DameAgnes Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 But in a very gentle, nunny way. :-) http://aleteia.org/2016/02/10/a-few-choice-words-from-the-not-silent-cloister/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antigonos Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 1 hour ago, DameAgnes said: But in a very gentle, nunny way. :-) http://aleteia.org/2016/02/10/a-few-choice-words-from-the-not-silent-cloister/ Good for you, Sister! It seems there are nearly as many mistaken preconceptions about those in monasteries and convents as there are about our own ultra-Orthodox communities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vee Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Amen Sister! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eowyn Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 That was nice. I need more of the good kind of silence in my life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Good article. But... I'm pretty sure Trappists/Cistercians do take vows of silence, though only for a short period of time. At least, I read they did in a book that talked about them pre-VII. Maybe they don't anymore. Dunno. Certainly I've never heard of Carmelites (or any other Catholic religious, including even Carthusians, who are really not a chatty bunch) doing that. Interestingly, there is such a thing in Judaism as a "word fast". Ultra Orthodox Jews will do it on occasion. It's not a total abstention from speech, though. One is allowed to speak, but only words of Scripture. So if somebody asks the faster a question, he has to find a passage from Scripture that contains the word "yes" or "no" or some other way of answering the question. I think this is sometimes a self-imposed discipline, when a person has said something terrible and wishes to repent of it and retrain himself in holy speech. Though I believe I've also heard of yeshiva bochurs (guys studying at yeshiva) using it as a kind of Torah-learning challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sr Mary Catharine OP Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 No. Trappists didn't make a vow of silence. They spoke with sign language and there are stories of monks carrying out heated argument s that way. They were free to speak verbally to their superiors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunsuch Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 And there were always Trappists and Trappistines who talked with visitors, and there were occasions in the community where talking was essential. People overstated the rules.... Even reading the books by Thomas Merton suggest how overstated the prohibitions were in the popular understanding.... Today, of course, things are even more open. For example, I have attended Mass and visited 2 Trappist monasteries and the community members were quite friendly. After Mass last summer, I started talking with an older man in the welcoming area of the church, and it turned out he was a priest and former abbot who was about to go out to brunch with his family, which was there for an annual visit. He was extremely chatty and really a lovely man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNJM Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Nicely written. Sister is right. I have a book on sign language for Trappists, beautifully illustrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enitharmon Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 8 hours ago, SNJM said: I have a book on sign language for Trappists, beautifully illustrated. What book is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponsa-Christi Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Congratulations on the article, Sr. Mary Catharine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 18 hours ago, enitharmon said: What book is that? I also want a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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