He liked the silence of this house empty of all but the two of them. He thought silence was something like water, the place where things—the words of God maybe—could at last become clear.
He looked at the gradual dove colours of dawn leavening the darkness of their chamber, and he watched the rising sun fill the room with light. He reflected that, for the first time in his whole life he could ever remember, he felt free of wretched guilt. The perpetual hunger and restlessness at the core of him had been brought to peace, as though he had been healed of a wound he had only half known was there, had been made whole. He just felt peaceful, everything in him satisfied. No despair. Nothing to hide and lie about. No horrible sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Even the persistent tic in his face had gone away. The struggle he’d been through had about torn him apart, but this morning he knew that he had been put back together again—“remembered,” as John had said. And he didn’t feel afraid anymore.
Glossary of Terms
Ambulatory – a passage curving round from behind the choir and its sanctuary, linking the north and south transepts and giving access to various small side chapels and the sacristy
Cardinal office – Lauds and Vespers are the cardinal offices of the monastic day. The word cardinal comes from the Latin word cardo, meaning “hinge”, for these offices open and close the day
Cellarer – monk responsible for oversight of all provisions; a key role in the community
Chapter – daily meeting governing practical matters, where a chapter of St Benedict’s Rule was read and expounded by the abbot
Checker – a small, separate building, in the part of the monastery accessible to laypeople, where all the documents of trade (receipts, account books, etc.) were kept, and where tradespeople could be received. The word exchequer comes from this
Choir – the part of the church where the community sits
Cloister – covered way giving access to main buildings of a monastery
Cordwainer – leatherworker
Corrody – purchased right to food/clothing/housing from a monastery for an agreed period, which could be for life
Dorter – sleeping quarters
Frater – refectory
Grand Silence – the silence kept by the whole community from after
Compline when they retired for the night until after first Mass in the morning
Keeping custody of the eyes – refraining from looking around
Morrow Mass – the first of two daily celebrations of the Mass, this one being smaller and more intimate than the later one open to the wider public
Mortifying his eyes – looking down, not glancing about
Nave – the body of the church occupied by the public in worship
Nipperkin (or pipkin) – very small liquid measure (no longer in common use), less than a fluid ounce – perhaps about 25 millilitres
Night stairs – from the sleeping quarters of a monastery, a staircase led down directly into the church to allow easy access for the devotions taking place in the middle of every night
Obedientiary – monk assigned to a specific role in his community
Office – the set worship taking place at regular intervals through the day
Palfrey – high-bred riding horse
Postulant – person aspiring to join the community, living in the monastery in the stage of commitment preceding entry into the novitiate
Transept – area between the apse (the part of the church where the choir and its sanctuary are) and the nave (the main body of the church where the congregation from the parish sits). The south transept and north transept meet in the square “crossing” the junction of all four arms of the cruciform church
Viaticum – literally, “food for the journey”; name given to the bread and wine of the last rites for the dying
Warming room – the place in a medieval monastery that served as a common room. It had a big fireplace
Wes hal – Old English greeting meaning “Be thou whole”; origin of “Hallo/ hello/hail!”
Wick – alive; full of vitality
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
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
Liturgical Calendar
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
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