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A Time To Die: Monks on the Threshold of Eternal Life
Behind monastery walls, men of God spend their lives preparing for the passage of death. Best-selling French author Nicolas Diat set out to find what their deaths can reveal about the greatest mystery faced by everyone—the end of life.
How to die? How to respond to our fear of death? To answer these and other questions, Diat travelled to eight European monasteries including Solesmes Abbey and the Grande Chartreuse. Through extraordinary interviews with monks, he learned that their death experiences are varied and unique, with elements of peace, pain, humility, sorrow, and joy.
These monks have the same fears, torments, and sorrows as everyone else, Diat discovered. What is exemplary about them is their humility and simplicity. When death approaches, and its hand reveals its strength, they are like happy and naïve children who wait with impatience to open a gift. They have complete confidence in the mercy of God.
180 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 2018
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December 12, 2019
"A Time to Die" is a small gem of a book which works on two levels. On one level, it is a self-examination for the reader, offering him a glimpse of a very specific kind of life and thought, thereby helping him think about his own death. On another level, it is an examination of the decline of our civilization. The monasteries profiled, and the view of human life and death their monks embody, seem like small wooden lifeboats—tiny, fragile, and tossed on the sea of liquid modernity, mere fragments of the glorious past of French monasticism. But are they as fragile as they seem? Or, if the future turns upward, are they rather the vanguard, seeds of a new thing?
The author, Nicolas Diat, is a French journalist, and a frequent collaborator with Robert Cardinal Sarah on his books. Cardinal Sarah wrote the Foreword for this book, and Diat dedicated the book to him. The Cardinal is, of course, a prominent opponent of Pope Francis and his noxious embrace of modernity—both would publicly deny that, but it’s the reality. But this is most definitely not a book about current controversies in the Roman Church. Rather, it is meant as a book about how the present does not really matter. It is an attempt, through the lens of discussions with monks, to, as Cardinal Sarah says, “better understand that death is the most important act of earthly existence,” which opens a portal to God, fulfilling man’s purpose on Earth.
Now, I probably think about death more than the average person. I also reviewed, last year, Seneca’s thoughts on death, and it crops up fairly frequently in my writings, and more often in my thoughts—many times a day. Just in case anyone is worrying, or hoping, I am not, to my knowledge, in danger of any particular form of death. Nor am I depressed in the least, or morbid, although I suppose that latter is a somewhat subjective judgment, and it is certainly true that I am keenly aware of my own death. The primary consequence isn’t fear or disheartenment, but rather a constant sense of, as I call it, the “closing window,” the ever-diminishing time in which to accomplish what I am to accomplish (not that what that is, is clear to me). It’s merely a personality trait; along the same lines, I have always liked cemeteries, and am not afraid to picture myself there, although reading the inscriptions is what I like most about them. You will certainly never find me committing suicide—if they say I did, remember that they said the same thing about Jeffrey Epstein, and please hunt for the real killers.
Anyway, setting the tone for the book, Diat begins with a lengthy description of the dying of Brother Vincent, a canon of Lagrasse Abbey, in Languedoc, who died in 2016 at age thirty-eight, of aggressive multiple sclerosis. (Brother Vincent is also featured in Cardinal Sarah’s The Power of Silence.) Diat then visits, for a few days each, seven other abbeys, with Carthusians, Trappists, Cistercians, Benedictines, and more, talking to the monks and, several times, seeing and describing the rites surrounding a monk’s death. Those rites differ from abbey to abbey, but have much in common, most of all the atmosphere of hope, tempered by modest sadness. Other times Diat describes deaths from decades past, particularly those difficult or drawn-out, that linger in the memories of their surviving brothers. His purpose is to explain how the monks view death, in contrast to modern views in the West.
As Diat notes, throughout the West, the “liturgy of death” used to be well-known and accepted. By that he means the rituals, both secular and religious, that surrounded death and its approach. There was little distinction between monastic death and death in the countryside or the city, and that liturgy made death “humane.” But “Twenty-first-century man is condemned to lonely endings, without love, in anonymous hospital rooms.” It is not that modern man is better off, or that it is easier for him to die. “Today, the liturgy of death no longer exists. Yet fear and anxiety have never been as strong. Men no longer know how to die.” It’s actually much harder for modern man to die—he may live a little bit longer, but to what end, really?
But that does not mean monks always die gloriously and peacefully, without fear or puzzlement. “Human laws are true for all, even men of God: fear of death, fear of grief, fear of forgetting are instinctive in each of us.” Many of the dying monks are anxious. Sick monks can complain and demand. And several times Diat notes the existence of various forms of mental illness among the monks. The lightest of these are obsessions such as hypochondria, or particular phobias, which can cause great consternation in monks facing death (for example, a fear of asphyxiation). Depression is also not uncommon; Diat discusses a monk who committed suicide, on the day after Easter no less, and makes clear that other monks suffer similarly, a feeling one describes as being in a box with no way out but death.
Although a calm, prepared death is the ideal, the monks understand, too, that “Christ himself did not die in tranquility.” Death is a passage for all, but “There are as many reactions to death as there are men.” One of the interesting things about this book is the variety of approaches among different monastic orders and different monks to anticipating their own future deaths, and to viewing the deaths of their brothers. Some monks are placid when another dies; others grieve openly; others fear for themselves. These are not, it appears, spiritual fears, of failing to make the cut in front of Saint Peter, but rather the simple fears of all men in the face of what is unknown, even to those with a devout faith. “I am very nervous about dying, like I was before taking an exam. The immensity of what awaits us in heaven is frightening.”
The monks strongly prefer to die in the monastery, in the old way. A repeated theme is modern monks’ aversion to excessive medical treatment, and in particular to dying in a hospital, hooked up to tubes and machines, rather than dying simply in the presence of their brothers, encouraged and comforted by the abbot. Sometimes monks fall into the modern error of desperately prolonging life, but as one abbot says, “If a monk allows himself to be dragged into this game, he loses the meaning of his religious profession, which consists in the knowledge we owe our lives to Another.” Artificially extending life to an excessive degree is anathema to them, but they must balance, in each case, what medical treatment to seek, for themselves and for their brothers unable to make their own decisions, which complicates life relative to the past, when such options were not available.
Similarly, sedation is strongly disfavored, since it can prevent a monk from passing over under his own power, as it were. This is most of all true of its use to kill the patient—there is a passing reference to the “Claeys-Leonetti Law,” which is, I discovered, a 2016 French law supposedly merely allowing for “deep and continuous sedation,” but is actually a method of killing patients by drugging them while cutting off food and water. Even lesser sedation is disfavored by monks, except to help through a crisis of anxiety: “The excess of painkillers plunges the sick into nebulous states that cut them off from the moment they are going to experience.” I am very sympathetic to what one abbot says more generally of monks preparing to die, although it is not, strictly speaking, Christian doctrine: “He wants us to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ We sense him coming. We see a great light because God awaits our response. He asks us if we want him.” To be sure, if this belief is true (which I have long thought makes a great deal of sense, that we are given a final choice), we do not need to be physically awake to be asked the question. But death under artificial sleep is antithetical to the monks’ approach to life, and to God.
The sum of these ways of approaching death is quite different from the pre-Christian approach, exemplified in its most developed form in the Stoic philosophy of Seneca, discussed by James Romm in his translation of Seneca, "How to Die." Seneca was all about dying well, but by that he meant suicide (he would have been fine with euthanasia), not that one should prepare for, and navigate, the passage with humble confidence in a better world beyond. Seneca did not anticipate any afterlife, and he would have thought revolving preparation for death around that hope silly. He would have agreed with one of the French abbots, however, that “Fear is a bad counselor,” though not for the reason the abbot gives, “It is the ultimate antithesis of faith.” The modern attitude, embodied in Claeys-Leonetti and rejected by the monks, is a reversion to the pagan ways of the past—in part, the high pagan ways of Seneca, and in part, to the vicious pagan ways that were far more common and which Christianity largely alleviated in the West for two thousand years. Or perhaps not so weirdly, since so much of modernity is such a backsliding, from abortion to sexual degeneracy—it is all a package. And, as I said in my review of Romm’s book, the main problem with allowing suicide is not that men like Seneca choose it—rather, it is that the weak and defenseless are forced to choose it.
Even with the inherently somber matter of the book, Diat weaves an enchanting picture of each of these monasteries—old, or ancient, buildings; beautiful natural surroundings, both flora and fauna; peaceful monks. The life of the monks is portrayed as an arc, with an enthusiastic youth, sometimes troubled middle, and more joyful, preparatory old age. Given the narrow focus of this book, Diat does not discuss the erosion of monastic life during the troubles following Vatican II, where many monks in their middle age left the monasteries. He does make passing mention of the tortured earlier history of French monasticism, destroyed by the 1789 Revolution and only decades later partially restored. Nearly all monastic property was stolen by the French state, either during the Revolution or during the turbulent, and frequently viciously anti-religious, nineteenth century, culminating in the French “Associations Law” of 1901, a core left-wing desideratum, which again essentially banned religious communities.
I know little about this history, and this book assumes the reader knows the details, so it is unclear to me to what degree monastic life in France has recovered, and what the current arc and projected future of it is. Diat spends no time discussing what lies ahead for French monasticism. The reader is not told how many monks there are relative to the past, and of those, how many are young—that is, is monasticism dying out, or rebounding? Naturally, where the topic is death, the old are usually the focus, but there is fairly frequent mention of young monks, which suggests at least some rebound.
But the monks face headwinds other than declining membership. The bigger element adding uncertainty to the future of French monasticism is the changing face of France, as Muslim invaders swarm all over the country, not only in the big cities but, increasingly, in the smaller towns where most of these monasteries are located. In a future Muslim-dominated state, if the French do not wake up first, the fate of these abbeys is likely to be worse and more permanent than under the Revolution, which was bad enough (Solesmes Abbey, for example, one of those profiled here, had its eight-hundred-year-old archive burnt by the knuckle-dragging left-winger who moved in). Although the French government and the European media rigorously suppress evidence of Muslim crimes, occasionally videos surface briefly (before they are censored) of gangs of young Muslims harassing Christians in small French towns. One can only imagine how Muslims, if they were in charge, would treat communities of French Christian monks in their ancient Christian buildings. One can get a hint of it from how the French Protestants sacked and abused several of these monasteries during the sixteenth-century French wars of religion, or, of course, from how Muslims freed from strongman rule in the Middle East often behave. Martyrdom, not covered here, would no doubt come back into fashion.
