| Show THE TRAPPIST MONK SINGULARLY SEVERE DISCIPLINE UNDER WHICH HE LIVES I Monastery Near Rome Where Vows j of Silence Penance Selfdenial I and Work Are Taken by I the Inmates I In that part of the Agro Honmno whore innlarliil fevers reign supreme I at a short distance from the Via I Ostensl high road appears lit Its hoi emn solitude tho Abbey of Pre Iron tone at tho end of u magnificent ave 1 iiuc It Is n nt place for meditation j I and melancholy I A Trappist hover speaks such Is j the rule His voice IB only heart I monotonous and weak almost drowned by tho notes of the organ which ad company his morning psalms or oven Ing prayers In tho largo church of tho convent with Its lingo arcades and high dark celling Trapplats do not cultivate art In their churches are no Imposing tombs nor do they adorn their choirs with thoso fine stalls that ape masterpieces of woodcarving and Inlaid work and which nro to be admired ad-mired In most abbeys of the Benedictines Benedic-tines Tho Trapplsts Instead sit In poor stalls the hoards of which are roughtly put together Tho order of tho Trupplsts Is most strict and requires men having a truo vocation and strong will to persevere In It Silence Is undoubtedly one of mho greatest punishments tlmt can bo Indicted oven temporarily upon prisoners pris-oners wo may therefore guess how much strength of will and selfdenial are required to keep It spontaneously Indus a wholo lifetime Hut this Is not all The rule of fasting Is peremptory peremp-tory and Is also observed In case of sickness unless the doctor finds It necessary to order a different diet I Plio cooking docs not afford mupy re sources us meat eggs and even fish 10 excluded thus their meals nro mroly vegetarian Dinner consists of i soup vegetable and fruit supper of potatoes salad and water without speaking of all the fasting days Uur ng which they only take a little bread t could not Indeed bo otherwise for ho orders of the Trapplsts or rather he older of the Cistercians of which he Trapplsts are a branch was found ocl for penance selfdenial and worlt The hell of a Trnpplst consists of a dais pullet without any bedclothes or no goes to hod dressed wearing ils everyday clothes At two oclock n the morning n bell Is heard calling he monks to chinch In the dim light if tuckering lanterns they go down to I Church to recite jn a chorus tho sovav uenltuntlal psalms I uuuu After the morning prayers have beau rcrltnl they go to bed again but not for long at dawn time bolls are hoard through the convent It IK tlmo to ijo A to church again to sing Matins Afterwards After-wards the Trappist attends to houMr hold affairs and then Hits down to breakfast n plain meal consisting of a ploco of bread and II hot beverage Hut tho vineyards and the Orchards tif tho convent are of an abundance which conttiifits greatly with thu poverty or the monkajjfxlstonce Tim Tranplita cultivate a 1 very extrnsho property where fruits of all dada grow plenl I fully tho grapes liolng most abundant t l e I I 5 Under tho Portico of the Abbey and of an exquisite quality In the outhouses there are over 100 cows and about 12 horses Every morning more than 400 litres of milk are sent to 1 Rome as well as hampers of fruits and vegetables carts of hay and wheat rho monks manufacture from the eucalyptus n liquor known as oucnlyp tine and they also produce an cssegno and an oil of oucalyptus Tho mot < y derived from tho sale of these Is used for tho payment of a debt to the Italian government Tho debt wns contracted for reclaiming the Agro I Romano near tho convent Tho reader may ask himself 40w tho Trapplsts spend all their money This cannot bo positively stated At Durban In South Africa In a place which was onco only a desert the monks bought 12000 norms every bit of which Is cultivated nay Thoy G founded warehouses kitchens for tho poor mills a telegraphic and telephonic tele-phonic ofllce a hospital with laboratories labora-tories and free schools where thousands thou-sands of Kaffirs are fed and educated They accomplished nil this with the money belonging to tho order tho amount of which Is not known to anybody t any-body Trapplsts never speak an the rule says but were pray to do so they certainly would not tell anybody about tho mysteries of their Rules |
