I felt that this belonged here (please move if it doesn't):
View attachment 5003
Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
Like all Benedictines, Cistercians do not take a 'Vow of Silence', they have a 'Rule.'
Here's a joke I heard when with the Cistercians at Mount St Bernard Abbey, in Leicestershire:
Every Easter, our Novice Master permits one of his charges to say a few words about life in the Community.
1st Year - Brother Matthew: I love it here, Father. The spirituality, the joy, the love of God. It's beautiful. And as for the food....wonderful! Easily the very best I have ever tasted.'
2nd year - Brother Mark: 'I agree with Brother Matthew about community life. But I have to say that he is talking rubbish about the food. It's terrible, disgusting, the very worst I have ever had the misfortune to endure.'
3rd year - Brother Luke: 'Yes, community life is grand on the whole. But I'm bound to say that the one thing that really gets me down is this CONSTANT bickering over food!'
I tested a vocation at the Abbey, but decided, eventually, that my calling was to be a husband and dad.
The Novice Master took my decision kindly, saying: 'Our Novitiate is a seedbed of good Catholic marriages!'