Does it matter? How much relevance does, or could, monasticism have in the modern world, which is wholly antithetical to all the principles of all monks (not just French monks, but those of the Orthodox, as well, with their somewhat different practices but similar views on life)? Perhaps, in a renewed Europe, monks could be the seeds of a new order. The purpose of a contemplative monk, of course, is to follow Christ more perfectly, and not worry about such things. Still, those in charge of the secular state can, and always have, cooperated with the monks to improve society, and perhaps a new, well-run society could do the same. So I wouldn’t count the monks out yet. Perhaps they will boom. Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option” sees lay Christian believers as the new monks, carrying the torch through a new dark age to the sunlit uplands beyond. It would be God’s little joke if the old monks again played a key role in that process. Or, more foreseeable, perhaps the military orders will return, to work hand in glove with their contemplative brothers to bring a fresh novo ordo seclorum to the world. One can hope, at least.
The author, Nicolas Diat, is a French journalist, and a frequent collaborator with Robert Cardinal Sarah on his books. Cardinal Sarah wrote the Foreword for this book, and Diat dedicated the book to him. The Cardinal is, of course, a prominent opponent of Pope Francis and his noxious embrace of modernity—both would publicly deny that, but it’s the reality. But this is most definitely not a book about current controversies in the Roman Church. Rather, it is meant as a book about how the present does not really matter. It is an attempt, through the lens of discussions with monks, to, as Cardinal Sarah says, “better understand that death is the most important act of earthly existence,” which opens a portal to God, fulfilling man’s purpose on Earth.
Now, I probably think about death more than the average person. I also reviewed, last year, Seneca’s thoughts on death, and it crops up fairly frequently in my writings, and more often in my thoughts—many times a day. Just in case anyone is worrying, or hoping, I am not, to my knowledge, in danger of any particular form of death. Nor am I depressed in the least, or morbid, although I suppose that latter is a somewhat subjective judgment, and it is certainly true that I am keenly aware of my own death. The primary consequence isn’t fear or disheartenment, but rather a constant sense of, as I call it, the “closing window,” the ever-diminishing time in which to accomplish what I am to accomplish (not that what that is, is clear to me). It’s merely a personality trait; along the same lines, I have always liked cemeteries, and am not afraid to picture myself there, although reading the inscriptions is what I like most about them. You will certainly never find me committing suicide—if they say I did, remember that they said the same thing about Jeffrey Epstein, and please hunt for the real killers.
Anyway, setting the tone for the book, Diat begins with a lengthy description of the dying of Brother Vincent, a canon of Lagrasse Abbey, in Languedoc, who died in 2016 at age thirty-eight, of aggressive multiple sclerosis. (Brother Vincent is also featured in Cardinal Sarah’s The Power of Silence.) Diat then visits, for a few days each, seven other abbeys, with Carthusians, Trappists, Cistercians, Benedictines, and more, talking to the monks and, several times, seeing and describing the rites surrounding a monk’s death. Those rites differ from abbey to abbey, but have much in common, most of all the atmosphere of hope, tempered by modest sadness. Other times Diat describes deaths from decades past, particularly those difficult or drawn-out, that linger in the memories of their surviving brothers. His purpose is to explain how the monks view death, in contrast to modern views in the West.
As Diat notes, throughout the West, the “liturgy of death” used to be well-known and accepted. By that he means the rituals, both secular and religious, that surrounded death and its approach. There was little distinction between monastic death and death in the countryside or the city, and that liturgy made death “humane.” But “Twenty-first-century man is condemned to lonely endings, without love, in anonymous hospital rooms.” It is not that modern man is better off, or that it is easier for him to die. “Today, the liturgy of death no longer exists. Yet fear and anxiety have never been as strong. Men no longer know how to die.” It’s actually much harder for modern man to die—he may live a little bit longer, but to what end, really?
But that does not mean monks always die gloriously and peacefully, without fear or puzzlement. “Human laws are true for all, even men of God: fear of death, fear of grief, fear of forgetting are instinctive in each of us.” Many of the dying monks are anxious. Sick monks can complain and demand. And several times Diat notes the existence of various forms of mental illness among the monks. The lightest of these are obsessions such as hypochondria, or particular phobias, which can cause great consternation in monks facing death (for example, a fear of asphyxiation). Depression is also not uncommon; Diat discusses a monk who committed suicide, on the day after Easter no less, and makes clear that other monks suffer similarly, a feeling one describes as being in a box with no way out but death.
Although a calm, prepared death is the ideal, the monks understand, too, that “Christ himself did not die in tranquility.” Death is a passage for all, but “There are as many reactions to death as there are men.” One of the interesting things about this book is the variety of approaches among different monastic orders and different monks to anticipating their own future deaths, and to viewing the deaths of their brothers. Some monks are placid when another dies; others grieve openly; others fear for themselves. These are not, it appears, spiritual fears, of failing to make the cut in front of Saint Peter, but rather the simple fears of all men in the face of what is unknown, even to those with a devout faith. “I am very nervous about dying, like I was before taking an exam. The immensity of what awaits us in heaven is frightening.”
The monks strongly prefer to die in the monastery, in the old way. A repeated theme is modern monks’ aversion to excessive medical treatment, and in particular to dying in a hospital, hooked up to tubes and machines, rather than dying simply in the presence of their brothers, encouraged and comforted by the abbot. Sometimes monks fall into the modern error of desperately prolonging life, but as one abbot says, “If a monk allows himself to be dragged into this game, he loses the meaning of his religious profession, which consists in the knowledge we owe our lives to Another.” Artificially extending life to an excessive degree is anathema to them, but they must balance, in each case, what medical treatment to seek, for themselves and for their brothers unable to make their own decisions, which complicates life relative to the past, when such options were not available.
Similarly, sedation is strongly disfavored, since it can prevent a monk from passing over under his own power, as it were. This is most of all true of its use to kill the patient—there is a passing reference to the “Claeys-Leonetti Law,” which is, I discovered, a 2016 French law supposedly merely allowing for “deep and continuous sedation,” but is actually a method of killing patients by drugging them while cutting off food and water. Even lesser sedation is disfavored by monks, except to help through a crisis of anxiety: “The excess of painkillers plunges the sick into nebulous states that cut them off from the moment they are going to experience.” I am very sympathetic to what one abbot says more generally of monks preparing to die, although it is not, strictly speaking, Christian doctrine: “He wants us to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ We sense him coming. We see a great light because God awaits our response. He asks us if we want him.” To be sure, if this belief is true (which I have long thought makes a great deal of sense, that we are given a final choice), we do not need to be physically awake to be asked the question. But death under artificial sleep is antithetical to the monks’ approach to life, and to God.
The sum of these ways of approaching death is quite different from the pre-Christian approach, exemplified in its most developed form in the Stoic philosophy of Seneca, discussed by James Romm in his translation of Seneca, "How to Die." Seneca was all about dying well, but by that he meant suicide (he would have been fine with euthanasia), not that one should prepare for, and navigate, the passage with humble confidence in a better world beyond. Seneca did not anticipate any afterlife, and he would have thought revolving preparation for death around that hope silly. He would have agreed with one of the French abbots, however, that “Fear is a bad counselor,” though not for the reason the abbot gives, “It is the ultimate antithesis of faith.” The modern attitude, embodied in Claeys-Leonetti and rejected by the monks, is a reversion to the pagan ways of the past—in part, the high pagan ways of Seneca, and in part, to the vicious pagan ways that were far more common and which Christianity largely alleviated in the West for two thousand years. Or perhaps not so weirdly, since so much of modernity is such a backsliding, from abortion to sexual degeneracy—it is all a package. And, as I said in my review of Romm’s book, the main problem with allowing suicide is not that men like Seneca choose it—rather, it is that the weak and defenseless are forced to choose it.
Even with the inherently somber matter of the book, Diat weaves an enchanting picture of each of these monasteries—old, or ancient, buildings; beautiful natural surroundings, both flora and fauna; peaceful monks. The life of the monks is portrayed as an arc, with an enthusiastic youth, sometimes troubled middle, and more joyful, preparatory old age. Given the narrow focus of this book, Diat does not discuss the erosion of monastic life during the troubles following Vatican II, where many monks in their middle age left the monasteries. He does make passing mention of the tortured earlier history of French monasticism, destroyed by the 1789 Revolution and only decades later partially restored. Nearly all monastic property was stolen by the French state, either during the Revolution or during the turbulent, and frequently viciously anti-religious, nineteenth century, culminating in the French “Associations Law” of 1901, a core left-wing desideratum, which again essentially banned religious communities.
I know little about this history, and this book assumes the reader knows the details, so it is unclear to me to what degree monastic life in France has recovered, and what the current arc and projected future of it is. Diat spends no time discussing what lies ahead for French monasticism. The reader is not told how many monks there are relative to the past, and of those, how many are young—that is, is monasticism dying out, or rebounding? Naturally, where the topic is death, the old are usually the focus, but there is fairly frequent mention of young monks, which suggests at least some rebound.
But the monks face headwinds other than declining membership. The bigger element adding uncertainty to the future of French monasticism is the changing face of France, as Muslim invaders swarm all over the country, not only in the big cities but, increasingly, in the smaller towns where most of these monasteries are located. In a future Muslim-dominated state, if the French do not wake up first, the fate of these abbeys is likely to be worse and more permanent than under the Revolution, which was bad enough (Solesmes Abbey, for example, one of those profiled here, had its eight-hundred-year-old archive burnt by the knuckle-dragging left-winger who moved in). Although the French government and the European media rigorously suppress evidence of Muslim crimes, occasionally videos surface briefly (before they are censored) of gangs of young Muslims harassing Christians in small French towns. One can only imagine how Muslims, if they were in charge, would treat communities of French Christian monks in their ancient Christian buildings. One can get a hint of it from how the French Protestants sacked and abused several of these monasteries during the sixteenth-century French wars of religion, or, of course, from how Muslims freed from strongman rule in the Middle East often behave. Martyrdom, not covered here, would no doubt come back into fashion.
