Monks and nuns were individuals who voluntarily chose to enter monastic life during the Middle Ages, living in communal settings with a strict schedule of prayer, work, and study. They dedicated themselves to a life of simplicity, poverty, and celibacy, with various roles assigned to individuals based on their skills and abilities. Christian women who vowed to live a simple ascetic life of chastity were attested to from the 4th century CE or earlier.
Monks went to bed early, just after 6 pm in winter or 8 pm in summer, but did not usually have an unbroken sleep. Monastic life was a rigorous and structured experience, with daily routines revolved around prayer, work, and personal reflection. Monks and nuns worked to secure their own salvation and seek the salvation of others through prayer. Monastic life appealed to many in the Middle Ages, and many Roman Catholic and Orthodox monasteries survive worldwide.
During the fourth and fifth century, monasticism allowed women to join monasteries, while monastic men are called monks, friars, or brothers. Monks provided service to the church by copying manuscripts, creating art, educating people, and working as missionaries.
Under Jainism, two groups were formed: monks and nuns, held under strict orders and given the heavy burden of reducing karma. Buddhist monks emerged from Hinduist monks, who performed practical services such as housing travelers, nursing the sick, and assisting the poor. Monasticism offered society a spiritual outlet and ideal with important consequences for medieval culture as a whole.
The beginnings of monastic life of the nuns, like his brothers, go back to the first three centuries AD. Buddhist nuns are simple and disciplined, involving study, meditation, and service. Monasteries often have guest accommodations, and monks or nuns live a monastic type of spirituality, gathering in the chapel.
📹 Inside a Boston monastery, 9 nuns are contemplating their futures
The Franciscan Monastery of St. Clare in Massachusetts is closing, but the nuns are seeing it as an opportunity.
What is nun life like?
Sisters in a convent are a family dedicated to the flourishing of each member, sharing responsibilities such as cooking and cleaning. They live in the motherhouse, which serves as the “headquarters” for the order. Their time of formation focuses on prayer, study, community life, recreation, and responsibilities around the house. Once in the apostolate, they may work in schools, hospitals, missions, or offices, pursue advanced degrees, or do a mix of things.
Despite their busy schedules, they strive to remain faithful to their common life, praying, eating, and recreating together to stay connected with Jesus and each other. Sisters in the apostolate may return to the motherhouse for annual retreats, feast days, and other gatherings with the rest of their order.
Where do monks and nuns sleep?
In some orders, monks or nuns reside in a dormitory setting, whereas eremitic orders, such as the Carthusians, utilize small houses with separate gardens as their living quarters. In Buddhism, a vihara is a residential arrangement analogous to a Christian monastery, and the term “kuti” is employed. Other religious orders include Kathisma, Skete, Poustinia, Therapeutae, and Lavra.
How many times a day did monks eat?
The Cistercian order adhered to St. Benedict’s rules, which dictated mealtimes. During the busy summer months, there were two daily meals, one at midday and one in the evening. Exceptions included fasting days on Wednesdays and Fridays, and one meal during Lent. Cistercian meals were minimally meat-heavy, consisting of simple vegetable dishes, porridge, and legumes. Meat from four-legged animals was reserved for the sick, and only fish and poultry were allowed. Each monk received one pound of dark rye bread and a half “Schoppen” (1/2 pint) of wine mixed with water. Fruit was also included daily, mainly from their monastery gardens.
Meals were shared in the refectory, where monks sat next to each other at a long table. Speaking was prohibited, and communication was done through hand signals. Breaking the rules could result in punishment. One monk would read from a pulpit along the east wall of the refectory, and after eating, they would proceed to the church for a prayer of thanks.
How did monks and nuns spend their days?
Medieval nuns and monks shared similar daily lives, consisting of singing eight services, devotional reading, and manual labor. Nuns were expected to sleep in communal dormitories and dine in communal refectories, with conversation and private property being forbidden. However, as women, they couldn’t be ordained priests or celebrate Mass, and their devotional reading was often in English rather than Latin. Their strict rules of enclosure meant they couldn’t leave the monastery and undertake tasks in the wider community.
