He picked up the bundle of documents and held them with both arms against himself as though they afforded some kind of protection. “Will that be all, Father?” His voice carefully neutral and light, he stood poised to go, waiting to be dismissed.
John’s eyes met his. ‘“William—” William raised one eyebrow, questioning, and John saw there was nothing to be said. William was doing what had been asked of him; overmuch probing would hardly be fair. “No, it’s all right,” he said. “Thank you. I honour you, and I appreciate what you are doing. God bless you.”
Indefinably, William’s face softened. He bent his head in a respectful salute and left as quietly and unobtrusively as he had come.
The sun shone bright and pouring hot on this July day with no wind as Abbot John crossed the court from the claustral buildings to the checker. He found a scene of quiet industry in the small stone building, its windows and doors open to let in any slight breeze. Brother Ambrose sat at one table spread with ledgers, perusing letters. William sat at another, behind piles of accounts, with a pen in his hand.
“How’s it going?” John’s tone was pleasantly friendly, the question apparently a general inquiry about the organizational affairs of the abbey.
“We are making good progress, thank you, Father John,” beamed Brother Ambrose cheerfully. “It’s always quite a busy time once we come fully into the shearing and the harvests: hiring and buying to be thought of, as well as selling. But we seem to be on top of all that’s coming in and going out. Father William has cooled off from his initial whirlwind pace, for which I’m mighty grateful! I couldn’t keep up with the speed of him at first; but ever since you had that trip away, he seems to have calmed down. He jogs along like any brother now. I think I’ve been a steadying influence on him.”
The subject of this conversation did not reply but sat, the pen grasped loosely in his hand, his pale eyes watching their exchange without animation, his face betraying nothing as he listened.
Abbot John went to stand near him and looked over William’s shoulder at the orderly sheets of accounts spread in front of him. On top of them lay a torn sheet of vellum, the ink of the words written on it still wet. It had been rejected from the scriptorium because too much erasing had worn a hole. Then it had been torn in two and torn in two again for other uses. On the small battered sheet that remained of the original, words newly scribed were quickly drying in the heat. John leaned over William’s shoulder, silently reading it through twice… and again. William made no objection and sat quietly as John took the words in.
When we come plummeting down
Falling… falling…
When we lie hidden in the earth
Lost from sight
When we find the strength to lift up
When we ascend again toward the blue
When we rise up singing
And find our way to the sun
Then come tumbling down again
In freefall losing everything we gained
Our Lady of the Skylarks
Please pray for us.
“Yes. Some things cost more than we could ever have imagined,” Abbot John said, his voice serious and sad, “but I think it will be worth it in the end.”
Glossary of Terms
Ambra – measure of salt
Breviary – monastic prayer book
Ave Maria – prayer saluting Mary, the mother of Jesus, in quotation of Scripture, and beseeching her to pray for us
Benedictine Rule – the document guiding daily life, written by St Benedict
Cellarer – monk responsible for oversight of all provisions; a key role in the community
Chamber – a small, intimate room; sometimes specifically a bedroom
Chapter – daily meeting governing practical matters, where a chapter of St Benedict’s Rule was read and expounded by the abbot
Cistercian – order of monks, a reform of Benedictine tradition
Cloister – covered way giving access to main buildings of a monastery
Cunning-folk – people with special wisdom or insight, possibly supernatural
Dorter – dormitory
Dwale – a mixture used in the Middle Ages as an anaesthetic, containing hemlock, lettuce, bryony, henbane, opium, vinegar, and the bile of a pig
Eucharist – Holy Communion meal, the Lord’s Supper
Externs – in an enclosed monastic order, nuns whose role was to provide the interface between the community and the world
Frater – refectory
Garth – garden quadrangle enclosed by the cloister
Glebe land – land owned by the church
Grail – chalice, the sacred cup holding the wine of the Eucharist
Grand Silence – the longer period of complete abstention from speech beginning after Compline (the last office of the day) and lasting through the night until after Mass in the morning
Hours – the services of worship in the monastic day
Lay – not ordained
Liturgy – structured worship
Missal – book with the words for the Mass
Nave – the body of the church occupied by the public in worship
Obedience – the occupation allotted to a monk
Obedientiary – monk with a particular office
Office – the set worship taking place at regular intervals through the day
Ostler, also hostler – man who looks after horses
Palfrey – high-bred riding horse of the Middle Ages
Pater Noster – the Lord’s Prayer
Physic – medicine
Porter – doorkeeper
Postern – a small door set within a large gate for ease of access
Postulant – new member not yet made a novice
Precentor – worship facilitator
Reredorter – latrines situated convenient to sleeping quarters
Sacristan – monk with responsibility for the vestments and vessels, etc. of the altar
“Salve Regina” – hymn in honour of Mary, the mother of Jesus
Skellig Michael – a steep rocky island near the Irish coast, inaccessible and bleak; this was the location of a very ascetic monastic order from the Dark Ages through to the Middle Ages
Tarry wool – scraps of sheep’s fleece snagged on thorns
Villein – peasant legally tied to the land where he worked
Monastic Day
There may be slight variations from place to place and at different times from the Dark Ages through the Middle Ages and onward – e.g. Vespers may be after supper rather than before. This gives a rough outline. Slight liberties are taken in my novels to allow human interactions to play out.
Winter Schedule (from Michaelmas)
2:30am Preparation for the nocturns of matins – psalms etc.
3:00am Matins, with prayers for the royal family and for the dead
5:00am Reading in preparation for
6:00am Lauds at daybreak and Prime; wash and break fast (just bread and water, standing)
8.30am Terce, Morrow Mass, Chapter
12:00 noon Sext, Sung Mass, midday meal
2.00pm None
4:15pm Vespers, Supper, Collatio
6:15pm Compline The Grand Silence begins
Summer Schedule
1:30am Preparation for the nocturns of matins – psalms etc.
2:00am Matins
3:30am Lauds at daybreak, wash and break fast
6:00am Prime, Morrow Mass, Chapter
8:00am Terce, Sung Mass
11:30am Sext, midday meal
2:30pm None
5:30pm Vespers, Supper, Collatio
8:00pm Compline The Grand Silence begins
I have included the main feasts and fasts in the cycle of the church’s year, plus one or two other dates that are mentioned
(e.g. Michaelmas and Lady Day when rents were traditionally collected) in these stories.
Advent – begins four Sundays before Christmas
Christmas – December 25th
Holy Innocents – December 28th
Epiphany – January 6th
Baptism of our Lord concludes Christmastide, Sunday after January 6th
Candlemas – February 2 (Purification of Blessed Virgin Mary, Presentation of Christ in the temple)
Lent – Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday – start date varies with phases of moon
Holy Week – last week of Lent and the Easter Triduum
Lady Day – March 25th (at one time the beginning of the calendar year)
Easter Triduum (three days) of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday
Ascension – forty days after Easter
Whitsun (Pentecost) – fifty days after Easter
Trinity Sunday – Sunday after Pentecost
Corpus Christi – Thursday after Trinity
Sacred Heart of Jesus – Friday of the following week
Feast of John the Baptist – June 24th
Lammas (literally ‘loaf-mass’; grain harvest) – August 1st
Michaelmas – feast of St Michael and All Angels, September 29th
All Saints – November 1st
All Souls – November 2nd
Martinmas – November 11th