Does it matter? How much relevance does, or could, monasticism have in the modern world, which is wholly antithetical to all the principles of all monks (not just French monks, but those of the Orthodox, as well, with their somewhat different practices but similar views on life)? Perhaps, in a renewed Europe, monks could be the seeds of a new order. The purpose of a contemplative monk, of course, is to follow Christ more perfectly, and not worry about such things. Still, those in charge of the secular state can, and always have, cooperated with the monks to improve society, and perhaps a new, well-run society could do the same. So I wouldn’t count the monks out yet. Perhaps they will boom. Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option” sees lay Christian believers as the new monks, carrying the torch through a new dark age to the sunlit uplands beyond. It would be God’s little joke if the old monks again played a key role in that process. Or, more foreseeable, perhaps the military orders will return, to work hand in glove with their contemplative brothers to bring a fresh novo ordo seclorum to the world. One can hope, at least.
February 4, 2023
FRANÇAIS: Très bon livre sur l'attitude des moines face à la mort. Beaucoup des choses qu'il dit peuvent s'appliquer à ceux d'entre nous qui ne sont pas des moines.
Une citation du chapitre 8: La vie serait un désastre si nous ne savions pas que la mort viendra nous chercher un jour. Comment les hommes resteraient-ils indéfiniment dans cette vallée de larmes? Cela va directement à l'encontre de l'empressement des trans-humanistes à atteindre l'immortalité dans cette vie. Cet empressement est totalement infondé du point de vue scientifique.
ENGLISH: Very good book about the attitude of monks towards death. Many of the things it says can be applied to those of us who are not monks.
A quote from chapter 8: Life would be a disaster if we didn't know that death will come for us one day. How could we stay indefinitely in this valley of tears? This goes directly against the eagerness of trans-humanists to achieve immortality in this life. This eagerness is fully unfounded from the scientific point of view, as indicated in a series of four posts in my blog that starts here: https://populscience.blogspot.com/202...
ESPAÑOL: Muy buen libro sobre la actitud de los monjes hacia la muerte. Muchas de las cosas que dice pueden aplicarse a quienes no somos monjes.
Una cita del capítulo 8: La vida sería un desastre si no supiéramos que la muerte vendrá a buscarnos algún día. ¿Cómo podríamos permanecer indefinidamente en este valle de lágrimas? Esto va directamente contra el afán de los transhumanistas por alcanzar la inmortalidad en esta vida. Ese afán es totalmente infundado desde el punto de vista científico, como se indica en una serie de cuatro artículos de mi blog, que comienza aquí: https://divulciencia.blogspot.com/202...
Une citation du chapitre 8: La vie serait un désastre si nous ne savions pas que la mort viendra nous chercher un jour. Comment les hommes resteraient-ils indéfiniment dans cette vallée de larmes? Cela va directement à l'encontre de l'empressement des trans-humanistes à atteindre l'immortalité dans cette vie. Cet empressement est totalement infondé du point de vue scientifique.
ENGLISH: Very good book about the attitude of monks towards death. Many of the things it says can be applied to those of us who are not monks.
A quote from chapter 8: Life would be a disaster if we didn't know that death will come for us one day. How could we stay indefinitely in this valley of tears? This goes directly against the eagerness of trans-humanists to achieve immortality in this life. This eagerness is fully unfounded from the scientific point of view, as indicated in a series of four posts in my blog that starts here: https://populscience.blogspot.com/202...
ESPAÑOL: Muy buen libro sobre la actitud de los monjes hacia la muerte. Muchas de las cosas que dice pueden aplicarse a quienes no somos monjes.
Una cita del capítulo 8: La vida sería un desastre si no supiéramos que la muerte vendrá a buscarnos algún día. ¿Cómo podríamos permanecer indefinidamente en este valle de lágrimas? Esto va directamente contra el afán de los transhumanistas por alcanzar la inmortalidad en esta vida. Ese afán es totalmente infundado desde el punto de vista científico, como se indica en una serie de cuatro artículos de mi blog, que comienza aquí: https://divulciencia.blogspot.com/202...
February 13, 2023
No tenía ganas de leer este libro, pero como era el que había salido lo he hecho, y me alegro mucho de ello.
He aprendido mucho sobre la vida en los monasterios y como es natural también sobre la muerte en ellos y fuera de ellos.
Los monjes son un ejemplo para todos nosotros.
I didn't feel like reading this book, but since it was the one that had been chosen, I did read it, and I'm very happy about it.
I have learned a lot about life in monasteries and of course also about death in them and outside of them.
The monks are an example for all of us.
He aprendido mucho sobre la vida en los monasterios y como es natural también sobre la muerte en ellos y fuera de ellos.
Los monjes son un ejemplo para todos nosotros.
I didn't feel like reading this book, but since it was the one that had been chosen, I did read it, and I'm very happy about it.
I have learned a lot about life in monasteries and of course also about death in them and outside of them.
The monks are an example for all of us.
February 28, 2023
This book contains testimonies about death from monks in eight different abbeys and monasteries in France. There is a lot to learn and ponder from the monk's experience and understanding of death.
"It's not the voyage which is important, but the arrival place. I spend half my life thinking of eternal life. That is the constant background which lines all my existence. I am not afraid of the Grim Reaper. She makes me curious. Eternity passes through death. We must love this door which will lead us to meet the Father. We are born for heaven. Life on earth and life eternal are intimately linked. Why should be we afraid of the meeting point of these two realities? Christians no longer believe in the resurrection of the body. Paradise is made to be like a void where souls float. But men are the image of God. It will not be necessary to leave our humanity behind to be united to God. Eternity will be much more human than we can imagine."
"It's not the voyage which is important, but the arrival place. I spend half my life thinking of eternal life. That is the constant background which lines all my existence. I am not afraid of the Grim Reaper. She makes me curious. Eternity passes through death. We must love this door which will lead us to meet the Father. We are born for heaven. Life on earth and life eternal are intimately linked. Why should be we afraid of the meeting point of these two realities? Christians no longer believe in the resurrection of the body. Paradise is made to be like a void where souls float. But men are the image of God. It will not be necessary to leave our humanity behind to be united to God. Eternity will be much more human than we can imagine."
March 12, 2024
Astonishingly beautiful and deeply moving journey for me, it provided an intimate view into this omnipresent transition step in our life. One of the greatest sources of pain and anxiety for those who don't believe and at the same time an awaited goal and seemingly source of energy for those that give their life to Jesus. My eyes were wet multiple times during the read and my heart was deeply moved, it allowed me to meditate on my approach to this topic.
The book doesn't only contain happy stories however some of these monks encountered deep existential problems towards the end and that is the other side of the coin, which is important, this door is an important one and one that leads us towards our long-awaited goal, but it nonetheless can shake our whole world at its fundament, it is just so powerful.
Also, the Carthusian perspective, I don't know how to describe it, it is just ... like my heart felt totally in love with their perspective, I really felt love within me and was unsure how to feel when I closed the book, one part still amazed by what I just experienced and the other was like ... but this can't be over now.
The book doesn't only contain happy stories however some of these monks encountered deep existential problems towards the end and that is the other side of the coin, which is important, this door is an important one and one that leads us towards our long-awaited goal, but it nonetheless can shake our whole world at its fundament, it is just so powerful.
Also, the Carthusian perspective, I don't know how to describe it, it is just ... like my heart felt totally in love with their perspective, I really felt love within me and was unsure how to feel when I closed the book, one part still amazed by what I just experienced and the other was like ... but this can't be over now.
August 4, 2019
This is a beautiful little book about dying. To me it shows that the more of your life and your self that you have given to God, the more peaceful and even joyful, your dying. It also says a lot about our medical profession. Eliminating suffering may not be an act of God.
I recommend this book to everyone, especially to those who are afraid of death. There is a truth that if you know that the Lord awaits you, dying is something to look forward to. Those who do not know of God or eternal life are those who live in fear..............and they should.
I recommend this book to everyone, especially to those who are afraid of death. There is a truth that if you know that the Lord awaits you, dying is something to look forward to. Those who do not know of God or eternal life are those who live in fear..............and they should.
September 12, 2022
4.5/5
In this beautiful work, Nicolas Diat (better known for his collaborative work with Cardinal Sarah in the books The Day is Now Far Spent and Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise) tours various monasteries and priories around France and interviews monks and abbots, observing them and asking them questions relating to death. As such, this necessarily involves monks' views of life, and we have some beautiful reflections from those men who have spent their entire lives in preparation to pass to the beyond. While many related deaths were what we would consider to be beautiful and serene, others were difficult, with one story in particular being told of a monk who killed himself to escape depression and in order to be nearer to God.
One of the deepest concerns of the abbots and monks was in retaining the ability to die well. Medicine, secular gain and values, and misguided doctors and nurses all impede the monks' control over their own deaths. Often, the abbots will be hesitant to send a brother off to the hospital because either the hospital will not be willing to release him due to poor health, thus depriving the monk of a death with his community, or will so medicate the monk so as to rob him of meeting death face-to-face. One abbot relates that a doctor had told him that they could medicate an elderly monk to ease his pain, but it would likely hasten his death. Only later did the abbot realize that the doctor was intimating euthanizing the monk. In other instances, monks would be removed from life support before they could be returned home or would die so heavily medicated that their lifetime of effort to meet that supreme moment became blunted. Anyone who deals with the elderly or infirm on a daily basis, especially those persons in the medical sphere, would profit by reading this book and the ethical issues it raises.
Amazingly, many monks exercised such profound obedience to their superiors that they would delay their own deaths by weeks or months (and this when death was imminent and certain) because their religious superior had ordered them to live until he was present with them. Often times the monks would only pass when the abbot entered their rooms, or, in some cases, when the abbot first stepped foot onto the monastery property after a long journey. Our wills have more control over our own deaths then we would at first assume, especially when deferring to the will of another.
