A Snapshot of a Time
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This book was for me a gift from God as I am considering that type of vocation and this book gave me a glimpse into what it is like. Although the book is looking back to a time in the 1960s before the church began to modernize as a result of Vatican II it is recent enough for the reader to identify with each the monks as modern people in a very challenging environment.
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The Carthusian Experience
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In this book we follow five men as they enter the Parkminster, England's only Carthusian Charterhouse, in 1960. We are given a rare glimpse inside Saint Hugh's and the life of the Carthusian monks. The author has done a fantastic job at being allowed to look inside and share what she learned with us.
We follow these five men as they apply to become a member at Parkminsiter and what it takes to become a Solemn Professed Carthusian. They share their thoughts and feelings as they progress in their vocation. And their hopes and fears are laid out for us to see. What it takes to stay and the strength required leaving.
I felt I was living those years with these men as they sought God. How hard and rewarding the solitary lifestyle in a community of hermits really is. And how few are truly called to this life. I felt that nothing was hidden from the reader. We are given an honest and clear view of the life. And we even get a summary forty years later from both those who succeeded in the life and those who left.
I got the book today and read it in 4 hours. I could not put it down. If you ever thought this was the life for you, this is a must read.
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Silence and solitude
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I first heard of the Carthusians whilst reading about Thomas More. He spent three years with them and considered joining them before realising that his vocation lay elsewhere. I remember the passage in the book that told of his standing by the window of his cell in the Tower of London, watching the monks he knew from the Charterhouse being 'drawn' behind horses to their agonising deaths for their refusal to swear agreement to the act making Henry VIII head of the church in England. More's comment to his daughter Margaret was that they were going to their wedding feast.
I found this book fascinating, but more than that I got so involved with the experiences of each of the novices it almost felt like an intrusion! The struggles, spiritual, mental and physical of these young men seeking to know God in a way that they all felt strongly called to are sensitively and honestly shared and I felt very privileged to be allowed inside the Charterhouse.
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Many are called but few are chosen
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I have to admit to an historic link with Parkminster (the location of this book) and the monastery in Switzerland through professional work not religious in the 1980s. My dealings with one of the monks named (Dom Bruno Sullivan) entailed a one day visit to Parkminster and the memory still lives with me (the bus trip into the middle of forest land from Worthing after a train ride from Victoria station and the long walk from the bus stop to the Carthusian abbey gate to ring the bell to gain entry are exactly as depicted in the book). The photo contained of the two floor library with all its old priceless editions of religious books was one of my fondest memories during my visit.
But this book is much more than just story telling - it is a well recorded journey of how five novices in the early 1960s took the step close together in time to enter Parkminster to see if they had sufficient spiritual vocation to be able to remain for life in a virtually silent contemplative religious order where monks, brothers and novices spend most of their time in their private cells praying or involved in solo activity, mainly leaving their cells to only participate in set daily services with the rest of the Order. The repetitive daily routines little changed from the Middle Ages with no major routine changes except in diet and religious prayer when holy feast days arise, would be a test of anyone's spirit. The fact few made it through the five years to becoming a monk did not leave any of those failing as bitter - rather they saw it subsequently when the author contacted them recently as the high point of their lives.
What makes this book so exceptional is that in covering a very private and personal approach to religious life where the inward thoughts and emotions are everything, is all accurately captured by the writer, herself a lady married to one of the ex-novices. Over the nearly seven years writing the book she was surprised at the level of openess and honesty she encountered both with the ex-novices and the monks currently still at Parkminster. She also is able to balance the personal stories with the history of the Order, the Order's approach and administration in their chosen life and the wider context within the Catholic church.
Overall she writes lucidly and keeps your interest - never once in the 240 odd pages did I find the lack of action or her coverage of the simple repetitiveness of the lifestyle boring.
As with the almost contemporary film release "Into great silence" on the French monastery at Grande Chartreuse, one wonders why the Order has decided to open itself up in this way at this point in time but we are certainly the richer for the knowledge gained as a consequence.
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What type of person is drawn to an austere monastery and why?
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A two-year commitment in mountain wilderness in the French Alps; could you do it? Would you be voted in to remain for the rest of your life?
Find out how Nancy Klein Maguire was able to personally enter into their
world - a world of only men in an existence of bare necessities! It started with her husband who had experienced it as a sincere Novice in search of a spiritual struggle. Is it like an addiction? Why are they
letting her in now to study and expose their way of life? Some answers are given - other questions are posed. This is an excellent backgroud to the latest movie about the Carthusians, "INTO GREAT SILENCE."
Jacqueline Brown, lover of unusual books
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