11/06/2009

From The Celtic Sea At Caldey Island. By Uncle Monty.




From The Celtic Sea At Caldey Island.
By Uncle Monty.
Caldey Island Photos By Alex Albion
.-.
Severe and rough seas initially prevented me for two full days
from getting a boat ride from the Celtic Sea directly to the quaint,
isolated and monastic Caldey Island, but I finally made it there
at where for centuries since the Stone Age it has been a living
community of early Gaelic Christians, Benedictine monks,
Anglican religious brothers and, now today, mature males
of the Catholic Order of Reformed Cistercians.
.-.
With winter beckoning, I had only a few days left before Caldey
was to be shut to outside visitors like me until next Springtide,
2010, at the earliest. So I was anxious that the weather wouldn’t
hinder me further from visiting and seeing Caldey Island for the
first time within the present time frame of things. And also, to be
sure I could get off the island before more rough seas prevented
me from getting a boat ride back to the mainland at some miles
away at Carmarthen Bay.
.-.
A Classic Dwelling At Caldey Isalnd!
.-.
Stepping on dry land at Caldey from my boat
ride, the first thing I needed to understand was
the only means of transport were my own feet!
Although the island is only about 3 miles wide, I
believe, it doesn't take long before you've walked
untold miles and miles going here and there on
Caldey's monastic land. Walking say from the Old
Priory to The Lighthouse then to the spot called
The Calvary and then back to Caldey Abbey it-
self is a good 5-mile round walk and you haven't
yet seen everything there is still to see!!
.-.
Caldey Island Lighthouse.
.-.
To see the sight of Caldey Island monks - only
about 20 are living there nowadays - is a rare
feat since they're hidden away from public view.
I didn't get to see a one of them! No, sireee ...
I did get, however, to meet two such monks,
but not on the island itself or at Caldey Abbey
where they live. The Cistercians abide under
the Rite of St. Benedict or The Benedictine Rule.
At one time, so Brother Michael Strode, 86, told
me, the monks were not allowed to speak or
talk!! They used their own sign language instead
to communicate with each other. Today, under
a much more liberalised rule, the monks can
speak and talk to each other without the use of
their "in-house" sign language. Thank goodness!
If you were a constant chatterbox, I assume, you
must have been doomed to purgatory for daring to
open one's filthy mouth at the abbey. Poor devil!
.-.
The Tree Grove at Caldey Island.
.-.
Caldey Island was essentially Anglican at the turn
of the 20th century, but that soon changed after
1916 when the Anglican religious Brothers opted
out and joined the Roman Church and such soon
resulted in the Cistercians then buying the island
from those Anglican monks who had converted
to the pope. So for the past 90 years or so, the
island of Caldey has been Roman Catholic with
no traces of Anglicanism to be found today save
for Caldey Abbey itself, which was Anglican-built.
.-.
Caldey Abbey. Anglican-Built, 1910.
.-.
Historically and religiously, Caldey Island goes
back centuries as a monastic place of living and
devout Christianity. Monks and hermits of one
kind or another have lived, prayed, and died,
on the island for many, many, generations.
.-.
The Monks' Graveyard is one spot to visit for
such gives light to the fact of the deep religious
nature of Caldey. Today, there are about 20
civilian tenants, too, aside from the actual
Cistercian monks. The lady I met who runs the
Caldey Post Office - where you can buy Caldey
Island stamps along with special postmark
stampings on letters and postcards sent
directly from the island - told me that she
had lived on the island since 1971. She has
no plans to ever leave, she added!
Good for her ...
.-.
Arrival & Departure At Caldey Island.
.-.
Somethings that make Caldey Island unique are these: It
is police-free and presumably crime-free. It is also alcohol-
free, billboard-free, traffic light-free, foodstore-free, pet-free,
school-free, bingo-free, hospital-free, and rush hour-free.
But best of all, it's a drug-free zone for all. So is it paradise
on earth? I don't think so, but perhaps it is for some of
the monks and residents of Caldey Island.
..
There is also the Monastery Guest House for those wish-
ing to stay overnight or forced to stay due to sudden bad
sailing conditions based on emerging and forcasted rough
and dangerous ocean weather. You pay by donation
only at the guest house. There is no set charge
for staying as a monastery guest ...
.-.
Monks' Graveyard At Caldey Island.
.-.
About a couple of hundred or so outside visitors arrive
daily via boats at peak summertime. You must sail across
water no matter what since there is no other way of getting
there unless you have a private helicoper to land somewhere
on Caldey Island, that also has its own beaches and lush
verdure greenery.
.-.
Caldey Island's Cistercian Monk,
Brother Michael Strode, 86.
.-.
But primarily, Caldey Island is a Christian beacon and
oasis for those that seek quiet prayer and a sense of
peace all around them, if only momentarily, against the
ongoing onslaught of modern Broken Britain with all its
growing crime and violence and its decaying social values
and its blatant political bankruptcy under "The Socialist
Nanny State" that is represented so ugly by the vile and
tiresome radical leftist loonies of decrept New Labour!!
,-,
My Visit To The Grey Seals Habitat Off
St. Margaret Island, Was Also Wonderful!!
.-.
But above all, Caldey Island is a law unto itself.
It doesn't need to justify its existence and pur-
pose to anybody but itself. It is a mystic place in
the minds of some and it carries a magical air all
about itself, too. Is it worth visiting? You bet, if
you're a professing Christian and say YES!! If not,
there is always the option of taking a Seal Safari
off St. Margaret Island to witness the wonderful
grey seals habitats upclose (as shown above) in a
jet speed boat that I also took aside from setting
foot on monastic Caldey Island. Such was a worthy
encounter for me and I suspect for thousands of
others who have visited over the course of many
years both Caldey and the home of the grey seals!
.-.
So let me leave you then in peace with the above few,
of many, images I took while both at Caldey Island
and at St. Margaret Island. I do hope you enjoy!!
-.-
For now, Uncle Monty.
+ABC William Temple, 2oo9.
.
"Remembrance Day" is my next story ...
.
Also Coming Soon:
"World Homeless Events For 2010."
Compiled By Uncle Monty.
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{Click on any image to Enlarge}
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