Where did monks and nuns sleep?
Monasticism, a Christian tradition that emerged in the fourth century, was a way of life for monks and nuns in western Europe. This lifestyle, which included the refectory, dorter, chapter house, and cloister, offered spiritual purpose and a better hope of salvation. The concept of withdrawal from society was essential to the Christian tradition of monasticism, which derives from the Greek word monachos, meaning a solitary person. In regions around the eastern Mediterranean, monks and nuns withdrew into the Egyptian desert to withstand temptations from the devil.
Cenobitic monasticism, on the other hand, involved retreating into communities of like-minded ascetics committed to daily work and prayer. Some monks and nuns settled far from cities and towns, seeking lives of devotion and self-denial in inhospitable or fortified locations, while others flourished in populous places where they could withdraw from the world in spirit while remaining nearby to offer instruction and guidance.
Monasteries played a significant role in medieval culture by encouraging literacy, promoting learning, and preserving ancient literature. Monastic composers enriched the scope and sophistication of choral music, and monasticism developed a close partnership with the visual arts. Religious houses became active patrons of the arts, and the monastic obligation to perform manual work allowed many monks and nuns to serve God as creative artists.
Some monks and nuns signed their works with words that seemed intended not only to name the maker but also to identify the object as a prayerful offering. For example, the Latin inscription on an exquisite silver chalice translates to “In honor of the Blessed Virgin brother Bertinus made this in the year 1222”, while the three nuns who made a fourteenth-century lace altarcloth included their own names in the fabric along with the wish, “May our work be acceptable to you, o kindly Jesus”.
What was the typical life of a monk?
Monks typically commence their daily regimen at an early hour, frequently preceding sunrise, to engage in devotional practices, contemplative exercises, and occupational tasks. They dedicate a significant portion of their day to prayer and meditation, participate in communal meals, and engage in work or study.
What do monks and nuns do all day?
Religious life in Christianity involves a period of apprenticeship, where a candidate must live alongside their chosen community before spending years as a “novice”. After this, they have the choice to leave the community or make a formal commitment to a religious life. Buddhist monks and nuns may not always be required to make a lifelong commitment, as they first spend time living in the monastic community to learn about its ways. In Thailand, they can return to lay life after a few years, while in the Tibetan school, they must make a lifelong commitment to study the teachings of the Buddha and share them with others.
Christian monastic orders have slightly different principles depending on the founder’s motivations, with nuns in enclosed orders focusing solely on prayer, and those in apostolic orders working in the community.
What did monks do all day?
Brothers in a monastery were expected to follow orders and not complain about their jobs. They were expected to perform tasks such as cooking, serving, washing, running errands, being nice to others, farming, looking after the sick, and reading and writing. They attended religious services daily, with Matins at midnight, Lauds at 3am, Prime at 6am, Terce, Sext, and None before dinner, and Vespers at 6pm.
Monks slept in dormitories of 10 or 20 and slept fully clothed, removing their knives to avoid self-cutting. Food was provided only for sick individuals, with meals served midday, mid-afternoon, and later in summer. Each monk received a pound of bread and half a bottle of wine daily. Younger monks were given less than their elders, and those who did the hardest physical work received extra. During summer, monks fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, resulting in a lack of midday meals unless they were working in the fields.
What time do nuns go to bed?
At 6:30 p. m., the bell calls for an hour of recreation for the nuns, a time of joyful fellowship and relaxation. The nuns discuss various topics, such as their daily work and the lives of saints, while occupying their hands with needlepoint, artwork, stamp-making, rosary-making, and sewing. The recreation period can be spent outdoors, pruning trees, picking Job’s tears for rosary beads, or planting flowers in the Lourdes grotto.
