Mahan, Bruce E

English

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The Life of the Trappists

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Volume 3 | Number 9 Article 5
9-1-1922
The Life of the Trappists
Bruce E. Mahan
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Mahan, Bruce E. "The Life of the Trappists." The Palimpsest 3 (1922), 306-309.
Available at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/vol3/iss9/5
The Life of the Trappists
At New Melleray to-day are found the two classes 
of monks that have characterized Cistercian abbeys 
since the earliest days of the Order. The choir 
brothers are men who have been well educated and 
have a careful knowledge of the Latin tongue. They 
are the priests of the community and those studying 
for Holy Orders. Their dress in choir consists of a 
long white woolen tunic with flowing sleeves, with a 
capoch or hood attached. When at work they wear 
a white woolen habit, a black scapular with a hood, 
and a leather girdle.
The lay brothers on the other hand — among 
whom are many representatives of distinguished 
families who prefer the humbler rank — are usually 
men of less educational preparation than the choir 
brothers. They do the farm work, the cooking, the 
baking, the tailoring, the laundry work, and the 
more menial tasks about the monastery, thereby 
giving the choir brothers more time to devote to the 
Divine Office. At religious devotions the lay broth­
ers wear a long brown robe with a hood, and at work 
their dress is a dark brown habit and a leather gir­
dle. Their hair is close cropped and they wear 
beards.
The novices or postulants are admitted to the 
monastery for a probationary period to try their
THE LIFE OF THE TRAPPISTS 307
strength and desire to continue the life. If, after a 
trial of two years, they wish to persevere, they are 
admitted by a vote of the community and the first 
vows are taken. From three to six vears later the 
final vows are made which seclude them from the 
world. During the novitiate period the choir broth­
ers wear a white robe with a scapular and hood of 
white, and a girdle of wool instead of leather. Since 
the use of linen is forbidden to the monks all wear 
next to the body a light-weight undergarment of 
wool.
The idea that fasts and abstinences at New Melle- 
ray or at other Cistercian abbeys are perpetual 
hardships is largely erroneous. True, all in good 
health must abstain from flesh meat and fish at all 
times, but those who are weak or ill may have meat 
in the infirmary to repair their strength. Young 
men under twenty-one in the Order are not obliged 
to fast. The Trappists now partake of a light break­
fast, a full meal at mid-day, and only meager re­
freshments in the evening. The food consists of veg­
etables, cereals, fresh bread and butter, milk, and 
cheese. Eggs are used in cooking and as a supple­
mentary dish for those who have a special need. 
Fruit, too, forms an important part of the diet, and 
tea, coffee, and cocoa are used.
To an outsider the practice of perpetual silence 
seems harsh and austere, a means of penance and 
mortification of extreme difficulty. In practice, 
however, observance of the rule becomes relatively
easy, for a number of conventional signs are used to 
fulfill the common needs of communication. There 
are also certain exceptions. Any monk may always 
speak with his Superior. Others such as the Guest 
Brother, the Procurator, the farm boss, or those 
whose positions throw them in contact with out­
siders have permission to speak. If necessary other 
members of the Order may obtain permission to 
talk. Nevertheless the monks feel that the practice 
is not a hardship but a blessing, believing with St. 
Ephrem that, “ When there is silence in the mind, 
when the heart rests, when the hush of the world has 
breathed over the spirit, when the mind self-left, 
feels its loneliness, then comes the sweet and sacred 
communication with heaven.”
Manual labor at New Mellerav, both by the choir 
monks and the lay brethren, is one of the occupations 
of the community, but the amount is not excessive. 
Three to four hours daily by the choir brothers and 
twice as much by their brown-clad companions, 
equally divided between morning and afternoon, is 
the usual time spent at the various tasks of the 
Order. The distinction in the time allotted for labor 
is due to the fact that the lay brothers do not recite 
the Divine Office, although they share in the spirit­
ual benefits derived therefrom and repeat privately 
a short Office of their own.
For several years the Abbey of Our Lady of New 
Mellerav gave promise of becoming a flourishing 
community of the Cistercian Order, but of late years
308 THE PALIMPSEST
THE LIFE OF THE TRAPPISTS 309
the postulants and novices have been so few that the 
progress which characterizes the houses of the 
Order abroad has not been maintained. From fifty- 
four members in 1892 the number of monks has 
dwindled to twenty-four in 1922. When the visitor 
sees the extensive and well improved lands of the 
estate, the vacant cells in the large dormitory, and 
the empty stalls in the choir he wonders if this 
settlement of the Trappists in the Mississippi Valley 
will repeat the story of Citeaux. Will New Melleray 
Abbey, which now seems to languish, wax vigorous 
in the future, spreading its influence afar and con­
tributing to a revival of monasticism?
Certainly the five young monks from Ireland who 
have added their strength to the community within 
the past year and an awakened interest on the part 
of some young Americans in the Order furnish a 
hopeful portent to the able Superior, Father Bruno, 
and to the aged monks who have held to the ideals 
of the Cistercians so persistently during the past 
quarter of a century.
Bruce E. Mahan


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