The book ends with interviews and reflections with the Carthusians of Chartreux, which of all the orders analyzed seem best prepared for death. Communal hermits, they are even expected to die alone in their respective cells. They do not expect nor wish to be remembered by loved ones or future confreres, instead being buried in unmarked, communal graves. Nicolas Diat says that this is why there are so few Carthusian saints - because anonymity and solitude are parts of their very charism. A story related says that some young Carthusians, while opening a grave to add the body of a recently deceased, found an incorrupt body. When they reported this to their superior, he commanded the grave be closed and a new grave be dug beside it. How staggeringly beautiful is that thought - to wish to be thought and remembered only in the mind of God. The day I finished reading this was the same day St Bruno fell ill and into his final struggle before death.
Let us hope that we, too, will cultivate a deep appreciation for death, and welcome him when he comes.
In this beautiful work, Nicolas Diat (better known for his collaborative work with Cardinal Sarah in the books The Day is Now Far Spent and Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise) tours various monasteries and priories around France and interviews monks and abbots, observing them and asking them questions relating to death. As such, this necessarily involves monks' views of life, and we have some beautiful reflections from those men who have spent their entire lives in preparation to pass to the beyond. While many related deaths were what we would consider to be beautiful and serene, others were difficult, with one story in particular being told of a monk who killed himself to escape depression and in order to be nearer to God.
One of the deepest concerns of the abbots and monks was in retaining the ability to die well. Medicine, secular gain and values, and misguided doctors and nurses all impede the monks' control over their own deaths. Often, the abbots will be hesitant to send a brother off to the hospital because either the hospital will not be willing to release him due to poor health, thus depriving the monk of a death with his community, or will so medicate the monk so as to rob him of meeting death face-to-face. One abbot relates that a doctor had told him that they could medicate an elderly monk to ease his pain, but it would likely hasten his death. Only later did the abbot realize that the doctor was intimating euthanizing the monk. In other instances, monks would be removed from life support before they could be returned home or would die so heavily medicated that their lifetime of effort to meet that supreme moment became blunted. Anyone who deals with the elderly or infirm on a daily basis, especially those persons in the medical sphere, would profit by reading this book and the ethical issues it raises.
Amazingly, many monks exercised such profound obedience to their superiors that they would delay their own deaths by weeks or months (and this when death was imminent and certain) because their religious superior had ordered them to live until he was present with them. Often times the monks would only pass when the abbot entered their rooms, or, in some cases, when the abbot first stepped foot onto the monastery property after a long journey. Our wills have more control over our own deaths then we would at first assume, especially when deferring to the will of another.
The book ends with interviews and reflections with the Carthusians of Chartreux, which of all the orders analyzed seem best prepared for death. Communal hermits, they are even expected to die alone in their respective cells. They do not expect nor wish to be remembered by loved ones or future confreres, instead being buried in unmarked, communal graves. Nicolas Diat says that this is why there are so few Carthusian saints - because anonymity and solitude are parts of their very charism. A story related says that some young Carthusians, while opening a grave to add the body of a recently deceased, found an incorrupt body. When they reported this to their superior, he commanded the grave be closed and a new grave be dug beside it. How staggeringly beautiful is that thought - to wish to be thought and remembered only in the mind of God. The day I finished reading this was the same day St Bruno fell ill and into his final struggle before death.
Let us hope that we, too, will cultivate a deep appreciation for death, and welcome him when he comes.
August 16, 2022
Imperdible libro sobre la manera en que los monjes enfrentan el paso de esta vida a la eternidad.
No cabe duda que la vida monástica es algo cada vez más incomprensible, no solo para el mundo, sino inclusive para la mayoría de los católicos. Sin embargo, no dejan de ser un gran ejemplo de renuncia a las cosas terrenas para enfocarse en lo verdaderamente importante. Pero no solo es eso, la vocación de un monje no consiste solamente en tratar de vivir una vida más sencilla, mas tranquila e inclusive, diríamos ahora que está tan de moda, más en armonía con la naturaleza. La vocación monástica tiene en su centro, la búsqueda de la unión con Dios, la cual sólo se puede dar de manera completa y definitiva después de la muerte. De esto se trata este extraordinario libro.
A través de testimonios recogidos en varios monasterios en Francia, el autor nos cuenta las historias de cómo han vivido sus últimos días en esta tierra los monjes pertenecientes a varias ordenes religiosas, así como el cariño, la dedicación y la entrega con que son acompañados por sus hermanos. Como cualquiera de nosotros, enfrentan el miedo, el desánimo y el dolor ante la enfermedad y la muerte pero lo hacen con una gran serenidad y alegría, basada en su fe y confianza en Dios, convencidos que la muerte no es el fin, sino el comienzo.
Testimonios imprescindibles para un mundo que vive aterrorizado de la muerte, que pretende ignorarla o evitarla a cualquier costo y, por ello, vive lleno de angustia existencial. Muy recomendable para recordarnos cómo morir y, así, cómo vivir.
No cabe duda que la vida monástica es algo cada vez más incomprensible, no solo para el mundo, sino inclusive para la mayoría de los católicos. Sin embargo, no dejan de ser un gran ejemplo de renuncia a las cosas terrenas para enfocarse en lo verdaderamente importante. Pero no solo es eso, la vocación de un monje no consiste solamente en tratar de vivir una vida más sencilla, mas tranquila e inclusive, diríamos ahora que está tan de moda, más en armonía con la naturaleza. La vocación monástica tiene en su centro, la búsqueda de la unión con Dios, la cual sólo se puede dar de manera completa y definitiva después de la muerte. De esto se trata este extraordinario libro.
A través de testimonios recogidos en varios monasterios en Francia, el autor nos cuenta las historias de cómo han vivido sus últimos días en esta tierra los monjes pertenecientes a varias ordenes religiosas, así como el cariño, la dedicación y la entrega con que son acompañados por sus hermanos. Como cualquiera de nosotros, enfrentan el miedo, el desánimo y el dolor ante la enfermedad y la muerte pero lo hacen con una gran serenidad y alegría, basada en su fe y confianza en Dios, convencidos que la muerte no es el fin, sino el comienzo.
Testimonios imprescindibles para un mundo que vive aterrorizado de la muerte, que pretende ignorarla o evitarla a cualquier costo y, por ello, vive lleno de angustia existencial. Muy recomendable para recordarnos cómo morir y, así, cómo vivir.
February 10, 2021
Vivere mori est
Death is something to be pondered and prepared during one's whole life, and monks are experts in this in general, as experienced by the author. We can all learn some precious lessons from the accounts of perishing monks that the author recorded, and help ourselves to prepare for this inevitable end, which is also just the beginning --the gateway through which we can see our Father in the end.
Death is something to be pondered and prepared during one's whole life, and monks are experts in this in general, as experienced by the author. We can all learn some precious lessons from the accounts of perishing monks that the author recorded, and help ourselves to prepare for this inevitable end, which is also just the beginning --the gateway through which we can see our Father in the end.
January 1, 2024
This short book is fascinating in how it looks to different religious orders and how they face death. The stories of faith in the final hour are powerful and it is an interesting lens by which to see the communities.
September 27, 2020
The most beautiful book I’ve ever read
February 27, 2023
Ladies, and gentlemen at the end as true brave that you are (I say this in an ironic sense) you have left the deepest criticism for last. This review will be written in @goodreads in four languages English, Spanish, French, and Polish. It should be said that this book has been chosen by the Goodreads Catholic Book Club group https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... moderated by John Seymour, and Professor Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., and the next reading in case you are interested will be "Friends in high places" https://www.goodreads.com/series/3264... by the English writer Corinna Turner https://www.goodreads.com/author/show....
Surely some of my followers are familiar with Cardinal Robert Sarah https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... one of the most striking and interesting figures in the Catholic Church, who was interviewed by the author of this book Nicholas Diat in three books published by the publisher @palabraes entitled "God, or nothing" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... , "La fuerza del silencio" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... , and "Se hace tarde, y anochece" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (I personally really liked the first, and the third). If I remember correctly, the third place was third in the list of best non-fiction books last year. But it is "The Force of Silence" that interests us, because both Nicholas Diat and Robert Sarah were very moved by the death of the first monk to appear in the first chapter, Brother Vincent Marie (apart from that the book spoke of the importance of silence, and of monastic life among the many themes it dealt with). who died of sclerosis (something that also had one of the priests to whom Stephen Fermoyle will help the priest who becomes Cardinal (the inspiration was Cardinal Francis Spellman https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) in "The Cardinal" by Henry Morton Robinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ).
