17 January we celebrated the feast of Saint Anthony Abbot, an early 4th-century ascetic from Egypt. He is a good example of how the popularity of saints can wax and wane. Not widely known today, he was immensely popular in the Middles Ages, and the second and third photos hint at that. The first was made in ca. 1375, and attributed to Mestre de Rubió. It too is housed at the Museum of Catalan Art. The second was made in Alsace and attributed to Nicolaus of Hagenau. It is in the Cloisters Museum in New York. At bottom is another altar frontal from the Museum of Catalan Art, dated ca. 1200.