blogger - is there really such a place called caldey island? it seems just unreal. paradise island
is it or not? religions and monks are my last interests. so if caldey does exist i would not want to visit it. though i liked alex's photographs of the mythical place plus your caldey story.

TRH. said...

Dear Uncle Monty. Please allow me to broaden your article about the Cistercian monks on Caldey Island. The Cistercian Order came into being in 1098. In that year
St. Robert bade farewell to the Cluniac Abbey of Molesme and settled in a spot called Citeaux, not far from Dijon in Burgundy. Monks there got their name Cistercians from the Latin form of ‘Citeaux’. With Papal approbation granted in 1100 and after the death of St. Alberic, an Englishman, St. Stephen Harding, was elected Abbot of the Cistercian Order. Under him, Cistercian Monasticism grew with its Benedictine Rule by which the monks lived under but not seeking to follow it by the strict letter. The Cistercians, for instance, did not accept child oblates as proscribed by the Rule.
In place of that, they introduced the new category of ‘lay-brothers’. The Order always aimed
at creating within monasticism the freedom of body, mind and heart which would enable monks to live their comtemplative life in true inner peace, though never repudiating the essential Bendictine characterics, namely separation from the world, austerity of life-style, voluntary poverty , and silence of lips and heart.

The present English-speaking Cistercian community, made up largely of monks from Wales, England, and Ireland, earns its living by the sale of perfumes, dairy produce, Caldey chocolate, and island confectionary, etc., to the summer-season visitors to Caldey Island.

I have read elsewhere that you’re a strict Anglican, Uncle Monty. So for those Anglicans who feel called to monastic life might be interested to know that there is a small Anglican Cistercian House for Men at Ewell Monastery, Lydart, Monmouth NP5 4RN. They need only to write there to The Vicar-General. In Wales there is also an Anglican Nunnery whose way of life is Cistercian in style at Tymawr Convent, Lydart, Monmouth NP5 4RN. For men who would like to see how monastic life works out in practice for a few days, or who want more information on becoming a Cistercian monk, they should please write to The Abbot, Caldey Abbey, Off Tenby, SA70 7UH.

I must add that your distinctive blog is truly stimulating to read with no half measures on your part in what you say or believe The web statistics for your website are confusing with daily numbers ranging from 660 hits to as many as 3,800 per day.
Like you, Caldey Island gets scores of web hits every day:
www.caldey-island.co.uk/

In Godly Peace TRH.