Just a quick few words while I’m passing the time before I have to go ring the bells for Compline (night prayer).
It’s been a busy few weeks – anyone who’s seen OHP’s website – http://www.ohpwhitby.org.uk/ – will have seen the blog post (under news & events) about the Craft Fayre last weekend. That was fun but hard work. Since then, I’ve been put to work in the Bookshop as the girl who runs it has had to have an operation on her leg and is off recovering. So I’ve been in there cleaning and re-filling the shelves, and speaking nicely to all the customers who come in, and arranging the opening times. One really scary moment this week was when a local priest came in with a candle holder, wanted to know if we could get him some more, and I knew the product code for it without having to look it up (for those new to my WP, I used to work for an on-line Christian retailer, in the stock control/ordering department, and I finished there at the end of March and 7 months later I can still remember product codes).
Next week, I’m going to be spending some time at the Society of St Francis’ mother house in the UK, Alnmouth, for a study week on Celtic Saints, with their Novices and Postulants. I’m quite looking forward to this, because hopefully it means I’ll be able to catch up with my reading while I’m there! So if I’m not commenting on your posts, panic ye not, it just means I’ve not got access to an internet and will be having a major catch-up attempt on my return.
Such a lot seems to happen here on a daily basis, and then when I sit down to write about it, I forget what it is! I suppose it’s because each day actually has the same routine – get up, have a time of private prayer, have a time of corporate prayer, have breakfast, do jobs, do some study, have a class, have a time of corporate prayer, have dinner, do jobs, do some study, have a class, have afternoon tea and a gossip, check emails or practice some music, have a time of corporate prayer, have supper, have a time of relaxation, have a time of corporate prayer then go to bed!
And now, it’s time for Compline. So off I go to pray.
Nuns gossip?
Why was it scary to order a candleholder for the priest?
And I was wondering if you wore a habit but wasn’t sure if it was a gauche American thing to ask.
One of my clients was a Carmelite nun for twenty years before she met her husband. I did her hair for years before she mentioned it one day in passing, blew me away. I don’t think I had ever really thought about what nuns were like outside the church. My knowledge of nuns up until then went as far as “The Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews and Sally Field in the “Flying Nun”. Far as I know she was the only nun I have ever worked on.
Nuns are women. Therefore they gossip. It’s kind of built-in!
It was scary that I remembered the code for the item without looking it up. In fact, when he showed me the holder, my thoughts ran “that’s a WI17A, that is”, before he even asked anything about it. It’s seven months since I left my job at the online book store where I had to order these things on a daily basis, and my freak brain can still remember the product codes for all the strange and unusual church supplies that can be bought.
I do wear a habit; there ought to be a picture of me in it on a previous post. OHP wear habits all the time apart from when we’re on rest (holiday/vacation) or doing something like gardening and need to be a bit more practical. We don’t have to wear veils anymore, but there are a few Sisters who do, out of choice (or because they’re in Ghana or Swaziland and it fits with the culture).
There have been people who were in the noviciate here who’ve left because they’ve fallen in love. We’ve also had professed sisters leave, some for doctrinal reasons (one left to become Roman Catholic) and some also because of love. We’re still human under the habit, and we don’t pray all the time (although we’re supposed to try to make everything be representative of prayer). There’s quite a lot of laughter and fun at times.
There is a picture of a habit but not of you wearing it.
I think it is kind of cool that you remember that way. Right now I could use a little of that type of memory for my math homework.
What would you say the average age is in the nunnery(?). I read somewhere that at least in America the nuns are having a problem getting young novices; that they may not be able to sustain their convents because of an aging population.
Ah, right. I’ll try and sort that!
It’s sometimes cool and it’s sometimes annoying – because I remember all sorts of random things which I don’t actually need to remember any more!
The average age in the Order here is definitely over 60; in fact it’s probably over 70. There are 5 sisters who are under 50 (obviously including me) and then probably six who are in the 60-70 age bracket, and then after that everyone’s over 70. There are 39 Sisters in the order including me. The aging is seen as being an issue by those who want to use it as an excuse and yes, in part it is true, but the main reason that there are seemingly less vocations is because women can now become priests – and before that was available, a lot of women would join an order as a way of working out their vocation instead.
This was so interesting….so disciplined yet there is a freedom in your day as well. I suspect the prayers are that freedom…and perhaps the tea and gossip : ) – thanks for sharing this and letting me have a peek into your day!
Most of the discipline is self-discipline too. If I don’t get to Chapel for the private prayer on a Monday, there isn’t anyone there expecting me, so the only person who knows I’ve not done it is me (and God). There is a fair bit of free time, and I should use the time I have better – I keep making excuses to not practice my flute, for example, which is really not fair to anyone including my flute! Part of me thinks I shouldn’t perhaps follow so many blogs on here, but that’s part of my outreach and it’s not like I have to comment on everyone’s entries or read every single post.
I have to admit this is fascinating, I’ve never known what it’s like, but being raised by nuns at school I’ve always been curious!
Well, if you have any questions, Las, you know where to find me! I need to re-follow your blog because you’ve moved it. Give me a kick to get this done, please! Xxxx
A wee gift from me to you.
By the way…I am very happy to let you know that it was an ancestor of mine that was the founder of Whitby Abbey. May join you there one day. Enjoy! xx
I love that song! Thank you!
Is your ancestor St Hilda, or whoever founded what is now the ruins (which is too recent to be St Hilda’s monastery: it’s thought HIlda’s set up was lots of little wattle-and-daub cottages) or Margaret Cope aka Mother Margaret, foundress and first prioress of OHP?
I’m not that religious, but that sounds very peaceful. I had a woman in one of my classes in college who was a nun. I asked her more inane questions. Like, do you have different habits? Like are they ever in any other colors? Or is there a line of black outfits in your closet? Fortunately, she realized that though I was a smart ass, I was also curious and not dissing her thing. So she was patient with me.