For Whom the Bell Tolls

Today's guest blogger is my mother, Janine DeBaise.

At Mount Saviour, a Benedictine monastery high in the hills above the Chemung River, the monks say goodnight to their guests with Compline, the last prayer service of the day.

The bells on the chapel ring just before 8:15 p.m. Guests enter the chapel through the four doors that face north, south, east, and west. The monks, gathered in a semi-circle, wear their dark robes. One monk lights the candles and switches off the electric light. Brother Pierre plays the harp as the monks sing and chant in the semi-darkness.

At the very end of this short service, guests follow the monks down a long stone staircase into the crypt below the chapel. The monks gather around a 14th century stone statue of a young woman holding a baby. Votive candles, hundreds of them, fill the stone altar. The prior sprinkles the monks and their guests with holy water as they sing one last song. Then in silence, everyone waits, staring quietly into the candlelight, as one monk climbs the stone stairs and rings the bell at the roof of the chapel.

On a windless night, people in the town below the monastery can hear the chiming of the bell, and know that the monks are saying good night.