An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic OrderIn 1960, five young men arrived at the imposing gates of Parkminster, the largest center of the most rigorous and ascetic monastic order in the Western world: the Carthusians. This is the story of their five-year journey into a society virtually unchanged in its behavior and lifestyle since its foundation in 1084. An Infinity of Little Hours is a uniquely intimate portrait of the customs and practices of a monastic order almost entirely unknown until now. It is also a drama of the men's struggle as they avoid the 1960s—the decade of hedonism, music, fashion, and amorality—and enter an entirely different era and a spiritual world of their own making. After five years each must face a choice: to make "solemn profession" and never leave Parkminster; or to turn his back on his life's ambition to find God in solitude. A remarkable investigative work, the book combines first-hand testimony with unique source material to describe the Carthusian life. And in the final chapter, which recounts a reunion forty years after the events described elsewhere in the book, Nancy Klein Maguire reveals which of the five succeeded in their quest, and which did not. |
Contents
introduction | 1 |
1 Arrivals July 1960March 1961 | 9 |
2 The Order 10841965 | 21 |
3 Parkminster 18831965 | 37 |
4 Inside the Charterhouse 19601961 | 45 |
5 The Last Novice 19601961 | 59 |
6 The Novice Master April 1961 | 68 |
7 The Long Walk May 8 1961 | 80 |
14 Perseverance September 16December 25 1964 | 172 |
15 Togetherness and Warmth December 2526 1964 | 182 |
16 Monks Disappearing Winter 1965 | 194 |
17 Monks Dying February 6 1962 Fall 1965 | 208 |
18 Solemn Profession September 29October 6 1965 | 216 |
epilogue | 229 |
appendix Dramatis Personae | 239 |
appendix A Note on the Sources | 241 |
8 Alone March 1962 | 97 |
9 Desire Summer 1962 | 119 |
10 Profession June 1624 1963 | 127 |
11 Monks Off Pitch December 18 and 2425 1963 | 140 |
12 The Noonday Demon April 1964 | 156 |
13 Outside the Walls August 15 1964 | 164 |
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Common terms and phrases
altar Anselm antiphon asked bell rope Bernie bishop Bonaventure brothers Bruno Cantor Carthusian monks Catholic cell century chant chapel Chapter Charterhouse Chartreuse choir stalls Christ Christmas Chuck church cloister clothes cold Columba Compline cowl cubiculum Damian Dave didn’t Divine Office Dom Columba Dom Damian Dom Ignatius Dom Joseph Dom Leo Dom Malachi Dom Philip Doms Malachi door Emmanuel garden Gatehouse God’s going Grande Chartreuse Gregory Guest House hair shirt hermit holy Hugo-Maria Ignatius Joseph keep knew Latin leave letter liturgy live looked Lord Lorenzo loved Ludolph Mass Matins monastery monastic monk’s monks sang never Night Office Novice Master novitiate Paddy Parkminster Philip felt pitch postulant pray prayer priest Prior Prior’s side psalms religious Reverend Father singing solemn profession solitude spiritual talk thought told took Trappists Vatican II Vespers voice walk wall wanted week window wooden young