This book is divided into eight chapters, with two prologues one of them is by Cardinal Robert Sarah, and an epilogue. The eight chapters correspond to eight French abbeys, and they tell us an inconvenient truth, but one that is unquestionable, and that must be faced, that we all at the end of our lives have to die. I am not going to call myself a stoic, nor a hypocrite, and I am going to advise you like Lucius Annaeus Seneca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... saying that you have to accept death, and then protest when I came to him , because I will surely behave just like Seneca. He advised my followers one thing, to do what I say, but never what I do. Here in this book Diat, which collects the testimony of how the monks of the eight main French abbeys face death, gives us valuable examples of how to face it without sweetening anything. The monks take the case for the most part they want to live, and they suffer, and many despair, suffering crises of anguish, of faith, a terrible physical agony, but except in the second chapter in which there is a monk, who despairs, and commits suicide all the others face it with courage, knowing that paradise awaits them, salvation, and avoiding what St. Augustine https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... called the second death. The abbeys visited by this modern sociologist of Catholic spiritual life called Diat are Lagrasse (which tells us the life of Vincent Marie, whose death, and heroism moved even Cardinal Robert Sarah himself), the second is the Abbey in Calcat, and they tell us the agonies of several, and a suicide Abbot David Damonville, the third is the Abbey of Solesmes which recalls that it tells us about the death of Pierre Buisson. Apart from that, La Trappa collects, and how it influenced some writers such as Huysmans https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Saint-Exupery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Simone Weil https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Paul Claudel https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Valery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , François Mauriac https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Reverdy https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , and Julien Green https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of Sept Fons tells us the Agony of Father Teophane, and how I finally endure his fate. The fifth chapter tells us about the Abbey of Citeaux created by Robert de Molesme, and tells us about Etienne Harding (the English abbot), and of course Saint Bernard of Clairvaux https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... through Abbot Quenardel he tells us something that interested me, because I am passionate about the Nordic world of the Evangelization of Norway by the Cistercians, so I was moved that there was still an Abbey there Mukenby in which we are told about the death of Jean Chanut, and how he carried his illness. We are also told the story of Brother Nurse Philippe who resembles Maximilian Kolbe https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Telling us testimonies of patients. The Abbey of Fongombault tells us deaths almost in praise of holiness. They put us a poem by Emile Verhaeren https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... beautiful. It tells us about the Passion, and death of Forgeot. The Abbey of Mondaye tells us the testimony of the death of Joel Hoaque. That despite his death he combined for a time his work as Abbot. Chapter VIII is the death of the Carthusians as it is the only unreformed Order, and it was created by a German Saint Bruno https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , as he was with Robert de Molesme he retired, and created the Charterhouse, and was called by Urban II As after the exile he ended up in Italy. It is also compared to the Order of St. Norbert https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of the Premonstratensians (another German, by the way). Poland has Saint Stanislaus. This chapter tells of death in solitude. The book tells us about very interesting things. There is a critique of technocracy, and transhumanism. Books such as François Mitterrand's Intimate Death are also taken https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... or the Passion of Abbot Sisoes. There is criticism against therapeutic cruelty, experimenting with medication without permission as one of the characters in "Cuando Silbo" by Shusaku Endo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... &qid=5ZhGr8nzVN&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... does. Talk about the need for accompaniment, and try to die in the Abbey if possible. The second chapter led to an interesting discussion. Endure the pain, or administer painkillers (my boss would oppose the first option, because he does not understand, that someone faces the last transit assuming one's own pain with courage, and holiness). However, I believe that it should be left to the patient's choice, although in no way should euthanasia be allowed. There is a critique of atheist writers who mock religion as in "Queen Albemarle, or the Last Tourist" by Jean Paul Sartre https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... talking about monks in terms very similar to those that Diderot would use https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , saying that they abuse their victims, or George Sand. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... saying that Fongombault has been desacralized, and will never be a Saint again, but there is still the Virgin of the Good Death. It tells us about the heroic martyrdom of Jacques Hamel (priest martyred by Jihadism), and the monks of Tibhirine in Algeria told in the film "Gods, and Men" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... . It's a wonderful, moving, wonderfully written, and hope-giving book. The only flaw is that I got lost with so much character /. In fact, I had to look at the book to reconstruct this critique. With all my grade is (5/5). It is a good complement to the trilogy of interviews with Cardinal Sarah.
Mesdames, et messieurs à la fin aussi courageux que vous soyez (je dis cela dans un sens ironique), vous avez laissé la critique la plus profonde pour la fin. Cette revue sera rédigée en @goodreads en quatre langues anglais, espagnol, français et polonais. Il faut dire que ce livre a été choisi par le groupe du Goodreads Catholic Book Club https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... modéré par John Seymour et le professeur Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., et la prochaine lecture au cas où vous seriez intéressé sera « Friends in high places » https://www.goodreads.com/series/3264... par l’écrivaine anglaise Corinna Turner https://www.goodreads.com/author/show....
Certains de mes disciples connaissent sûrement le cardinal Robert Sarah https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... l’une des figures les plus frappantes et les plus intéressantes de l’Église catholique, qui a été interviewée par l’auteur de ce livre Nicolas Diat dans trois livres publiés par l’éditeur @palabraes intitulé « Dieu, ou rien » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... , « La fuerza del silencio » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... , et « Se hace tarde, y anochece » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (Personnellement, j’ai beaucoup aimé le premier et le troisième). Si je me souviens bien, la troisième place était troisième dans la liste des meilleurs livres de non-fiction l’année dernière. Mais c’est « La Force du silence » qui nous intéresse, car Nicolas Diat et Robert Sarah ont été très émus par la mort du premier moine à apparaître dans le premier chapitre, le frère Vincent Marie (à part le fait que le livre parle de l’importance du silence, et de la vie monastique parmi les nombreux thèmes qu’il traite). qui est mort de sclérose (quelque chose qui a également eu l’un des prêtres à qui Stephen Fermoyle aidera le prêtre qui devient cardinal (l’inspiration était le cardinal Francis Spellman https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) dans « The Cardinal » de Henry Morton Robinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ).
Ce livre est divisé en huit chapitres, avec deux prologues dont l’un est du cardinal Robert Sarah, et un épilogue. Les huit chapitres correspondent à huit abbayes françaises, et ils nous disent une vérité qui dérange, mais qui est incontestable, et qui doit être affrontée, que nous devons tous mourir à la fin de notre vie. Je ne vais pas me les donner comme stoïciens, ni comme hypocrites et je vais vous conseiller comme Lucius Annaeus Seneca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... dire que vous devez accepter la mort, puis protester quand je suis venu à lui, parce que je me comporterai sûrement comme Sénèque. Il a conseillé une chose à mes disciples, de faire ce que je dis, mais jamais ce que je fais. Ici, dans ce livre, Diat, qui recueille le témoignage de la façon dont les moines des huit principales abbayes françaises font face à la mort, nous donne de précieux exemples de la façon d’y faire face sans rien édulcorer. Les moines prennent l’affaire pour la plupart qu’ils veulent vivre, et ils souffrent, et beaucoup désespèrent, souffrant de crises d’angoisse, de foi, d’une terrible agonie physique, mais sauf dans le deuxième chapitre où il y a un moine, qui désespère, et se suicide tous les autres y font face avec courage, sachant que le paradis les attend, salut, et éviter ce que saint Augustin https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... appelé la seconde mort. Les abbayes visitées par ce sociologue moderne de la vie spirituelle catholique appelé Diat sont Lagrasse (qui nous raconte la vie de Vincent Marie, dont la mort, et l’héroïsme ont ému même le cardinal Robert Sarah lui-même), la seconde est l’abbaye de Calcat, et ils nous racontent les agonies de plusieurs, et un abbé David Damonville suicidé, la troisième est l’abbaye de Solesmes qui rappelle qu’elle nous raconte la mort de Pierre Buisson. En dehors de cela, la Trapa, et comment elle a influencé certains écrivains tels que Huysmans https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Saint-Exupéry https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Simone Weil https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Paul Claudel https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Valery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., François Mauriac https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Reverdy https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... et Julien Green https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... de Sept Fons nous racontent l’agonie du père Téophane, et comment j’endure finalement son destin. Le cinquième chapitre nous parle de l’abbaye de Citeaux créée par Robert de Molesme, et nous parle d’Etienne Harding (l’abbé anglais), et bien sûr Saint Bernard de Clairvaux https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... par l’abbé Quenardel nous dit quelque chose qui m’intéressait, car je suis passionné par le monde nordique l’évangélisation de la Norvège par les cisterciens, J’ai donc été ému qu’il y ait encore une abbaye là-bas Mukenby dans laquelle on nous parle de la mort de Jean Chanut, et comment il a porté sa maladie. On nous raconte aussi l’histoire du frère infirmier Philippe qui ressemble à Maximilian Kolbe https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... Nous raconter des témoignages de patients. L’abbaye de Fongombault nous raconte des morts presque en louange de sainteté. Ils nous ont mis un poème d’Emile Verhaeren https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... magnifique. Il nous parle de la Passion et de la mort de Forgeot. L’abbaye de Mondaye nous raconte le témoignage de la mort de Joël Hoaque. Que malgré sa mort, il combina pour un temps son travail d’abbé. Le chapitre VIII est la mort des Chartreux car c’est le seul Ordre non réformé, et il a été créé par un Saint Bruno allemand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., comme il l’était avec Robert de Molesme, il s’est retiré, et a créé la chartreuse, et a été appelé par Urbain II comme après le bannissement il s’est retrouvé en Italie. Il est également comparé à l’Ordre de Saint-Norbert https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... des Prémontrés (un autre Allemand, soit dit en passant). La Pologne a Saint Stanislas. Ce chapitre parle de la mort dans la solitude. Le livre nous parle de choses très intéressantes. Il y a une critique de la technocratie et du transhumanisme. Des livres tels que Mort intime https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... de François Mitterrand, ou Passion de l’abbé Sisoes sont également pris. Il y a des critiques contre la cruauté thérapeutique, l’expérimentation de médicaments sans permission comme l’un des personnages de « Cuando Silbo » de Shusaku Endo ne https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Parlez de la nécessité de l’accompagnement, et essayez de mourir dans l’abbaye si possible. Le deuxième chapitre a donné lieu à une discussion intéressante. Endurer la douleur, ou administrer des analgésiques (mon patron s’opposerait à la première option, parce qu’il ne comprend pas, que quelqu’un fait face au dernier transit en assumant sa propre douleur avec courage et sainteté). Cependant, je crois que cela devrait être laissé au choix du patient, bien que l’euthanasie ne soit en aucun cas autorisée. Il y a une critique des écrivains athées qui se moquent de la religion comme dans « La reine Albemarle, ou le dernier touriste » de Jean Paul Sartre https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... parlant des moines dans des termes très similaires à ceux que Diderot utiliserait. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., disant qu’ils abusent de leurs victimes, ou George Sand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... disant que Fongombault a été désacralisé et ne sera plus jamais un saint, mais il suit la Vierge de la Bonne Mort. Il nous raconte le martyre héroïque de Jacques Hamel (prêtre martyrisé par le djihadisme), et des moines de Tibhirine en Algérie racontés dans le film « Dieux, et Hommes » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3.... C’est un livre merveilleux, émouvant, merveilleusement écrit et porteur d’espoir. Le seul défaut, c’est que je me suis perdu avec autant de caractère . En fait, j’ai dû regarder le livre pour reconstruire cette critique. Avec tout ce que ma note est (5/5). C’est un bon complément à la trilogie d’entretiens avec le cardinal Sarah.
