Show THE TRAPPIST MONKS I How They Pass Their lowly i Lives in Gethsemani HE AD OF THE ORDER IMD2NTUCKY A Member of the Illustrious Bourbon Family They Else nt 2 Oclock In tho t i Homing To Bed Early There is perhaps no life which the average av-erage person is so utterly unable to com Jnehend as that of the Trappist monks which is passed in well nigh perpetual silence si-lence amid the most rigorous physical and mental austerities A profession of public humility can be understood but the priest or layman who puts on tho robe and cowl I of the Trappist brotherhood effaces himself him-self and all knowledge of himself Hen He-n y pass half a century in a stall next to a brother whoso name he does not know beyond that which is written up above the entrance into the narrow and bare vault in which he sleeps whose nationality national-ity even be never sufpects What his history his-tory may be what connections he may have outside the walls nobody but the abbot may know unless piece by piece during loigyears immurement hints or suggestions may be obtained and linked together The vow of silence is not so rigorous as is commonly supposed A Trappist monk tty notpeak tb another or anybody save the abbot without permission He may speak to the abbot upon any matter concerning con-cerning his daily work or reHious duty but not needlessly A needless word subjects sub-jects him to penances to remorse and mental disquiet The vow of course is voluntary and there is nothing but the conscience and earnestness of the monk to enforce its redemption So well is it kept however in its best meaning that there are not three members at Gcthsemane in Xclson county who know he name of the president of the United States or the governor gov-ernor of Kentucky The severity of the rule is so great that few American born nonks are to be found in the establishments establish-ments A MONKS cuniosrrr In Gethsemane a large majority of the I monks are French German and Irish 1 They eat out one meal a day consisting oft of-t > made 6 t vegetables and bread boiled I in water and a little rice In summer this meal is served at 1130 a m at other I eeascns at 239 p m In Lent it is taken attn 130 p at-tn and consists of bread and water lone The monks take from thirteen to twenty ounces of food per day each yet they do manual labor in the fields and workshops and it is noticeable that all of them walk with a light and springy step raid even those well along in years are Tnore vigorous and active than men of their years in ordinary condition One can best realize the severity of the food lCRimen when it is remembered that winter win-ter and summer the pdnks rise at oclock in the morning and retire at 7 and S oclock in the evening Father Edward abbot of Gethsemane Mmself a gentleman of rare education courtly polish and much kindness of heart Bays that only those uaborne by the deepest deep-est relfgious devotion with the one idea of prayer to relieve the world of its burden of fein can ever endure the life Gentlemen who have suffered disappointments andre and-re seeking seclosion a liing burial have tried it in vain The heroism of the life is never seen it cannot be made a spectacle as humility sometimes is and therefore only the mind that lives upon the true religious exaltation can endure it The stories that sift through to the out sid Tforld with more or less romantic detail de-tail concerning the individual monks of La Trappe are many There is one told of a brother at Gethsemane which is old but full of dramatic suggestion He was a soldier of Napoleon so it was said and after the emperors first abdication took the cowl of the Brown Brothers and ultimately ul-timately came to Gethsemane Forty years he lived in silence hearing nothing of the worlds history but with one item of curiosity I curi-osity left unquenched When he came to die and was lifted from his hard couch and laid upon the harder floor strewed with straw where all followers of the order must meet extremes the abbot as is customary cus-tomary told him he was at liberty to ask any question ho desired What became of the emperorP the old man asked promptly and then for the first time learned Napoleons fate long years after that restless clay had become dust A7 ARISTOCRATIC FATHER Father Peter the kind and gentle old guest master at Gethsemane smiled at the story and did not deny it He said there was a soldier of Napoleon who had died there who at some engagement to prevent pre-vent the landing of sea forces had swam out with a knife in his teeth and cut the cables of the boats which were carried out by the tide and the landing prevented So perhaps the whole story is true In the outside world there is an unrestrained unre-strained desire to know who the monks were in the world The present abbot I Father Edward was Count Edward de Bourbon of the illustrious French family It is said he is a cousin of the ill starred Louis XVI or it may be of Louis XVHL Certainly his elegant and courtly bearing the grace and beauty his manners the noble cast of his countenance and the indefinable inde-finable charm of his presence indicate that loftiness of courage and purpose which are popularly ascribed to royalty if they do not often actually accompany it A Belgian baron died there in seclusion at the age of 00 Brother Joseph for many years the guest master preceding Father Peter the present kind and hospitable host was a famous French tenor of many years ago He died in 1SSG and is buried in what the monks call their play ground the little cemetery marked with huge black crosses Despite the austerity of the life the monks live to good old age There are now two at Gethsemane who have been in the order over fifty years and are near 90 rears old They all look forward to death as the glorious day when so to speak the sun of happy eternity will rise upon them Louisville CourierJournal |