Morissonneau since seventy-one.”
“Oh.”
“I did learn one thing.”
I waited.
“Morissonneau’s a Cistercian.”
“A Trappist monk?”
“If you say so.”
After a defrosted dinner of Thai chicken and rice, I booted my computer and began a Web search.
Charlie kept squawking “Get Off of My Cloud.” Birdie purred on the desk to my right.
In the course of my research, I learned several things.
In 1098C.E. , a renewal movement began within Benedictine monasticism, at the monastery of Cîteaux, in central France. The idea was to restore, as far as possible, the literal observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. I never learned what that meant.
The Latin word for Cîteaux isCistercium, and those who signed on to the reform movement came to be known as Cistercians.
Today there are several orders within the Cistercians, one of which is the OCSO, Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Trappist, the nickname for the OCSO, came from another reform movement at another French monastery, La Trappe, in the seventeenth century.
Lots of reform movements. Makes sense, I guess. Monks have a lot of time to reflect and decide to do better.
I found three Cistercian monasteries in Quebec. One in Oka, near Lac des Deux-Montagnes, One at Mistassini, near Lac Saint-Jean. One in the Montérégie region, near Saint-Hyacinthe. Each had a website.
I spent two hours working through endless cyberloops explaining the monastic day, the spiritual journey, the meaning of vocation, the history of the order.
Search as I might, I found no membership listing for any of the monasteries.
I was about to give up when I stumbled on a brief announcement.
On July 17, 2004, the monks of l’Abbaye Sainte-Marie-des-Neiges, with Fr. Charles Turgeon, OCSO presiding, chose their eighth abbot, Fr. Sylvain Morissonneau, 59. Born in Beauce County, Quebec, Fr. Morissonneau attended university at Laval. He was ordained a priest in 1968, then pursued academic studies in the United States. Fr. Morissonneau entered the abbey in 1971. For eight years prior to his election, he served as the monastery’s business manager. He brings to the office skil s both practical and academic.
So Morissonneau had stuck with the contemplative life, I thought, clicking from the monastery’s website to MapQuest Canada.
Sorry, Father. Your solitude’s about to be busted.
11
THEMONTÉRÉGIE IS AN AGRICULTURAL BELT LYING BETWEENMontreal and the U.S. border. Composed of hil s and val eys, crisscrossed by the rivière Richelieu, and outlined by the banks of the fleuve Saint-Laurent, the region is lousy with parks and green space. Parc national des Îles-de-Bouchervil e. Parc national du Mont-Saint-Bruno. Le Centre de la Nature du Mont Saint-Hilaire. Tourists visit the Montérégie for nature, produce, cycling, skiing, and golf.
L’Abbaye Sainte-Marie-des-Neiges was located on the banks of la rivière Yamaska, north of the town of Saint-Hyacinthe, in the center of a trapezoid formed by Saint-Simon, Saint-Hugues, Saint-Jude, and Saint-Barnabe-Sud.
The Montérégie is also lousy with saints.
At nine-twenty the next morning, I turned from the two-lane onto a smal er paved road that wound through apple orchards for approximately a half mile, then made a sharp turn and cut through a high stone wal . A discreet plaque indicated I’d found the monks.
The monastery sprawled beyond an expanse of open lawn, and was shaded by enormous elms. Constructed of Quebec gray stone, the place looked like a church with metastatic disease. Wings shot from three sides, and subsidiary winglets shot from the wings. A four-story round tower stood at the junction of the easternmost wing and the church proper, and an ornate square spire shot from its western-most counterpart. Some windows were arched.
Others were square and shuttered. Several outbuildings lay between the main structure and the cornfields and river at its back.
I took a moment to assess.
From my
“Oh.”
“I did learn one thing.”
I waited.
“Morissonneau’s a Cistercian.”
“A Trappist monk?”
“If you say so.”
After a defrosted dinner of Thai chicken and rice, I booted my computer and began a Web search.
Charlie kept squawking “Get Off of My Cloud.” Birdie purred on the desk to my right.
In the course of my research, I learned several things.
In 1098C.E. , a renewal movement began within Benedictine monasticism, at the monastery of Cîteaux, in central France. The idea was to restore, as far as possible, the literal observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. I never learned what that meant.
The Latin word for Cîteaux isCistercium, and those who signed on to the reform movement came to be known as Cistercians.
Today there are several orders within the Cistercians, one of which is the OCSO, Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Trappist, the nickname for the OCSO, came from another reform movement at another French monastery, La Trappe, in the seventeenth century.
Lots of reform movements. Makes sense, I guess. Monks have a lot of time to reflect and decide to do better.
I found three Cistercian monasteries in Quebec. One in Oka, near Lac des Deux-Montagnes, One at Mistassini, near Lac Saint-Jean. One in the Montérégie region, near Saint-Hyacinthe. Each had a website.
I spent two hours working through endless cyberloops explaining the monastic day, the spiritual journey, the meaning of vocation, the history of the order.
Search as I might, I found no membership listing for any of the monasteries.
I was about to give up when I stumbled on a brief announcement.
On July 17, 2004, the monks of l’Abbaye Sainte-Marie-des-Neiges, with Fr. Charles Turgeon, OCSO presiding, chose their eighth abbot, Fr. Sylvain Morissonneau, 59. Born in Beauce County, Quebec, Fr. Morissonneau attended university at Laval. He was ordained a priest in 1968, then pursued academic studies in the United States. Fr. Morissonneau entered the abbey in 1971. For eight years prior to his election, he served as the monastery’s business manager. He brings to the office skil s both practical and academic.
So Morissonneau had stuck with the contemplative life, I thought, clicking from the monastery’s website to MapQuest Canada.
Sorry, Father. Your solitude’s about to be busted.
11
THEMONTÉRÉGIE IS AN AGRICULTURAL BELT LYING BETWEENMontreal and the U.S. border. Composed of hil s and val eys, crisscrossed by the rivière Richelieu, and outlined by the banks of the fleuve Saint-Laurent, the region is lousy with parks and green space. Parc national des Îles-de-Bouchervil e. Parc national du Mont-Saint-Bruno. Le Centre de la Nature du Mont Saint-Hilaire. Tourists visit the Montérégie for nature, produce, cycling, skiing, and golf.
L’Abbaye Sainte-Marie-des-Neiges was located on the banks of la rivière Yamaska, north of the town of Saint-Hyacinthe, in the center of a trapezoid formed by Saint-Simon, Saint-Hugues, Saint-Jude, and Saint-Barnabe-Sud.
The Montérégie is also lousy with saints.
At nine-twenty the next morning, I turned from the two-lane onto a smal er paved road that wound through apple orchards for approximately a half mile, then made a sharp turn and cut through a high stone wal . A discreet plaque indicated I’d found the monks.
The monastery sprawled beyond an expanse of open lawn, and was shaded by enormous elms. Constructed of Quebec gray stone, the place looked like a church with metastatic disease. Wings shot from three sides, and subsidiary winglets shot from the wings. A four-story round tower stood at the junction of the easternmost wing and the church proper, and an ornate square spire shot from its western-most counterpart. Some windows were arched.
Others were square and shuttered. Several outbuildings lay between the main structure and the cornfields and river at its back.
I took a moment to assess.
From my
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