Carthusian Stories

[Shin]

This story is from a lay Carthusian website:

I was a Trappist novice at the time I went to try my vocation as a Carthusian. Since I wasn't professed I didn't think that the Trappists should pay my expenses to go to another community so I officially left the Trappists and as I had only bought enough money for a ticket home, I took the bus from Utah to Vermont. The bus let me off at the entrance to the toll road and the secular in charge called Dom Marianius, who came to get me and take me to the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, the only Carthusian monastery in the U.S.

He took me straight away to the cell for brother vocational retreatants which is beside the Brother's chapel. We visited for a while and then he bade me good night. As soon as he left I knelt at the kneeler of the tiny oratory. I had just knelt when Dom Marianius knocked again as he opened the door to my cell.

I found it very for him un-Carthusian to enter without a response. From what he said I couldn't help thinking that he had surprised me when he came to see whether I had gone right away to prayer or right away to bed!

Dom Marianius was the procurator and novice master of the Brothers. He would come just about every evening to my cell for direction. I was only there a month but came to love him very much; maybe because the life was so intense. He was so kind and so dear.

The cell I occupied was the same as the Brothers; identical to the cell of the Fathers with a small antechamber running the width of the it.

The inside was light, airy, and cheery; all natural wood with the typical little Carthusian stove and a large window overlooking a meadow. It was at this window that I ate. Frequently the deer would be playing at supper time.

The day followed the schedule of the Brothers which is posted elsewhere in the house. About midnight a bell would ring above my head signaling the time to rise. A short time to wait by the door until the bell began to toll and then off to Vigils. this differed from the Trappists as the bell for Office would ring a few times and that was it, but with the Carthusians when the bell starts ringing it's rung until everyone is in his place in choir and the Prior gives a signal.

Most of the Brothers attended office in the back stalls except one. Much has been written about Carthusian Vigils and it's all true. The world is asleep and there is nothing to distract you except the song of love!

The Brothers didn't stay for Lauds but went back to bed until 6:00 I believe.Then with the second rising comes Prime, meditation, spiritual reading and Mass in the Brother's chapel. The first day at the consecration the Brothers prostrated as usual but I didn't think that I should since I wasn't a Carthusian, but later in the day I was gently told that I too should prostrate for a short interval before conventual Mass, for which the Brothers would move up next to the Fathers. You know, it's been twenty years since I was in those hallowed halls and as I write this it seems like only yesterday.

Anyway, We would participate in the Mass in about three different ways it seemed. Sometimes we would gather around the altar, other times the monks would be inclined in the stall with their hoods pulled so far over their heads that they couldn't see their neighbor. I think of that so often when some pop liturgist tries to tell us that we have to be holding hands and having intimate eye contact to really be participating in the liturgy!

After Mass it was back to cell for a very short interval before a Brother would knock on the outside door and leave a large pitcher of tea. By the time you could open the cell door and then open the antechamber door, the brother was gone; preserving the solitude of both. Every morning that tea was a peak experience! It was a large pot with nearly three cups of excellent tea which I took with homemade bread at the little table in front of the window. Next came morning work. I did a variety of chores; splitting wood, hauling logs to the Fathers' wood storage rooms, hauling and stacking split logs to the cell of an elderly Father, garden work, etc.

  One day I was sent to make some labels for fruit trees. The Brother in charge was initially from the Trappist monastery I had just come from. As he was showing me what to do, he asked me if I had worked for one of the monks at Utah. Thinking that he was just asking about an old friend I told him yes, and started to tell him about our work together. At that point the Brother held up his hand to signal me to stop and gently told me, "I just wanted to know if you were comfortable running this machine." There was to be no idle chit chat. The third day that I was there Dom Marianius as a kind Christian gesture let the Brothers who had been in Utah come to my cell and hear new of their former conferers.
 
Dinner was brought to the cell in the gamelle (a container traditionally used by the Carthusians for this purpose) which kept it warm. After dinner was free time but Dom Marianius said not to take a nap because while in cell you were so much left to your own devices that discipline was helpful. I never ate with the community or went to chapter. The only community exercise I attended was the monthly walk of the Brothers. It was delightful.We picked some kind of berries for the community to eat at supper that evening.

The Charterhouse itself, while not beautiful, is impressive. I agree with some writer who said that it imbibes to a great extent that Carthusian trait of rusticity. The whole building is granite, concrete, or solid wood: not a sliver of plywood, plastic or the like. Everything was very austere except the interior of the cell which was really quite quaint and pleasant.

