Category Archives: The monks

Book Review:
Confessions of a Pagan Nun

The cover of Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley is arresting for someone like me — a romantic who is entranced by the mystery and ideals of early monastic life. It shows a clochan, a beehive-shaped rock hut set beside a small stream and barren, rocky hills in the distance. Built of dry …

January 5, 2010 – 9:49 pm | By David Morton | Posted in Books, History, The monks, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Miracles, Relics and Saints: Anachronisms in the 2000s

There was an eye-catching headline on the front page of a recent Saturday edition of The Vancouver Sun.
“Saint or Science?” it read. Underneath, was the following sub-head: “A Surrey man, ravaged by flesh-eating disease, lay close to death. Given just hours to live, he suddenly recovered after a visit from his priest. Now …

July 15, 2009 – 6:35 am | By David Morton | Posted in In the Modern Age, Medievalism, The monks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Monks’ Rule, OK!

When St. Benedict founded the Benedictine monastic order, I believe he was attempting to establish religious utopian community. He may not have agreed with this idea, but he certainly established high standards of behaviour and conduct for his monks in order to achieve a community devoted to the pure pursuit of religious practice and contemplation.
Benedict’s monasteries …

January 15, 2009 – 8:45 am | By David Morton | Posted in The monks | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Why monks? Why medieval?

Well, the monks were the ones that contacted me in the first place. Literally, I began dreaming about them. I would find them in different places, but invariably, they would speak something to me and I could not remember what they said upon waking. So I chose to believe they were trying to tell me …

January 11, 2009 – 1:48 pm | By David Morton | Posted in Medievalism, The monks | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The monks appear …

It’s true what I say about the monks. They do indeed speak to me in dreams. Their faces come out of the darkness, candle-light flashing on their cheeks, and they whisper in my ear. I smell their body stench and beery breath, and their words are only barely recognizable. They step back, wait for a …

January 8, 2009 – 10:15 am | By David Morton | Posted in The monks | Tagged , , | Comments (2)