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Article THE TRAPPISTS. Page 1 of 5 →
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The Trappists.
THE TRAPPISTS .
THE monastic establishments are generally the first objects which excite the attention of tbe English traveller . Their gloomy grandeur and solitary situation , so different from the simple temples of his own country , render them subjects almost of fear as well as admiration . To his mind no punishment would equal that of perpetual incarceration within their walls ; ancl unless he is sufficiently versed in that great
mystery the human heart to comprehend the enthusiasm which has led , ancl still leads , men to prefer the solitary privation of the cloister to the social enjoyments of life , he passes them over as subjects ivhich have excited his curiosity , but- whose purposes and philosophy are too deep for his investigation . Profound and many were the cogitations on . this subject of a
simpleminded north country baronet whom I stumbled upon in Rome , where some extraordinary caprice , or still more extraordinary accident , had misplaced him . The pope did not so much ] mzzle his judgment ; he readily conceived him to be a sort of king in petticoats , ancl the red-legged body of cardinals his house of lords ; but the monks , with their shaven crown and bare feet , he candidly confessed he could not comprehend .
They were too serious for jesters , and too dirty even for Roman gentlemen ! They lived in palaces , yet begged like mendicants . As we were frequently thrown into each other ' s society , I became the confidant of his thoughts upon the subject , and was amused by their ingenious speculations . He arrived at last at this conclusion—that the monks were priests who had been guilty of crimes , ancl were sentenced to the
monasteries as a sort of ecclesiastical hulks . Delighted ivith the originality of Ms discovery , he became a champion of its truth , and finding all argument upon the subject thrown away , I left him to the enjoyment of his opinion . His last words to me on my quitting the eternal city were , " Rely upon it , . the monks are no better than they should be . "
By a singular coincidence we met again at Amiens , just as I was on the point of setting out to visit an establishment of Trappists situated in its immediate neighbourhood . The very name was sufficient for the baronet ; it was au order he had never visited , and he immediately offered to accompany me , entertaining me with a history of his adventures during our ride to the place of destination , a description of which may not he uninteresting . AVithin seven miles of Amiens stands the Monastery of La Trappe ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Trappists.
THE TRAPPISTS .
THE monastic establishments are generally the first objects which excite the attention of tbe English traveller . Their gloomy grandeur and solitary situation , so different from the simple temples of his own country , render them subjects almost of fear as well as admiration . To his mind no punishment would equal that of perpetual incarceration within their walls ; ancl unless he is sufficiently versed in that great
mystery the human heart to comprehend the enthusiasm which has led , ancl still leads , men to prefer the solitary privation of the cloister to the social enjoyments of life , he passes them over as subjects ivhich have excited his curiosity , but- whose purposes and philosophy are too deep for his investigation . Profound and many were the cogitations on . this subject of a
simpleminded north country baronet whom I stumbled upon in Rome , where some extraordinary caprice , or still more extraordinary accident , had misplaced him . The pope did not so much ] mzzle his judgment ; he readily conceived him to be a sort of king in petticoats , ancl the red-legged body of cardinals his house of lords ; but the monks , with their shaven crown and bare feet , he candidly confessed he could not comprehend .
They were too serious for jesters , and too dirty even for Roman gentlemen ! They lived in palaces , yet begged like mendicants . As we were frequently thrown into each other ' s society , I became the confidant of his thoughts upon the subject , and was amused by their ingenious speculations . He arrived at last at this conclusion—that the monks were priests who had been guilty of crimes , ancl were sentenced to the
monasteries as a sort of ecclesiastical hulks . Delighted ivith the originality of Ms discovery , he became a champion of its truth , and finding all argument upon the subject thrown away , I left him to the enjoyment of his opinion . His last words to me on my quitting the eternal city were , " Rely upon it , . the monks are no better than they should be . "
By a singular coincidence we met again at Amiens , just as I was on the point of setting out to visit an establishment of Trappists situated in its immediate neighbourhood . The very name was sufficient for the baronet ; it was au order he had never visited , and he immediately offered to accompany me , entertaining me with a history of his adventures during our ride to the place of destination , a description of which may not he uninteresting . AVithin seven miles of Amiens stands the Monastery of La Trappe ,