The Secret Harbour blog takes its title from some words of St Bruno:Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Saint Bruno's letter to his sons the CarthusiansThe sidebar gives the text in the original so here it is for all you Latin students:
Gaudete, quia evasistis fluctuantis mundi multimoda pericula et naufragia. Gaudete, quia quietam et tutam stationem portus secretioris obtinuistis. Ex Epistola sancti Brunonis ad filios suos CarthusiensesJeffrey S.J. Allan, the blog author, writes from Bel Air, Maryland USA and posts on matters to do with prayer, contemplation and especially the Carthusians. There are some good Carthusian related pictures too.
I was at St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, today to give my theology class for the novices and simply professed. The numbers are down a little but for good reasons: two of my students are now engaged in more immediate preparation for their solemn profession and are excused the distractions of theology class. After class, I always join the community for Vespers at 3.45pm. At this time of year, it is almost dark by the time Vespers finishes at about 4.30pm so we sing the Carthusian version of the solemn Salve Regina in the dark. The custom is to sing the first words kneeling and then kiss the bookrest as a sign of penance.
Parkminster has its own website which has some good photos - including the one above.
4 comments:
Thank you Father Finigan for promoting Secret Harbor on your blog. As a frequent reader of The Hermeneutic of Continuity, plus watching you on EWTN, I am honored and blessed to have you mention my blog. Once again, I thank you wholeheartedly.
For some reason hardly anyone seems to know that there are Carthusian nuns (really Carthusian, not just wearing Carthusian hoods).
So - there are Carthusian nuns. Monasteries in Italy, France, Spain and South Korea. Consider it :-)
Oh yes, Carthusian Nuns. Not many of them but they do indeed exist. Probably the most exclusive places in the world! It is good to know that they are praying for us.
That would indeed not be an easy life, and not something to be entered into lightly. But so many of us lack the sense to pray for ourselves, or to pray well, that it's good to know others are praying for us.
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