The Hour of Compline (Night Prayer) is said at 7:30 p. m., followed by the General Examen and Great Silence descends upon Corpus Christi Monastery. The Holy Rule instructs the nuns to keep silence from the hour of Compline until Terce, and to continue this silence in the Church, dormitory, and refectory while eating.
The nuns retire to their cells by 9:00 p. m., reading or doing quiet work before lying down for a few hours before rising again at 12:30 a. m. for a new day of Poor Clare life in Corpus Christi Monastery. The Abbess’ blessing Terce (Midmorning Prayer) is 9:30 a. m.
Visitandine, Visitation Nuns, St. Margaret Mary, and daily life in the cloister are also important aspects of the nuns’ daily life.
What was the life style of a monk?
The monks were devout, leading austere existences in accordance with a rigorous code of conduct. The monks wore a habit, a simple garment, and were not in possession of any material belongings. They elected to reside in the monastery for the purpose of assisting others and engaging in worship of God.
📹 What Did Medieval Monks Do All Day?
Did you ever wonder what medieval monks actually did all day long? Well, mystery solved: this excerpt from episode 13 of OneĀ …
This is really sad 😥 but it is never too late. It should be taken as a learning curve. I think an office can be opened at Vatican that will oversee all the the challenges being faced by different religious men and women e.g. if all the churches around the world collected money to help repair the Convent. What would stop the sisters to continue enjoying their stay and finally it being their final resting place? Do we not say “Home is best” what lovely and humble sisters they are! They have accepted their predicament with such godly surrender. God bless them and still pray that this monumental convent will still be in the hands of the Catholic Church. You never know God’s ways are mysterious. We may find that we shall be short of Convents in the near future hence we should strive to hold on to these holy places. God intercede for us for you are a Merciful Father. Amen 🙏🏽
The Catholic church has so much money, there is no reason that their most devoted sisters are left in such pitiable conditions. Surely they deserve more tenderness and care. It would be pennies for the church to build them a brand new, accessible monastery altogether, and provide them with caregivers in their golden years. The church teaches that the elderly should be cherished and cared for, and they certainly have the means to do that, so they absolutely should. To do less and leave them to care for themselves is not only negligent, but morally unacceptable. It is one thing for a sister to take a vow of poverty, it is quite another for the church to interpret that as being released from caring for their basic needs.
In the wake of Vatican II several Poor Clare monasteries in the UK have closed. I lived next door to one in Green Lanes, Liverpool that closed because the remaining few sisters were very old and they had not had sufficient novices to keep up the viability of the community. They were transferred to the York Poor Clare Monastery and then that closed down. I was not in the UK when the Liverpool Poor Clare monastery was closed and then demolished but I would have been there to see them off if i had been still there. It must have been a very sad day when they few remaining nuns came out of their cloister and locked the door behind them and said goodbye. One of the nuns I spoke to at the parlour grille together with the Abbess had entered when she was sixteen and was nearly ninety when I last saw her. Thankfully she died before they had to move out.
Monasteries that have maintained the Latin Mass are flourishing, and are full of young, professed monks and nuns. The changes stemming from Vatican II are what have destroyed much of the Church. The proof is found what you see in this article. The nuns should have kept the double grille and the full veil, the Office in Latin, and the faith of all time. This nun speaking about “your faith” should be talking about The Faith instead: the Catholic faith that has come to us from the apostles, rather than the ecumenical nonsense coming from Vatican II.
this is very sad. Im not understanding why the church allowed these women to dwindle to such state in that Monastery? Why didn’t they help them years ago before these ladies advanced so far in age. None the less I do hope and pray that they find an equally beautiful new home together and living out the remaining years they have with happiness, love and devotion until it is there time to go home
God protect the Sisters and bless their service to Him. I pray they will be at peace in their new home. Most thriving communities are ones that still use the traditional Latin Mass and hold fast to traditions. Those communities are bursting at the seams with young vocations and are needing to expand by making new foundations. Many communities that made changes after Vatican II have not made it.