One Sunday afternoon I was allowed to walk alone in the woods and that's when I took pictures, the ones you see attributed to me on this wesbite. I was impressed with how self sufficent the building was. One wing of the 'obediences' had a gardeners shop, a canning kitchen, a pantry, the main kitchen, and bakery all in a row.

Since I came straight from a Trappist Abbey, I had my hair close cropped so was invited to go with the monks when they had their hair cut. Even that was a spiritual experience! At the appointed time you went to the barber shop and took your seat with the others on a bench along the wall. The room was a long room with the same stone walls, a barber chair at one end and sink at the other, with benches along a long wall. After your hair was cut you would stand up, bow to the brother barber, sweep up your hair from the floor, kneel at the kneeler for a Hail Mary, and then depart. I still keep the feast of the Nativity of Mary as a feast because of the beauty of the feast there.

  The Carthusian liturgy is repeatedly described as stark but that's a relative term. Because so often these days the liturgy is so poorly done the Carthusian liturgy by contrast doesn't seem all that stark. During the Magnificat of Vespers a priest incensed first the altar, and then each member of the choir. That time of day the church was dark enough for you to see the sparks flying from the censor. For all the world it was just like being in the liturgy of heaven.

Submitted by Anonymous CLC Member

[Patricia]

You would fit right in, Shin, except for the computer.
Till now I did not know that monks don't celebrate Mass. I don't understand why?  Wouldn't that be the ultimate experience in a monk's life?

[Therese]

What a lovely existance.  I hope you get to become a Carthusian, Shin.

[Shin]

I hope I do too.

Patricia, the Brothers not being priests can't say mass, though they have a daily mass said by the Fathers, the Fathers have a mass they can say for the Brothers and private masses they can say for themselves, I believe this is how it works. 

There are two main kinds of Carthusians: Brothers and Fathers. The Brothers do more physical labor to assist the Fathers who do more solitary prayer.

[martin]

Shin what kind of time scale do you think your looking at before being accepted?
Will you be allowed to receive letters? 

[Shin]

The timescale is up in the air at the moment because there are certain things I have to take care of that I do not know how long it will take me to take care of them.

I have to evaluate my entire life and close out all possible responsibilities and debts I owe in the world. I am a slow tortoise sadly more than a swift bird.

If my biography is acceptable to the Carthusians, I will be invited to make a month's retreat there, which will also be a good time here to test out the next administrator whoever he or she may be -- after that month I believe I would have as long as I desire to wrap up my responsibilities in the world before going for the next, longer test, of a year or so.

The month will be the real test to see whether I can be put to the long haul test.

The Carthusians are one of if not the most reclusive orders, to my knowledge.

Letters and permissions regarding them, well, it's family only I believe, but I will find out more about this as time goes by. Perhaps I can get permission to communicate with one of you directly. The spirit of the restrictions on letters I believe tends to be to keep one from both thinking on the world, and anything drawing one out into it again.

If I fail in regards to the Carthusians (hard to contemplate, I feel so drawn, but feelings are untrustworthy), I will likely be trying out different orders, or finally, failing that, 3rd orders and living in the world but not of it to the best of my ability.

The retreat I am very looking forwards to, while I am preparing for it, it is hard for me to cut off as much as I should, sadly, I am weak. The retreat will forceably do so.. I look on it as a purification as well as an opportunity I can only hope and pray God gives me the strength to bear.

Which reminds me I have something to ask of you my friends and family, in a little bit.  

[Therese]

Dear Shin,

I hope you become a Carthusian because I know becoming one means a lot to you, but if you decide not to and decide to join a 3rd order, I will consider myself blessed because I hate the thought of losing you on these forums.  But I mustn't be selfish.  May God's will be done in your life.

[Shin]

Thank you and thanks be to God, Therese.. 

St. Arsenios and St. Moses, orate pro nobis! 

Pray for me!

[Therese]

Thank you and thanks be to God, Therese.. 

St. Arsenios and St. Moses, orate pro nobis! 

Pray for me!

You are already in my daily prayers, Shin.  I'll continue praying for you.

[Shin]

And words cannot express how grateful I am!

And you have my prayers, for what little they are worth! 

[Therese]

And words cannot express how grateful I am!

And you have my prayers, for what little they are worth! 

Thanks, Shin!  You're prayers mean a lot to me...and I'm sure God is very pleased by each and every one of your prayers to Him.