" In the same way Brandanmay have learned music and have had an organ in his monastery, or have hada school of art, painting beautiful miniatures for the holy missals. Thiswas his early life in the convent.[Footnote 1: _Adde ut aurem tangas digito sicut canis cum pedepruriens solet, quia nec immerito infideles tali animati comparantur_.--MARTENE, _De Antiq. Monach. ritibus_, p. 289, qu. by Montalembert,Monks of the West (tr.) VI. 190.]Once a day they were called to food; this consisting for them of breadand vegetables with no seasoning but salt, although better fare wasfurnished for the sick and the aged, for travellers and the poor. Theselast numbered, at Easter time, some three or four hundred, who constantlycame and went, and upon whom the monks and young disciples waited. Afterthe meal the monks spent three hours in the chapel, on their knees, stillsilent; then they confessed in turn to the abbot and then sought theirhard-earned rest. They held all things in common; no one even received agift for himself. War never reached them; it was the rarest thing for anarmed party to molest their composure; their domains were regarded as ahaven for the stormy world. Because there were so many such places inIreland, it was known as The Isle of Saints.Brandan was sent after a time to other abbeys, where he could pursueespecial studies, for they had six branches of learning,--grammar,rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, astronomy, and music.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93