Happy and blessed birthday to you.
Special present for you...oldie but godly.
It is so old, the reel really shakes.
A Monastery, 1933 AD
Silent Docuмentary, with Titles
First Trappist Monastery Interior ever filmed. 17 minutes
...in a French Abbey
The titles in verse are taken from Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical sonnets.
Servants of God! who
not a thought will share
With the vain world: who
outwardly as bare
As Winter trees, yield no
fallacious sign
That the firm soul is
clothed with fruit divine!
And to the shelter
From the world
have fled
Increasing multitudes.
These good men, humble by
a few bare words
And calm with Fear of God's divinity.
2 O'clock in the Morning.
[At an hour when many
men are not yet
abed, the Monk begins
his hard 17 -hour day,
devoted to prayer and work.]
O suffering earth, be
thankful sternest clime,
And rudest age are subject to the thrill
Of heaven descended piety and song.
[The Grand Mass, where prayers and
Gregorian songs alternate.]
[ 4:10 min. The kiss of Peace and the Communion.
Notice that there is no communion rail, but instead, two
monks stretch a linen cloth] *
[A young seminarian takes Holy Orders.
THE FATHERS.
...with love of Science strong
How patiently the yoke of thought they bear!
How subtly glide its finest threads along
[The Monks live by the work of their hands.]
...A gentler life spreads
round the holy spires
Where'er they rise, the
sylvan waste retires
And aery harvests crown
the fertile lea...
[THE KITCHENS
The Dining room.
One meal a day:
soup, vegetables, fish or eggs, even at Easter time.]
[9: 50 min. To keep an atmosphere of retirement, the Monks refrain from speech.
They communicate their thoughts by means of Cluny's code signs.]
[The Monks views calmly the approach of death.]
The human soul; not utterly unknown
While in the Body lodged, her warm abode;
But from what world she came what woe or weal
On her departure waits, no tongue hath shown.
...golden cords
Of good works mingling with the visions, raise
The soul to purer worlds:
[For 30 days the dead man's meals are served in the dining room as though he were present.
His share is given tot the poor.]
Hark! 'tis the tolling
curfew! the stars shine,
But of the lights that cherish household cares
And festive gladness, burns not one that dares
To twinkle after that dull stroke of thine.
[15:00 min. The "Salve Regina" is sung to the Virgin every evening.]
Here Man more purely
lives, less oft doth fall,
More promptly rises, dies
happier, is freed
Earlier from cleansing fires,
and gains withal
A brighter crown.
[The Monastery falls asleep in the peace of eventide.]
[Written on the Dormitory door :JE DORS, MAIS MON COEUR VEILLE
I sleep, but my heart watches.
The End.
Pathescope
Cinematographic report carried out by Robert Alexandre -
Safety Film 9.5 mm
A Pathéscope Film.
* Fr. Girouard once explained to me that for many centuries, this was the norm - of using a long cloth held at the ends - when communion was distributed.
In my home city in Canada, the Cathedral had a communion rail, 1966 AD., but to note, that it was equipped with a very long white linen, about 25 feet on each side, which we altar boys had to lift before communion. And after communion, it was quite spectacular to witness the simple flick of the hand to send the cloth on its graceful slipping trajectory, then hanging at rest.
Today, where is this TRADITION? That cloth was a symbol...of the respect due to Our Lord present in the host, of the Eternal Banquet in Paradise. The communion rail is the line between divine mysteries and the world, of eternity and our life here on earth.
Deo gratias+
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