I love the NUNS, my heart loves you all so much💖. I thank my best friends sister who is a Nun, she prayed for me. ā”Many years later I came to CHRIST it was her prayers that saved me through JESUS CHRIST. (As I was a big sinner)😔 Also I became Catholic, the best thing I have ever done. “GOD BLESS NUNS”🎯 Amen Amen Amen.
There are still religious communities that are growing to this day. The unfortunate thing is that the longer a community goes without a new member the more likely it is to never get one as sort of a self fulfilling prophecy. I am very happy to see that the faith and love of these sisters is still vibrant despite these issues. They clearly have a deep faith in providence.
Christians have not to be attached to any material thing. Things are just means. This building was useful when the sisters were many more than they are now. Now the sisters are much fewer than before so that building is not useful for that use any more, and they have to leave it with no regrets. A building is nothing compared to God.
I struggle with aging. My body has aged so fast due to illness. I’m 63but my body is more like 83. I cannot even walk with a normal gait anymore and I used to enjoy long distance walking, and exercising. I look at these sisters and the one speaking moves better than I do. I pray to god about it and offer it up, but it is hard.
The facility needs repair or demolished and rebuild . Making co ed retired Nuns and Priest . Housing foster Teen preparation for college or seminary . Thank you Sisters in Jesus Christ to answer your calling and long years of dedication . The prayer of the righteous are heard and answer in the lord time .
So why don’t they bring Sisters or Nuns from other countries. They can train other Sisters. If you really need nuns, Priests ect, you can always invite and welcome in foreigners as im sure they would be forever grateful too. Especially if they came from poorer countries. Godbless and i hope God always protects them and guides them. 🙏🙏🙏
Nuns play a most important role in the RC church that most outsiders of the church can only begin to comprehend. I pray for women to continue to pursue this extremely beautiful and equally extreme important vocation so that along with these nuns here, the Pope, clergy and all us faithful in the world can continue to fulfill Gods will here on earth until the second comming of our lord Jesus Christ. I pray this through Christ our Lord Amen 🙏🙏
It’s called the “Fruits” of Vatican II. A handful of aging nuns with no vocations. If they used the Latin Mass they would have plenty of young sisters to keep it going. All traditional religious orders are growing and thriving. This is yet one of many Monastic houses that is closing as a result of modernization. I’d say I feel bad about it, but I really don’t. It’s their own fault for abandoning Tradition!
Greetings nuns. I remember back when I were a kid. Mother Teresa had died apparently. The news man told a story. Mother Teresa had been in a country, tending the sick and wounded. Some disease or another. The local townfolks went to the constable, they wanted her thrown out of town. The man come, he saw and said “When your wives and daughters will do the work she is doing, I will throw her out.” I don’t know how true the story were. I always remembered it however.
The head of the theology department at Loyola University in a large midwestern city told me 40 years ago that “We now know that Jesus is not the way, but a way.” That sort of says it all for the last half century in the Catholic church. It’s not whether you speak English or Latin or speak in tongues– each renewal thinks there is some trick. Rather the ‘trick’ is to hold fast in faith to our Lord Jesus Christ and to not be embarrassed to proclaim his name to those around you. Monasteries are the very heart of prayer within the Church but we must all pray for our own vocation. Renewal is coming but we need to hold fast and go in Spirit and in Truth and without engendering division. Amen?
I am a methodist, born, raised, married, bothered, grandmothered, and sadly divorced. Yet of only one marriage. 41 plus years. In my studies I find the nine to represent the 10 commandments minus adultery. My mother was a born Catholic, and in marrying my Father became a Methodist. Nunns do not marry therefore not adulterous. I, in marriage did not commit adultery. Honor thy mother and father is not as easy as it sounds. When God closes a door a window opens… don’t forget to take your windows, so they don’t get abandoned in a garbage dump.