Surely some of my followers are familiar with Cardinal Robert Sarah https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... one of the most striking and interesting figures in the Catholic Church, who was interviewed by the author of this book Nicholas Diat in three books published by the publisher @palabraes entitled "God, or nothing" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... , "La fuerza del silencio" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... , and "Se hace tarde, y anochece" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (I personally really liked the first, and the third). If I remember correctly, the third place was third in the list of best non-fiction books last year. But it is "The Force of Silence" that interests us, because both Nicholas Diat and Robert Sarah were very moved by the death of the first monk to appear in the first chapter, Brother Vincent Marie (apart from that the book spoke of the importance of silence, and of monastic life among the many themes it dealt with). who died of sclerosis (something that also had one of the priests to whom Stephen Fermoyle will help the priest who becomes Cardinal (the inspiration was Cardinal Francis Spellman https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) in "The Cardinal" by Henry Morton Robinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ).
This book is divided into eight chapters, with two prologues one of them is by Cardinal Robert Sarah, and an epilogue. The eight chapters correspond to eight French abbeys, and they tell us an inconvenient truth, but one that is unquestionable, and that must be faced, that we all at the end of our lives have to die. I am not going to call myself a stoic, nor a hypocrite, and I am going to advise you like Lucius Annaeus Seneca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... saying that you have to accept death, and then protest when I came to him , because I will surely behave just like Seneca. He advised my followers one thing, to do what I say, but never what I do. Here in this book Diat, which collects the testimony of how the monks of the eight main French abbeys face death, gives us valuable examples of how to face it without sweetening anything. The monks take the case for the most part they want to live, and they suffer, and many despair, suffering crises of anguish, of faith, a terrible physical agony, but except in the second chapter in which there is a monk, who despairs, and commits suicide all the others face it with courage, knowing that paradise awaits them, salvation, and avoiding what St. Augustine https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... called the second death. The abbeys visited by this modern sociologist of Catholic spiritual life called Diat are Lagrasse (which tells us the life of Vincent Marie, whose death, and heroism moved even Cardinal Robert Sarah himself), the second is the Abbey in Calcat, and they tell us the agonies of several, and a suicide Abbot David Damonville, the third is the Abbey of Solesmes which recalls that it tells us about the death of Pierre Buisson. Apart from that, La Trappa collects, and how it influenced some writers such as Huysmans https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Saint-Exupery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Simone Weil https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Paul Claudel https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Valery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , François Mauriac https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , Reverdy https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , and Julien Green https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of Sept Fons tells us the Agony of Father Teophane, and how I finally endure his fate. The fifth chapter tells us about the Abbey of Citeaux created by Robert de Molesme, and tells us about Etienne Harding (the English abbot), and of course Saint Bernard of Clairvaux https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... through Abbot Quenardel he tells us something that interested me, because I am passionate about the Nordic world of the Evangelization of Norway by the Cistercians, so I was moved that there was still an Abbey there Mukenby in which we are told about the death of Jean Chanut, and how he carried his illness. We are also told the story of Brother Nurse Philippe who resembles Maximilian Kolbe https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Telling us testimonies of patients. The Abbey of Fongombault tells us deaths almost in praise of holiness. They put us a poem by Emile Verhaeren https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... beautiful. It tells us about the Passion, and death of Forgeot. The Abbey of Mondaye tells us the testimony of the death of Joel Hoaque. That despite his death he combined for a time his work as Abbot. Chapter VIII is the death of the Carthusians as it is the only unreformed Order, and it was created by a German Saint Bruno https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , as he was with Robert de Molesme he retired, and created the Charterhouse, and was called by Urban II As after the exile he ended up in Italy. It is also compared to the Order of St. Norbert https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of the Premonstratensians (another German, by the way). Poland has Saint Stanislaus. This chapter tells of death in solitude. The book tells us about very interesting things. There is a critique of technocracy, and transhumanism. Books such as François Mitterrand's Intimate Death are also taken https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... or the Passion of Abbot Sisoes. There is criticism against therapeutic cruelty, experimenting with medication without permission as one of the characters in "Cuando Silbo" by Shusaku Endo https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... &qid=5ZhGr8nzVN&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... does. Talk about the need for accompaniment, and try to die in the Abbey if possible. The second chapter led to an interesting discussion. Endure the pain, or administer painkillers (my boss would oppose the first option, because he does not understand, that someone faces the last transit assuming one's own pain with courage, and holiness). However, I believe that it should be left to the patient's choice, although in no way should euthanasia be allowed. There is a critique of atheist writers who mock religion as in "Queen Albemarle, or the Last Tourist" by Jean Paul Sartre https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... talking about monks in terms very similar to those that Diderot would use https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , saying that they abuse their victims, or George Sand. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... saying that Fongombault has been desacralized, and will never be a Saint again, but there is still the Virgin of the Good Death. It tells us about the heroic martyrdom of Jacques Hamel (priest martyred by Jihadism), and the monks of Tibhirine in Algeria told in the film "Gods, and Men" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... . It's a wonderful, moving, wonderfully written, and hope-giving book. The only flaw is that I got lost with so much character /. In fact, I had to look at the book to reconstruct this critique. With all my grade is (5/5). It is a good complement to the trilogy of interviews with Cardinal Sarah.
Mesdames, et messieurs à la fin aussi courageux que vous soyez (je dis cela dans un sens ironique), vous avez laissé la critique la plus profonde pour la fin. Cette revue sera rédigée en @goodreads en quatre langues anglais, espagnol, français et polonais. Il faut dire que ce livre a été choisi par le groupe du Goodreads Catholic Book Club https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... modéré par John Seymour et le professeur Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., et la prochaine lecture au cas où vous seriez intéressé sera « Friends in high places » https://www.goodreads.com/series/3264... par l’écrivaine anglaise Corinna Turner https://www.goodreads.com/author/show....
Certains de mes disciples connaissent sûrement le cardinal Robert Sarah https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... l’une des figures les plus frappantes et les plus intéressantes de l’Église catholique, qui a été interviewée par l’auteur de ce livre Nicolas Diat dans trois livres publiés par l’éditeur @palabraes intitulé « Dieu, ou rien » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... , « La fuerza del silencio » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... , et « Se hace tarde, y anochece » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (Personnellement, j’ai beaucoup aimé le premier et le troisième). Si je me souviens bien, la troisième place était troisième dans la liste des meilleurs livres de non-fiction l’année dernière. Mais c’est « La Force du silence » qui nous intéresse, car Nicolas Diat et Robert Sarah ont été très émus par la mort du premier moine à apparaître dans le premier chapitre, le frère Vincent Marie (à part le fait que le livre parle de l’importance du silence, et de la vie monastique parmi les nombreux thèmes qu’il traite). qui est mort de sclérose (quelque chose qui a également eu l’un des prêtres à qui Stephen Fermoyle aidera le prêtre qui devient cardinal (l’inspiration était le cardinal Francis Spellman https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) dans « The Cardinal » de Henry Morton Robinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ).
Ce livre est divisé en huit chapitres, avec deux prologues dont l’un est du cardinal Robert Sarah, et un épilogue. Les huit chapitres correspondent à huit abbayes françaises, et ils nous disent une vérité qui dérange, mais qui est incontestable, et qui doit être affrontée, que nous devons tous mourir à la fin de notre vie. Je ne vais pas me les donner comme stoïciens, ni comme hypocrites et je vais vous conseiller comme Lucius Annaeus Seneca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... dire que vous devez accepter la mort, puis protester quand je suis venu à lui, parce que je me comporterai sûrement comme Sénèque. Il a conseillé une chose à mes disciples, de faire ce que je dis, mais jamais ce que je fais. Ici, dans ce livre, Diat, qui recueille le témoignage de la façon dont les moines des huit principales abbayes françaises font face à la mort, nous donne de précieux exemples de la façon d’y faire face sans rien édulcorer. Les moines prennent l’affaire pour la plupart qu’ils veulent vivre, et ils souffrent, et beaucoup désespèrent, souffrant de crises d’angoisse, de foi, d’une terrible agonie physique, mais sauf dans le deuxième chapitre où il y a un moine, qui désespère, et se suicide tous les autres y font face avec courage, sachant que le paradis les attend, salut, et éviter ce que saint Augustin https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... appelé la seconde mort. Les abbayes visitées par ce sociologue moderne de la vie spirituelle catholique appelé Diat sont Lagrasse (qui nous raconte la vie de Vincent Marie, dont la mort, et l’héroïsme ont ému même le cardinal Robert Sarah lui-même), la seconde est l’abbaye de Calcat, et ils nous racontent les agonies de plusieurs, et un abbé David Damonville suicidé, la troisième est l’abbaye de Solesmes qui rappelle qu’elle nous raconte la mort de Pierre Buisson. En dehors de cela, la Trapa, et comment elle a influencé certains écrivains tels que Huysmans https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Saint-Exupéry https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Simone Weil https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Paul Claudel https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Valery https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., François Mauriac https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., Reverdy https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... et Julien Green https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... de Sept Fons nous racontent l’agonie du père Téophane, et comment j’endure finalement son destin. Le cinquième chapitre nous parle de l’abbaye de Citeaux créée par Robert de Molesme, et nous parle d’Etienne Harding (l’abbé anglais), et bien sûr Saint Bernard de Clairvaux https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... par l’abbé Quenardel nous dit quelque chose qui m’intéressait, car je suis passionné par le monde nordique l’évangélisation de la Norvège par les cisterciens, J’ai donc été ému qu’il y ait encore une abbaye là-bas Mukenby dans laquelle on nous parle de la mort de Jean Chanut, et comment il a porté sa maladie. On nous raconte aussi l’histoire du frère infirmier Philippe qui ressemble à Maximilian Kolbe https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... Nous raconter des témoignages de patients. L’abbaye de Fongombault nous raconte des morts presque en louange de sainteté. Ils nous ont mis un poème d’Emile Verhaeren https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... magnifique. Il nous parle de la Passion et de la mort de Forgeot. L’abbaye de Mondaye nous raconte le témoignage de la mort de Joël Hoaque. Que malgré sa mort, il combina pour un temps son travail d’abbé. Le chapitre VIII est la mort des Chartreux car c’est le seul Ordre non réformé, et il a été créé par un Saint Bruno allemand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., comme il l’était avec Robert de Molesme, il s’est retiré, et a créé la chartreuse, et a été appelé par Urbain II comme après le bannissement il s’est retrouvé en Italie. Il est également comparé à l’Ordre de Saint-Norbert https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... des Prémontrés (un autre Allemand, soit dit en passant). La Pologne a Saint Stanislas. Ce chapitre parle de la mort dans la solitude. Le livre nous parle de choses très intéressantes. Il y a une critique de la technocratie et du transhumanisme. Des livres tels que Mort intime https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... de François Mitterrand, ou Passion de l’abbé Sisoes sont également pris. Il y a des critiques contre la cruauté thérapeutique, l’expérimentation de médicaments sans permission comme l’un des personnages de « Cuando Silbo » de Shusaku Endo ne https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Parlez de la nécessité de l’accompagnement, et essayez de mourir dans l’abbaye si possible. Le deuxième chapitre a donné lieu à une discussion intéressante. Endurer la douleur, ou administrer des analgésiques (mon patron s’opposerait à la première option, parce qu’il ne comprend pas, que quelqu’un fait face au dernier transit en assumant sa propre douleur avec courage et sainteté). Cependant, je crois que cela devrait être laissé au choix du patient, bien que l’euthanasie ne soit en aucun cas autorisée. Il y a une critique des écrivains athées qui se moquent de la religion comme dans « La reine Albemarle, ou le dernier touriste » de Jean Paul Sartre https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... parlant des moines dans des termes très similaires à ceux que Diderot utiliserait. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., disant qu’ils abusent de leurs victimes, ou George Sand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... disant que Fongombault a été désacralisé et ne sera plus jamais un saint, mais il suit la Vierge de la Bonne Mort. Il nous raconte le martyre héroïque de Jacques Hamel (prêtre martyrisé par le djihadisme), et des moines de Tibhirine en Algérie racontés dans le film « Dieux, et Hommes » https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3.... C’est un livre merveilleux, émouvant, merveilleusement écrit et porteur d’espoir. Le seul défaut, c’est que je me suis perdu avec autant de caractère . En fait, j’ai dû regarder le livre pour reconstruire cette critique. Avec tout ce que ma note est (5/5). C’est un bon complément à la trilogie d’entretiens avec le cardinal Sarah.
