Abbey on the Isle of Wight.
Prayer is an essential part of
abbey life and services are held seven times a day
I was going to write a summary of the life at the Abbey, but, I found an article in a paper that did a nice job, so, of course, I copied it...
3:21PM GMT 07 Feb 2011
1 Comment
The chance to sidestep the distractions of a frenetic world is rare. It's
reassuring, therefore, to discover that there are places where the outside world
need not intrude. A retreat can offer spiritual sanctuary, perhaps, but above
all, peace, quiet and even silence.
Quarr Abbey, a Benedictine monastery on the Isle of Wight, is one such refuge
where solitude and contemplation are the order of the day. I spent five days at
the abbey to see how easy it is to shut out normal life, to be away from family
and friends and, for a short time at least, to avoid the stresses and demands of
modern living. What, I wondered as I made my way to the monastery, would it be
like to give work, television, radio, the internet, the pub and shops a break,
and to be alone with my thoughts?
Initially, it felt just like going back to school. The neo-Gothic Quarr Abbey
– pronounced "Corr" – dates from 1912 and is an imposing, red-brick edifice
designed by a monk, Dom Paul Bellot.
Its formality and rigid lines – and the cold corridors – had more than a
whiff of the scholastic but Father Nicholas, who oversees the guesthouse where
retreatants live during their stay, soon dispelled any such associations.
He also encapsulated the monastery's purpose as a place of contemplative prayer and reflection by recalling the words of American Trappist monk Thomas Keating, who said that it should "provide a calm space in a world of clutter and noise".
The Benedictines have long welcomed guests, and the tradition of monastic hospitality goes back to the desert monks of third-century Egypt; Saint Benedict himself is regarded as the father of Western monasticism.
Guests are left to their own devices by the monks, so offering the chance to wander the 180 acres of beautifully kept grounds. Alternatively you can explore farther afield (the town of Ryde is nearby) as it's by no means a requirement that you stay on abbey premises, although doing so rather can ruin the point of the retreat.
Only 10 monks currently constitute the community at Quarr and their day-to-day life revolves not only around prayer and contemplation, but also activities as diverse as bookbinding, running the bookshop, overseeing a tea shop, gardening, beekeeping and rearing pigs and cattle.
Prayer, of course, is an essential part of abbey life and services are held seven times a day beginning with Vigils (at 5.30am) followed by Lauds, Mass, Sext, None and Vespers until Compline (at 8pm) in a sublime setting notable for its imposing arches and rows of exquisitely carved choir stalls".
He also encapsulated the monastery's purpose as a place of contemplative prayer and reflection by recalling the words of American Trappist monk Thomas Keating, who said that it should "provide a calm space in a world of clutter and noise".
The Benedictines have long welcomed guests, and the tradition of monastic hospitality goes back to the desert monks of third-century Egypt; Saint Benedict himself is regarded as the father of Western monasticism.
Guests are left to their own devices by the monks, so offering the chance to wander the 180 acres of beautifully kept grounds. Alternatively you can explore farther afield (the town of Ryde is nearby) as it's by no means a requirement that you stay on abbey premises, although doing so rather can ruin the point of the retreat.
Only 10 monks currently constitute the community at Quarr and their day-to-day life revolves not only around prayer and contemplation, but also activities as diverse as bookbinding, running the bookshop, overseeing a tea shop, gardening, beekeeping and rearing pigs and cattle.
Prayer, of course, is an essential part of abbey life and services are held seven times a day beginning with Vigils (at 5.30am) followed by Lauds, Mass, Sext, None and Vespers until Compline (at 8pm) in a sublime setting notable for its imposing arches and rows of exquisitely carved choir stalls".