Hugue empty buildings should be occupied by the poor and families who sre struggling with their children… God gives so they can give away but all have stached the monies to secure their own lives… thus Christ will not accept such behavior. Any organization that focused selfishly inward will lose.
Many hungry and injured people,knocked on monastery’s doors for help. Monks would bake bread,and bring it to folks and exchange it with other things that was needed at the monastery, like fruits and vegetables etc. they received a lot of respect from the town folks,before watches,the monks would sound the bell so people in the fields knew the time.
What almost EVERYONE doesn’t know is that during the “dark age” the kings and royals had all the power and control of pretty much everything. It was after he monks and nuns decided to come out of their convents and monasteries that Europe came out of the dark ages. IT WAS THE TEACHINGS and guidance of monks and nuns that helped society to progress, NOT the governments.
One thing that could be mentioned is that the monasteries provided material relief for those in need at a time when there was no social welfare. They also provided hospitality, especially for pilgrims. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 16th Century there was nowhere for the poor to seek assistance, resulting in the appalling workhouses which employed child labour for those who couldn’t pay their debts. Two good books on this subject are: “The Medieval Machine” by Jean Gimpell and “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
Most monks were educated and thus were skilled at different trades so monasteries were able to generate profits with useful products. Also, the monasteries were able to keep learning alive. Members of the clergy were skilled in writing legal documents but employed their skills in managing the finances of many noblemen.
The incidental wealth of the Benedictine monestaries lead groups like the Carmelites to rule that no house should be more than 15, to keep it small and simple. This same rhythem continues today in very strict houses, like Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma and O.L.Guadalupe monestary in silver city n.m. the Carthusians in Vt. A medieval monk would have little trouble fitting in there.
I am a 51 year old Catholic who is taking care of his elderly father. I attend a Franciscan church and attend Mass six days a week. I want to live the monastic life based on the ideals of St. Francis. I believe my vocation is to be a layman who lives a voluntary simple life dedicated to Jesus Christ. I found this article during my research into monastic life. God bless.
You fail to mention the charitable works of the monks. The poor depended on the monastic largesse, and when Henry VIII despoiled the monasteries and ousted the inhabitants, the monks were not the only ones starving in the fields and lanes. In those times, the indigent and starving could not hope for governmental support.
Go into the cities, towns, villages and farms. Teach the people the prayers in the Psalms, the wisdom of Proverbs, the Gospels of the Lord. Teach the peasants in their own native tongue. Perhaps teach them how to read their own language and to read such things in their own language. Pity, the Catholic Church would never permit such a life and work like what I have just described. They would have me burning at the stake for that. To this very day, one would be hard pressed, to find a church that would teach about fasting and prayer for the sins of ones nation and for the sins of whatever tribe one may hail from. The church failed to teach. Probably why so many have left and don’t seem to be returning any time soon.
In the late 12th Century the Cistercians of Yorkshire were so rich they were able to pay the ransom for kidnapped Richard the Lionhearted to the Knights of Rhodes. In turn they won concessions from the monarchy. By the advent of the Renaissance the monastic system had grown to the point that it was tying up too much of the wealth of the emerging Nation-States. While Henry VIII was notorious for it, most Catholic states dissolved their monasteries too. One of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperors told the monks to either become parish priests or leave the religious life altogether and get jobs.
I have read the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters and the monastic life, amidst the culture of 12th Century England, is very similar, if not identical, to what you have presented here. Cadfael was a Benedictine monk who came to the monastic life after having been a Crusader. I read the books for their historical value as much as for the (mostly) murder mysteries. Thank you for your excellent presentation!
Very educational and interesting, also I love the title of the article xD So may I suggest you put your sources in the description or at the end of the article? It help a ton with fact-checking and credibility š I would like to be able to research deeper into the activities of monks in the middle ages, particularly the thing you said about them clearing forests and draining swamps. Unless, ofcourse, you have more articles going more in depths about monastic orders?
