26 December, “… on the Feast of Stephen.”
I am up in Poppi with our nuns again, what I describe as my favorite place in the world for several reasons, but especially because of the location itself and being with these ladies themselves. We were a carload coming up from Rome, George and Genesio from San Gregorio with an old friend of the community named Adriana, and there were already two other guests here with the nuns eating pranzo when we arrived. There was a great spirit around the dinner table to which I think we added, holiday joy and familial bonds, old friendships and what by now feels like a coming home to me. I am leading a retreat here on music and meditation with my dear friend the amazing singer Gitanjali (Lori) Rivera from California starting Monday evening, but I came up early with the others because our young brother Adaikalam, who lives with us in Rome, is getting ordained deacon tomorrow at Camaldoli itself, 10k from here. And that was just too good an excuse to come up, get to see the brothers there at the mother house and have a little Christmas break with the sisters here before starting to work.
I’ve been wanting to record the events of these last months before they slip completely out of my short-term memory. All told I have been in eight countries in the last two months.
The first stop was Belgium. My destination was the Benedictine monastery at Maredsous, famous because it was the home of Columba Marmion, the well-known Irish priest who became a monk and future abbot of Maredsous and one of the most influential Catholic authors of the early 20th century. Maybe it was because it was dark and blustery weather, but the whole place was quite imposing, huge and shadowy, in that neo-Gothic style that was so popular in the 19th century monastic revival. And of course not at all without its own classic beauty and majesty. The reason for my being there was for the annual meeting of AIM, Alliance Inter Monasteres (or Alliance for International Monasticism in English), a post-conciliar organization that promotes and aids monastic foundations in developing countries. Our organization DIMMID was originally a sub-committee of AIM, and the head of AIM and the head of DIMMID serve on each other’s board ex-ufficio. This was my first time meeting the board in person. Last year I presented my report online. Abbot Bernard Laurent, the president of AIM and former abbot of Maredsous itself), was appointed at the same time as I was and is coming down to Rome in January for my first international board meeting. I was glad to meet the other members of the board, along them the abbot presidents of both branches of Cistercians, and two nuns which I know from other encounters.
In addition, I got to meet two storied elders. One was Fr. Pierre de Bethune, OSB, who was the very first Secretary General of DIMMID. He was prior of his community, St. Andrè de Clerlande, also in Belgium, for 16 years, and has also been steeped in the Zen tradition for decades now. He has two of his books in English on the theme “interreligious hospitality.” We had exchanged a few emails, but this was to be our first face-to-face encounter. At 92 years old, it was a big deal for him to drive himself over the Maredsous, and as I arrived he was waiting for me, and we were able to spend a good hour or so together. He still has a lot to say and obviously rich wisdom to offer. When I took over the job Fr. William had urged me to try to get to meet Pierre while there was still a chance. I was on my way to France after that to meet the French speaking contingent of DIMMID, and since Pierre did not feel well enough to make the trip, he loaded me down with materials to take for the meeting there. The other person at the meeting who I did not expect was Fr. Armand Veilleux, OCSO. I was sitting next to Abbot Brendan of Belmont Abbey, England and suddenly I noticed a white beared Trappist across the table, and I whispered to him, “Is that Armand Veilleux?” And when he nodded yes, I said, “That’s like meeting God.” He is Canadian by birth, a well-known author, served as abbot of Holy Spirit Monastery in Georgia and Scourmont Abbey in Chimay, Belgium, as well as assistant to the Abbot General of the OCSOs in the 1990s. It was in that latter role that he had the awful task of identifying the bodies of his friends, the monks of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibhirine, Algeria who were kidnapped and martyred in 1996 during the Algerian civil war. Fr. Armand had given them their annual retreat just a few weeks before. Armand has been with AIM since its inception in 1966 (!) and this was was to be Armando’s last meeting, so I was very fortunate. (I wound up getting to spend more time with him since he did come to the DIM meeting in France the next week.) It was such a blessing to be in the presence of both of these elder monks, to get their darshan, you might say. And they could not have been more gracious with me. I was to get two more elders of that rank in the next few weeks.
