But, today I visited the St Agnes Convent outside of the Jewish Quarter - - and as part of my A+A homework I wrote about what it must have felt like to BE a nun inside that place. And what I came up with, was that it would NOT have been pleasant ... and for reasons you may not think of either.
Imagine if you will ...
That inside these walls is where you will spend the REST of your life ...
And that you, as the 2nd or 3rd daughter born to a noble family in Medieval times, have been given to the Church at the tender (oh so damn tender!) age of 10 ... yes, as young as 10.
And that you will not be allowed outside the walls of the convent again. Ever.
Nor will you again lay eyes on the 2nd half of the human race - except in art ... say, on the crucifix.
As you can see from this model of St Agnes ... convents were designed to be completely self sufficient, so that the prisoners - I'm sorry, I mean the inhabitants - never have to leave the walled property. And the walls were high!
These walls were designed with a triple purpose ... 1) keep the novitiates and nuns from viewing the outside world, 2) keep the outside world (ummm - men really) from viewing the novitiates and nuns, and 3) defensive measures.
Not only were these girls, and eventually women, cut off from the outside world - - because they had taken a vow to be a Bride of Christ, and therefore their entire world revolved around the religious plane ... which resided above the earthly plane on which they lived - - but they were required to do much physical labor, something a noble born child would have little experience with. Again, these monasteries were self sufficient - growing all their own food, making their own clothes, cleaning, cooking ... and of course, learning and sometimes scribing.
AND OF COURSE - - we can not forget ... praying! There were many different orders, but many of them followed the traditional form of having 6 regular religious services throughout each day. A day in the life of novitiate Ami might be ...
2am = Matins Laud, the 1st service of the day. Back to bed after, and up at first light. Wash and break my fast with bread and beer - - water was too dangerous to drink, and during the beer making process the water was boiled - so it was safer to drink beer than water.
7am = Prime, the 2nd service of the day. After that we meet in the Chapter House where chapters from the Bible were read out, or sometimes writings of the Saints.
9am = Tierce, the 3rd service of the day. After this it is time for work ... in either the fields, kitchen, washroom or workshop.
12pm = Sext None, the 4th service of the day ... after which is dinner. There is NO talking during dinner, except for the nun who reads to us from a book. Once done, back to work I go.
5pm = Vespers, the 5th service of the day. Once done, I get a light supper.
7pm = Compline, the 6th and last service of the day. From here, it is straight to bed!
The above services were given in this church ... the double-nave Church of St Francis (built in the 1230's), at St Agnes Convent. Note the Gothic pointed arches.
Another view of the Church of St Francis, again with the pointed arch.
To get to services, I would have walked through this Chapel of St Mary Magdalene - - who of course, we modeled ourselves after. Note the Gothic ribbed vault ceiling, in a Romanesque groin (cross) vault style.
While this refectory would have been where we took our meals.
No, you may be thinking that there was nothing good about cloistered (synonymous with enclosed) life ... and I have to admit that I agree, for the most part. There were however a few redeeming things about this pious lifestyle:
- this was the ONLY place where women actually had authority; authority to choose their own ruler (Abbess) and authority to BE a ruler
- this was the ONLY alternative to marriage and motherhood (okay then, legal and moral alternative!), which were back then entirely an arranged affair for the noble born
- this was the ONLY place that a woman could be educated
I am also willing to entertain that for some people, cloistered life may actually be enjoyable for reasons relating to spirituality, prayer, religion and simplicity.
If you did manage to be chosen Abbess, you might have a private oratory like this.
Or a tomb like this ... although Agnes was not only the 1st Abbess, but also the benefactor of the convent.
This might be one of the cloister hallways that I got to walk around in - for the REST of my life. Sigh. Again, nice rib vault ceiling though!
And the completely enclosed courtyard inside the four cloister hallways might look like this ... lovely, I do have to say.
Another view of the enclosed cloister ... which to the Brides, represented the "piously perfect life" - which of course was never achievable, as we are merely humans ... an of course as women, are inherently sinful
Uh huh ... I am not going to even TOUCH that one.
And so, what I learned today (aside from the Gothic architecture stuff that is!) is that Ami would NOT have made a good novitiate of The Order of the Poor Clares - well, who knows really ... maybe I would have followed orders quite well (yeah, I can just hear some of you laughing at this statement!) - - but, I would NOT have been happy. Life then/there was too strict.
And besides, I happen to enjoy the 2nd half of the human race ... quite a lot!
;-}
Thanks for joining me on my ecclesiastical experiment.
Very entertaining. I like your writing style. You forgot to mention that the notion of beer instead of water might have made the life less miserable!!
ReplyDeletean interesting, informative entry, sweetie.
ReplyDeleteyou touched on the potential benefits of such a life...there is a quiet contentment to such ordered days in one's life.
in an interesting bit of synchronicity...matt is chatting w/ me about the cigar industry, where a lector reads to the workers as they roll cigars.
well done!