Personal Experience: My Life as a Monk

1339 Words3 Pages

I was born in 785 AD. The year today is 810 AD, which makes me currently twenty-five years old. At the age of fifteen I decided to join the monastery. It is not as easy as everyone thinks, you don’t just come in and say you want to join. It is a spiritual journey, it takes time. It takes long because you have to be sure that this is the life you want to lead. You can quit anytime while you are trying to join a monastery if you decide you cannot make it your life devotion, but once you say your final vows it is very difficult to get out. My family and I decided it would be a great opportunity for me to join a monastery because I wanted to get an education and many of my family members had gone into monasteries and convents, but I was still unsure about living in a monastery for the rest of my life and being celibate. My journey became very emotional. I stayed in the monastery for a few months so I could experience life as a monk, I was called a novice at this time. I learned that this was like a small community where everyone depends on each other to do their assigned jobs so they can survive and thrive. I was put through many rough tests to prove that I was going to be able to follow the rules that the monastery set for me and offer my life to God. After about two years I took my final vows and became an official monk. Once the ceremony concluded I was given a tonsure haircut and a clothing called monastic habit.
I became part of the Fleury Abbey Monastery also called Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire Abbey for the city it is in. This monastery was founded in 640 AD and is located in France. It is a Benedictine monastery. Our monastery contains relics of St. Benedict of Nursia. Our monastery was built with early Romanesque architecture. We...

... middle of paper ...

...cred Destinations." Germigny-des-Pres Oratory. Sacred Destinations, 30 July 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. .
Hayes, Holly. "Sacred Destinations." Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire Abbey. Sacred Destinations, 30 July 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. .
Lace, William W. A Life for God: The Medieval Monastery. Detroit, MI: Lucent /Thomson Gale, 2006. Print.
Martin, Phillip. "Middle Ages for Kids." Middle Ages for Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. .
Sherrow, Victoria. Life in a Medieval Monastery. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2001. Print.
Stevens, Holly. "Art History 1." Art History 1303. TAMU-C, Commerce. Mar. 2013. lecture.
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art: A Brief History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

More about Personal Experience: My Life as a Monk

Open Document