Read ” The Brother Caedfel Mysteries” by Peters, the story of an ex-Crusader, leading a Monastic Life as an Apothecary, in Shrewsbury Abbey ( Welsh Border area,) solving Murders and other Mysterious occurrences by Forensic Techniques. Over 20 volumes, explains all the ins and outs of a Benedictine Monastry in the 1200s ( Time of Civil War between King Steven and Queen Margaret)
If MGTOWs and INCELs had any kind of faith they could stop moping around, join a monastic order, and make themselves useful. I’ve been to a monastery and it’s a very busy place. The monk I met was in charge of greeting and welcoming and guiding visitors. We participated from a visitors gallery in one of the canonical hours. This particular monk had musical ability and played a piece on a harpsichord which he constructed in a workshop on the property. They lead full lives punctuated by prayer.
Many of the men you showed were not monks but Franciscan Friars. Friars are much different from monks. First, monks take a vow of stability (the Monastery where the person enters is the place where the monk stays for life, leaving only to help start another monastery – a daughter house – only if ordered by the abbot). Friars move about regularly. Monks earn money (support for the monastery) by providing things to sell, by working in the fields, and having schools. Friars are mendicants – they beg for alms. Please note that even though Saint Benedict started the order while there was only one Church, the Benedictines are primarily Roman Catholics. There are Benedictine Monasteries outside the Roman Church. Orthodox Monks are different from Benedictines, although they do many of the same things as Monks of “Western” traditions.
After centuries of generous donations, legacies and bequests, by the 16th Century the Monastic Orders in England had become wealthier than the Crown! Who knows where this might have ended had Henry VIII and his chief advisers not had the foresight to bring about the dissolution of the monasteries. The dissolution of the monasteries and bringing the religious leadership under secular control was undoubtedly a major factor in England and later Britain’s rise to global dominance. Despite Spain and Portugal’s enormous wealth from their first-mover empires, their failure to bring religious extremism under secular control ultimately shifted power northwards towards England, Holland and France. We owe a great deal of gratitude to Harry and his key advisers for starting the English Reformation with this key step of ending the power of the rising theocratic behemoth in England.
Investors should invest in the monastism of middle ages for as long as in modern times, meals should be fix not letting them overfeed and too much. Experienced by Ferdinand Magelan on the sea while exploring for more vayage of discoveries of lands. Hernando Cortez who reached Mexico when he captured Montezuma and placed him in a prison cell when he denied to be converted to Christianity. Hernando Cortez might have been used food torturing method for Montezuma to cave in same thing happen with Hernando Cortez troops inside Spanish Armada when rationing foods to eat, very limited while onboard the ship going to voyage for more discoveries. There is no such thing as modern monastism in 21st century programs where the members are purely following middle ages method of preserving monks upbringing with modern approach innovations for students sake learning advantage in connection with lockdown and COVID 19 era of our time. Monasteries in foreign lands are of big help in contenueing sites of learning for modern citizens to enroll with in 2022 onward years program, investors could invest into such thing.
I’m sure there was a lot of illicit stuff in them monasteries……chastity….nahhhh….. My aunt was a Benedictine nun…. She did work hard all her life in an around the monastery….many times they tried to bring in fresh new recruits male and female….. Yeah….. Use your imagination….yeap…they mixed it up…..and many of them got bored and left…..and they left mostly to get married and to have a normal family…… I know…..I have relatives who tried and could not handle life in the monastery….. I did like my Benedictine aunt…..she was good to me…but not so to some of the other brothers…..I always loved to visit her in the big fancy monastery…..👍
One third of catholic adults peopled the monastaries in those days. Millions were turned away because they had no more space. They were the social workers taking care of the orphans, the old and the sick. The land contracts with the farmers were 100 year leases. The rent required was 10 percent and was considered their tithe. If there was a bad crop or some other family problem and the 10 percent could not be met for that year, it was forgiven unlike the modern banks or government that forclose or reposess. Then came the plague. Millions died and these millions of social workers died because they took care of the sick to save the families. Then they had to take in less then qualified persons to repeople the monasteries. This led to the protestant rebelion started by bad priest who did not like the vows of poverty, chastity and obediance. War broke out between catholics and pretestants and monastaries were looted and destroyed in the protestant nations. Then the freemasons started and were peopled by protestants. Then a group of these guys had a revolution and started the first democratic nation of the Black beast (the United States). Then the French Revolution took over France and killed all the catholic nobility, the catholic king and queen. Then they put together a 5 million man army and swept through Europe destroying catholic churches and monastaries. They hunted down priest and murdered them. On and on till this day.