January 12, 2020
This beautiful book is a peek into the mysteries of monastic life. Silence in our world is hard to come by, but when we do find it, it makes us nervous or bored. It seems we are addicted to distractions. We want to have a deep prayer life, but aren't willing to put it first. How would it be to live and pray 30, 40, 50, or more years without distractions in a monastery?
As it happens, I was one of several guests on retreat at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in CA for the weekend of Palm Sunday in 2018 when Fr. Anthony died. I will never forget the love of those men for their friend. We were able to attend the funeral Mass and burial in the monastery cemetery. Fr. Anthony was buried in his white alb without a coffin. His face was covered with his hood just before the dirt was put over him. It was very moving and certainly sobering. I couldn't help but think about how these holy men might be anticipating their own futures. Like the prayer attributed to St. Francis says, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
It is a wonderful book for reflection about our own dying.
As it happens, I was one of several guests on retreat at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in CA for the weekend of Palm Sunday in 2018 when Fr. Anthony died. I will never forget the love of those men for their friend. We were able to attend the funeral Mass and burial in the monastery cemetery. Fr. Anthony was buried in his white alb without a coffin. His face was covered with his hood just before the dirt was put over him. It was very moving and certainly sobering. I couldn't help but think about how these holy men might be anticipating their own futures. Like the prayer attributed to St. Francis says, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
It is a wonderful book for reflection about our own dying.
June 16, 2020
There are some beautiful reflections from monks on death, but I wish there were more of these reflections rather than long narratives about the burial practices and scenery descriptions. The first half of the book went very slow with disjointed and jumbled stories of older monks passing away, but the last half was definitely better with more focus on certain monks and their final moments.
May 1, 2020
A lot of this is about how good Jesus is. Too much Jesus and not enough death, in my opinion. But I like reading about monks, so three stars.
March 10, 2023
Really 4.5 stars -- it's a lovely book.
Diat interviews monks at a number of French monasteries to find out how monks face death. Most of them die full of years (many over 90, even 99!); having spent their lives preparing for eternal life, they do not necessarily fear it -- but even they often have physical pain and sometimes existential suffering before death.
Nonetheless, it's often repeated that at the moment of death, a monk is peaceful, serene, radiant, even. The funeral of a monk, therefore, is usually joyful.
A few interesting details: several of the abbots spoken to said that because they often travel, they will tell a dying monk to wait until the abbot returns to the monastery before dying -- and the monk will wait! Each time the monk's obedience (perhaps the greatest virtue of a monk) is noted.
In contrast, among the Carthusians (an order which is practically eremitical) monks will die as they lived -- alone -- sometimes mere minutes after being among others. So these monks, too, die as they live.
The monks of the 2nd chapter are a bit of a sour note among the others. The chapter focuses on the suicide of the infirmarian (who was known to have a history of serious depression and had access to medications -- unwise). After reading each chapter of the book, I found information about each monastery online, and this one was the only one that doesn't have a rich, traditional and orthodox theology undergirding them.
The other orders represented all seem to be firmly grounded in the knowledge and love of God through Jesus Christ and in his Church. I read this book in a group and heard from others that it helped them to think of death as something to look forward to, rather than fear, because it is truly the "threshold of eternal life."
Diat interviews monks at a number of French monasteries to find out how monks face death. Most of them die full of years (many over 90, even 99!); having spent their lives preparing for eternal life, they do not necessarily fear it -- but even they often have physical pain and sometimes existential suffering before death.
Nonetheless, it's often repeated that at the moment of death, a monk is peaceful, serene, radiant, even. The funeral of a monk, therefore, is usually joyful.
A few interesting details: several of the abbots spoken to said that because they often travel, they will tell a dying monk to wait until the abbot returns to the monastery before dying -- and the monk will wait! Each time the monk's obedience (perhaps the greatest virtue of a monk) is noted.
In contrast, among the Carthusians (an order which is practically eremitical) monks will die as they lived -- alone -- sometimes mere minutes after being among others. So these monks, too, die as they live.
The monks of the 2nd chapter are a bit of a sour note among the others. The chapter focuses on the suicide of the infirmarian (who was known to have a history of serious depression and had access to medications -- unwise). After reading each chapter of the book, I found information about each monastery online, and this one was the only one that doesn't have a rich, traditional and orthodox theology undergirding them.
The other orders represented all seem to be firmly grounded in the knowledge and love of God through Jesus Christ and in his Church. I read this book in a group and heard from others that it helped them to think of death as something to look forward to, rather than fear, because it is truly the "threshold of eternal life."
May 17, 2020
Nicolas Diat visits eight European monasteries, going behind the walls to interview the monks and speak to them about their experiences of death. His interviews are mostly with the Abbots and infirmarions.
I found the first three chapters of this book to be gravely depressing. I put the book down, crossed my arms, and told my husband “this book is terrible!” Then I picked it up and kept going. Chapter 4 was the turning point for me, where it began to meet my expectations, and then all the proceeding chapters exceeded them.
To begin, the absolute hell of physical suffering is not minced here. There are details of the monks deaths that reveal tremendous suffering — suffering from violent hemorrhaging, ripped vericose veins, bursting ulcers, aggressive leukemia, difficult brain tumors, and debilitating afflictions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Reading this was not easy, but we learn how the monks face and cope such tragedy, and how they approach their deaths.
Monks are transitory pilgrims. ”We all know that we are going to die,” says Dom Forgeot. “We should live life accordingly.” Death is the moment for which they are waiting — the constant backdrop that lines their existence, the culmination of their whole monastic life. For monks, death is formidable, but does not frighten them. They are sustained by the belief that they are born to meet God. Death is the junction between earthly life and eternal life, the door that allows them to go to their Father. They know they must pass through that door. Half their lives are spent thinking about eternal life — they meditate on death every day. This is necessary because it enables them to understand the meaning of life and recognize the end of the road. They know they must prepare every single day to die, because the preparation can not wait until the hour of death when they are too sick and tired. At the approach of death, the truth comes out: barriers fall and anxieties and fears unravel. Hope becomes everything.
They do not want to stay in the valley of tears, the darkness of earth — they desire eternal life and wait for heaven. They’re worn out bodies return to the earth, but it is to await the glory of the resurrection. They believe the most beautiful, by far, is yet to come.
A monks death tends to resemble his life: when the supernatural life is strong, the afterlife is more familiar and the death is simple. However, one Abbot says a monk should die better than he lived — sanctification can accelerate in the final moments! I kind of got a sense that an attachment to life/earth can make a death longer and more painful. Some of the deaths recorded were terrible, but not all suffer. Some wait out their final days in docility, knowing death is natural, and pass very peacefully. One Abbot remarked, “the strength of prayer during a monk’s life will influence how he approaches death.”
Interestingly, there were many reports of some monks “predicting” their own death. They had a sense that it was time, not by any divine revelation, but just a natural sense they were aware of. They were often right and died around the time they said they would. Also very interesting, multiple Abbots reported the monks being capable of resisting the moment of death... For example, the Abbots prefer to be present at the death of their brothers, and they would tell them not to die in their absence. If the Abbot was away, the monk would manage to hold onto life until the Abbot returned — obedient to their Abbot, even in death.
My favorite part of the book is the very end, the Carthusians. The Carthusians have a particularly cheerful detachment to life that enables them to die the sweetest and simplest deaths of all. They die alone and their bodies rest in anonymous graves. Some even request that their deaths are not announced; they want no recognition. For Carthusians, “life is a simple school and death is the final exam that is easy to pass.” Nicolas Diat points out that these monks do not suffer the painful deaths as other monasteries do, and have almost no cancer among them. He attributes this possibly to their extremely simple diet. They only eat one meal a day (lunch), and never eat meat. Their meal is fish, eggs, and vegetables. From September until Easter, they eat only bread and water.
Touched on by several abbots is the world’s “new way to die” with the advancement of medical technology. The world tries to forget about death, and to avoid all suffering and anxiety that come with it. Medical advances can be a “theft of death” as they steal away the very moment the monks have spent their whole lives preparing for. They have prayed their whole lives to live the moment of death, the last act of their life before they step into eternity. They want to be available for it, not be in a heavy state of sedation. Also touched on is how life-saving interventions sometimes do more harm than good. Ultimately the monks want to die as natural a death as possible, and to die in their monastery rather than a hospital. It can become a difficult balancing act in many cases, and is dependent on how willing or unwilling the monk is to let go of life and embrace death.
