'Helps lighten the burden': Monks vowing silence allowed to talk to cats
It is nice to know that even far-away monks known for remaining silent still enjoy their time playing with kitties.
I recently published an essay for my supporters on Patreon, where I have 300+ articles and interviews available for subscribers (and more coming each week). But after publication, I thought the piece fit better with a theme I have established here on Substack, namely doing religion right.
On this platform, I most recently wrote about how Jimmy Carter was my favorite “born again Christian,” and I have also written about how we can learn from religious rituals. In this Patreon piece, I covered the remote monastery where monks are only allowed to talk when praying, or when feeding the local feral cats. I encourage those interested in my writings to check out the Patreon (feel free to use the COUPON CODE SUBSTACK for a 20% discount on the first month), where I post more frequently and supporters get bonus perks, but feel it is worth reproducing the piece for you here for free, as well.
Here it is:
At one of the most "isolated and silent" monasteries in the world, there's an exception to the required practice of keeping quiet: talking to local kitties as they're being fed.
Most people probably haven't heard of it, but there's a 1,000-year-old monastery in the French Alps where monks practice silence. It's not the typical "vow of silence" you might have heard about in TV and movies, but instead a general rule at the temple, applicable to nearly every situation.
But there is a work-around for the rule: when the monks are feeding the cats, they can engage in light conversation with them.
The monastery is called La Grande Chartreuse, and it's part of the "Carthusian" order of Catholicism, which was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084.
National Geographic journalist Yuval Ben-Ami, a travel specialist, reported on this topic. Ben-Ami tells the true story of Philip Gröning, a young German filmmaker who sought to live at a monastery for five days to make a movie about it. His request was rejected, but 16 years later, he got another letter inviting him to La Grande Chartreuse.
"But 16 years later, Gröning received another letter from the prior. After mulling the proposal in the interim, he wrote, he had decided that it had merit. He related that he was no longer the prior at the same monastery but was now the reverend father – the head – of the entire order. He invited Gröning to make a film at La Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the order and the place where it was apparently founded," Ben-Ami wrote. "Almost 1,000 years old, it lies high in the French Alps, near Grenoble. Since the early 20th century, it had been closed to visitors (as opposed to the other Carthusian monasteries housing nuns or monks), and it burns bright in the imagination of many adventure-seekers."
The journalist goes on to note that, "Carthusian monks are almost completely cut off even from their families."
"They are allowed to meet with them only two days each year. After taking the vow of silence they are only allowed a brief conversation once a week in the courtyard. Beyond that, only prayer is permitted," he wrote.
Ben-Ami went on to describe the feeding practices of the monks, who rely mostly on soups and salads but eat fish once per week. They do not consume caffeine, nor the alcohol the monastery is known for producing.
"The meals are distributed to the hermetic monks through a window in the wall of their cells, while they are immersed in reading or in prayer. Special meals are held in a common dining room, but even then there is no table chatter. At every communal meal one of the monks reads passages relating to Carthusian thought and precepts to his brethren, who dine and listen," he wrote. "On the one hand, the silence is bewitching; on the other, it is oppressive – at least to an outside observer. Not even gesturing with one’s head is customary."
The journalist adds, "Only when one of the monks takes food to the cats that prowl around does he allow himself a slight jesting conversation with them, which helps lighten the burden."
It is nice to know that even far-away monks known for remaining silent still enjoy their time playing with kitties.
Stay Reasonable!
David G. McAfee