What a missed opportunity! For millennia second born sons were encouraged to join the monastery for very good reasons! But you missed it! Also, the only place people could get an education was at a monastery – why is that? Because that’s where the books were. Monks created colleges. Teaching was a major draw that tempted even the wealthy.
Don’t tell me how much harder the monks had it than us ‘regular’ folks. Us “regular” people (married or single) have bills to pay… mortgages, rent, taxes, utilities, etc. And married folks have kids to feed, clothe, and care for…plus medical and insurance costs. And FYI a lot of us ‘regular’ folks also pray…but don’t make such a big show out of it.
You obviously didn’t research your subject they spend most of their time writing copies of scripture Paula catechisms and other written documentation they didn’t have typewriters in those days so everything was handwritten we have them to think for the preservation of the scripture and its accuracy when they translated it some of the Dead Sea Scrolls like Isaiah it hadn’t changed even though many of these monks or writing in their own languages Greek or Latin the main content stayed exactly the same that was written in the Septuagint 200 years before Christ was born so I guess that telephone analogy is really bunk. Because of a monk
So what about those ‘monasteries ‘ in the Mexican region of America . They simply enslaved the indians if not mistaken to toil for and build the monasteries. Then in West Australia there were orphanages run by the church for British orphans..maybe they were part monasteries… and the orphans used as basically slave labor also . Wasn’t there a scandal recently in Canada?
They didnt make new humans either right? They may be credited for their work ethics but if they had to deal with my ADHD son that refuses to listen to you even if you pot roasted his favorite dalmatian…… Life is tough for a lot of us. BEING a family man AND a devoted Christian is far more difficult than any Monk will ever know became that Monk is abstinent.
i don’t think so….this article exposition of a monk’s daily life is a highly stylized, idealized, and romanticized view……the monasteries were actually seething restless unwashed conflicted groups of men who were variously in the throes of religious ecstasy, deep depression, endless sexual maladventurism, suppressed anger and defiance of authority, and wide ranging obsessive-compulsive neuroses, from various backgrounds of poverty, disease, starvation, abuse and child labor exploitation………they came together in monasteries as a survival strategy where they could pool their advantage through their work efforts and deeply seated growing political power into a societal force that eventually could hardly be resisted or contradicted………..in England the wealthy highly politicized monasteries were destroyed en masse in the 1500’s, and as the modern era approached in the late 1600’s monasticism quickly became unpopular with young men as soon as other more interesting survival strategies became available, such as coal mining and the various advances, such as they were, of the industrial revolution…..in medieval times few men who had any other viable choices became celibate cloistered monks. Monasticism in the middle ages would be roughly comparable to being an accountant in a successful national accounting firm today….it was an occupation that was safe, low key, predictable, well-fed, and had a future that rarely involved being killed in battle or lost at sea. Many in the religious monastic orders had no faith in God at all but they had faith in their Abbott or Prior.
They took simple teachings of Jesus and man being who he is with an evil leaning heart perverted the way the light the love. Monks paganised Christianity by making repetition rule of the day with chanting burning candles constantly and distilling the fruit of the earth making champagne, many harder brews to sell and support themselves.
No, Reformers said things like, “The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24ā25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23ā25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us.” – Martin Luther