I found the first three chapters of this book to be gravely depressing. I put the book down, crossed my arms, and told my husband “this book is terrible!” Then I picked it up and kept going. Chapter 4 was the turning point for me, where it began to meet my expectations, and then all the proceeding chapters exceeded them.
To begin, the absolute hell of physical suffering is not minced here. There are details of the monks deaths that reveal tremendous suffering — suffering from violent hemorrhaging, ripped vericose veins, bursting ulcers, aggressive leukemia, difficult brain tumors, and debilitating afflictions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Reading this was not easy, but we learn how the monks face and cope such tragedy, and how they approach their deaths.
Monks are transitory pilgrims. ”We all know that we are going to die,” says Dom Forgeot. “We should live life accordingly.” Death is the moment for which they are waiting — the constant backdrop that lines their existence, the culmination of their whole monastic life. For monks, death is formidable, but does not frighten them. They are sustained by the belief that they are born to meet God. Death is the junction between earthly life and eternal life, the door that allows them to go to their Father. They know they must pass through that door. Half their lives are spent thinking about eternal life — they meditate on death every day. This is necessary because it enables them to understand the meaning of life and recognize the end of the road. They know they must prepare every single day to die, because the preparation can not wait until the hour of death when they are too sick and tired. At the approach of death, the truth comes out: barriers fall and anxieties and fears unravel. Hope becomes everything.
They do not want to stay in the valley of tears, the darkness of earth — they desire eternal life and wait for heaven. They’re worn out bodies return to the earth, but it is to await the glory of the resurrection. They believe the most beautiful, by far, is yet to come.
A monks death tends to resemble his life: when the supernatural life is strong, the afterlife is more familiar and the death is simple. However, one Abbot says a monk should die better than he lived — sanctification can accelerate in the final moments! I kind of got a sense that an attachment to life/earth can make a death longer and more painful. Some of the deaths recorded were terrible, but not all suffer. Some wait out their final days in docility, knowing death is natural, and pass very peacefully. One Abbot remarked, “the strength of prayer during a monk’s life will influence how he approaches death.”
Interestingly, there were many reports of some monks “predicting” their own death. They had a sense that it was time, not by any divine revelation, but just a natural sense they were aware of. They were often right and died around the time they said they would. Also very interesting, multiple Abbots reported the monks being capable of resisting the moment of death... For example, the Abbots prefer to be present at the death of their brothers, and they would tell them not to die in their absence. If the Abbot was away, the monk would manage to hold onto life until the Abbot returned — obedient to their Abbot, even in death.
My favorite part of the book is the very end, the Carthusians. The Carthusians have a particularly cheerful detachment to life that enables them to die the sweetest and simplest deaths of all. They die alone and their bodies rest in anonymous graves. Some even request that their deaths are not announced; they want no recognition. For Carthusians, “life is a simple school and death is the final exam that is easy to pass.” Nicolas Diat points out that these monks do not suffer the painful deaths as other monasteries do, and have almost no cancer among them. He attributes this possibly to their extremely simple diet. They only eat one meal a day (lunch), and never eat meat. Their meal is fish, eggs, and vegetables. From September until Easter, they eat only bread and water.
Touched on by several abbots is the world’s “new way to die” with the advancement of medical technology. The world tries to forget about death, and to avoid all suffering and anxiety that come with it. Medical advances can be a “theft of death” as they steal away the very moment the monks have spent their whole lives preparing for. They have prayed their whole lives to live the moment of death, the last act of their life before they step into eternity. They want to be available for it, not be in a heavy state of sedation. Also touched on is how life-saving interventions sometimes do more harm than good. Ultimately the monks want to die as natural a death as possible, and to die in their monastery rather than a hospital. It can become a difficult balancing act in many cases, and is dependent on how willing or unwilling the monk is to let go of life and embrace death.
May 20, 2020
A beautiful -- but intense -- book that chronicles the deaths of dozens of French monks. How they handled their deaths (if they saw them coming) and how the communities responded. The types of death run the gamut from illness, to sudden death, to natural causes, to even a suicide. Some were lengthy trials filled with much suffering, others short and serene and peaceful. Ages run from the twenties to a few weeks from one hundred. Many deaths are taken in stride by the communities, as death is the way of all men, but some have lasting impacts on the fellow monks. Even funeral and burial rites say much about attitudes toward death and the next life.
Highly recommended as a way to consider death, including one's own, and how to approach it as a Christian. Words of wisdom from the abbots and the dying are often enlightening and worthy of much reflection. I found it emotionally intense, a book that might be best taken a chapter at a time.
Highly recommended as a way to consider death, including one's own, and how to approach it as a Christian. Words of wisdom from the abbots and the dying are often enlightening and worthy of much reflection. I found it emotionally intense, a book that might be best taken a chapter at a time.
March 5, 2023
This book details how monks from different orders prepare, accompany, and pass toward death. Death is a part of living. Death is the beginning of life. Something that is removed from life day to day in secular society. There is much to learn, various forms of accompaniment, treatment, and personal development. These accounts are personal. Touching. It’s a solid telling of our responsibilities, as the person passing from this world, to death and life and also as one who is witness to the death. I was moved greatly and inspired by the amount of memorandum and pray the monks devote to those of their orders who passed. The heritage, fraternity of prayer is represented as a true devotion. I do wish I had a better understanding of how the monks live and more about the orders. But that wasn’t the point of the book.
April 7, 2023
This little book was a gem. It is about death and how individual monasteries deal with it. But it is more than that; it talks about death that is sudden and jarring and death that is peaceful—covering the customs of each monastery that ultimately point to the fact that everyone will die. And some will resurrect, but in their hearts, that is assured.
It is touching as ordinary monks talk about what it means to take care of each other community. As well as each monasteries’ insistence that no brother dies alone. Something that modern society has increased, notwithstanding COVID.
We will all die. Think hard on that, for the monks live their whole life in ways we don’t as if is true.
94% Death is real. Death is just the door.
It is touching as ordinary monks talk about what it means to take care of each other community. As well as each monasteries’ insistence that no brother dies alone. Something that modern society has increased, notwithstanding COVID.
We will all die. Think hard on that, for the monks live their whole life in ways we don’t as if is true.
94% Death is real. Death is just the door.
March 7, 2021
So much to ponder here: openly discussing how death comes; the idea of death as a communal experience--which we've largely lost in our world; grief; how survivors experience the death of a beloved brother in Christ; the transformative power of the love of God at the end of life... This book is a gem unlike anything I've ever read. I don't think I'll ever forget it. The book could have used a little polishing, however. The translation was clunky at times, and it was occasionally difficult to follow the stories about different monks as Diat jumped from one to another. Still, well worth the read.
August 4, 2023
It is tempting to imagine that cloistered monks navigate death with gentleness and peace. That is true for some, but like the rest of us, monks may experience pain, resistance, and doubt. Many of the death stories in this book are disturbing, especially in the early chapters, but that’s not the reason I gave the book only two stars. It’s disjointed and hard to follow. I’m a Catholic, so I understand the terminology, but the book felt like eight heaps of tangled yarn that haven’t been knit into anything recognizable. Perhaps part of the problem lies in the translation from French to English.
February 4, 2025
This was challenging to get through. It came highly recommended from both family and friends. I am inclined to think my lack of focus and awe was more a case of me not currently being in a place to be inspired by this particular topic rather than the actual book not having inspirational qualities!
I did appreciate the final chapter though and did finally get some good reflection out of that!
Definitely challenging to rate!
I did appreciate the final chapter though and did finally get some good reflection out of that!
Definitely challenging to rate!
January 1, 2026
This book is such an amazing insight into many beautiful and holy deaths. It’s like getting to peer through an abbey window to see something hidden and sacred. Diat’s recounting of the suffering and deaths of these monks certainly gives perspective on how we should all view death. Momento Mori.
Also, it just so happens that as I finish this, it seems Diat finished the book on January 1, 2018. Interesting.
Also, it just so happens that as I finish this, it seems Diat finished the book on January 1, 2018. Interesting.
January 15, 2020
An excellent and mystical mediation on death and dying. This book resounds with hope, loss, sadness and great joy. Most of all it provides hope. Hope that we can embrace God at the end in the way that he determines. Amazing and intensely thought provoking l, this book, in my opinion, requires multiple re-readings throughout ones life. You’ll lean something new each time. An absolute must read.
December 21, 2020
a beautiful telling of the radiance of death among the monks in various monasteries
This may sound like a morbid subject but it is far from that, it is uplifting and beautiful the way the monks view mortality and how they face their inevitable deaths with joy and expectation and offer their suffers up without complaint. i hope that I shall feel the same when my time comes.
This may sound like a morbid subject but it is far from that, it is uplifting and beautiful the way the monks view mortality and how they face their inevitable deaths with joy and expectation and offer their suffers up without complaint. i hope that I shall feel the same when my time comes.
December 6, 2021
Una excelente serie de anécdotas en diferentes monasterios franceses al respecto de diferentes monjes religiosos y sus particulares situaciones antes de morir.
Una bella reflexión en cada uno de estos para entender nuestra mortalidad y el cómo también estas personas tiene sentimientos humanos como miedo, ansiedad, sufrimiento pero al final de cumple la promesa de la vida eterna.
Una bella reflexión en cada uno de estos para entender nuestra mortalidad y el cómo también estas personas tiene sentimientos humanos como miedo, ansiedad, sufrimiento pero al final de cumple la promesa de la vida eterna.
June 15, 2020
A powerful book describing how those who have given their entire lives to Christ face their deaths. Gives a remarkable insight into life inside a monastery and the fears of intersection of these monks who have followed a radical call, with the medical community.
August 1, 2020
If I could give this book a million stars, I would. It is simple, it is brilliant. Maybe God brought this book to me in a time when I needed it, and this is why it struck such a chord in my heart and soul. I highly recommend it to one and all.
November 30, 2020
Why live this life afraid of death? The promise of death is a great hope. For it our pilgrimage through this life and its vale of tears, in a repentant doing of His will, that we die to cross a portal for a new everlasting life and our own neverending story of love.
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