I somehow missed the memo about them changing the dates of that AIM meeting and wound up getting there a day late and staying a day longer, after everyone else had left, and with very few people around who spoke English! But that afforded me a day and a half of free time to walk and read and write. The monks could not have been more gracious, and the monastic liturgies were very nourishing, aesthetically beautiful in every way (which I know is a reputation that the French-influenced monks carry) including very solid creative original, and sometimes quite sophisticated music for their chanting.
My next stop was Jouarre, just east of Paris. Because my train was rather early out of Namur, about an hour away, on Monday morning, I got a hotel room there for the night on Sunday and got to explore that town a little by night. I had a very complicated train trip to Paris Gare du Nord, because my train from Namur broke down and I missed a connection, and then had no idea how to get my ticket for the local train after walking to Paris Gare de l’Est, which everyone seemed to think was going to be easy, but I somehow made it to Le Fertè-sous-Jouarre Monday evening, where I was met by the lovely Yann Vagneux, who by now feels like an old friend. Yann is a French priest of the Congregation of the Foreign Missionaries of Paris, an expert in Hinduism who has lived in Benares for many years, and also the author of several books. And everyone I know seems to know him. We had only met online until we met in person in Rome during the Nostra Aetate gathering at the Greg, but now he always greets me with “My dear Cyprian.” He ushered me over the DIM France meeting at the Benedictine women’s abbey Notre Dame de Jouarre.
There I
must say I was greeted like a visiting celebrity. I had met several of the organizing
members of DIM France online during one planning meeting and had also
corresponded with them numerous times as we planned this gathering. Sr.
Cristine was especially helpful. She had been the secretary for AIM for years
besides her involvement in DIM and was the main mover and shaker of this
gathering. She also speaks pretty good English. Armand was there again, as was Frere
Benoit Billot of Saint Benoît Priory in Etoilles, just south of Paris. Frere
Benoit, at the ripe old age of 92, has been one of the pillars of monastic
interreligious dialogue in France, with a particular specialty in Zen Buddhism,
having studied with the famous German Jesuit Willigis Jaeger and founded a
school of the spiritual life for lay people called La Maison Tobie. He also has
an impressive list of books authored, co-authored or edited. He and I had also
corresponded quite a bit and I was anxious to meet and spend some time with
him. We got to do with the gracious aid of an American woman who was there for
the meeting who married a Frenchman and has been living in France for decades
serving as translator. Now in my late 60s I find it even more moving to meet
the folks of a generation ahead of me and hear about all they went through as
pioneers in the field. It’s the interreligious equivalent of getting to work
with liturgists like Lucien Deiss and meet Joseph Gelineau. There were also two
younger monks there from En Calcat in southern France, both of whom spoke
pretty good English––how I was regretting I did not retain the French I studied
for five years (over 40 years ago, alas). I had asked Br Matteo from Bose to
join me for the meeting both for his capacity in French and just to make the
connection between the French and the Italians, the latter of whom I think
could be a real inspiration for the former. Actually there was a lot in common
between that meeting and the one held in northern Italy because the folks from
the other traditions––Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim––really felt as if they were
also a part of DIM. This is a great model moving forward. There was a lot of
lively conversation and friendship in this group as well and I felt right at
home with them even if I didn’t follow the conversation always. We ended that
meeting with some solid steps forward and having elected one of the monks from
En Calcat as the new group leader. He (Colomba) and Nathaël, the other monk
from En Calcat, Matteo and I went out for a walk together one afternoon, not
realizing how small the village was. We wound up not walking very far but sat
in a little patisserie and shared a voluptuous chocolate dessert and a lively
conversation.
In addition, I must add that the music there was extraordinary
too. (This is now my positive prejudice about French Benedictines.) Much of the
chanting was done in two and three-part harmony, I would estimate about 40 nuns
in all, in a beautiful simple church.
I never finished this but I am working on the last part now (if anyone is interested) and hope to post before Epiphany...
