How many Monks actually live along the Camino Frances or....

[Bedspring]

....any Camino.

Further to the thread about Monks at Roncevalles, how many Monks actually live along the Camino Frances.

I recall seeing quite a few Nuns, but very few Monks, I think one signed me at Samos, and I think I recall stopping in another Albergue and there might have been a couple, but to say its such a huge religious thing, not many. Where is the best place to interact with Monks, possibly as Patrick Leigh Fermor did in "A Time to keep Silence"

 

[Bradypus]

Where is the best place to interact with Monks, possibly as Patrick Leigh Fermor did in "A Time to keep Silence"

Probably the best place is somewhere a long way from the Camino Frances! As you have noted there are very few male religious communities left along the Camino Frances itself. It is very difficult to combine the constant round of prayer which is the principal function of monastic life with hosting a large number of demanding visitors who change on a daily basis. That is one of the reasons why those religious houses of either sex which do still maintain albergues often rely heavily on lay people for the practical work involved. If you want to spend any significant time meeting with monks then it would be better to do so as one of a smaller number of guests for a longer period than an overnight albergue stay.

PS: In the remarkable pilgrimage book "The Crossway" Guy Stagg gives a very powerful account of the impact of time spent in the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos on the atheist but fascinated and respectful author.

 

[MinnehonkTom]

....any Camino.

Further to the thread about Monks at Roncevalles, how many Monks actually live along the Camino Frances.

I recall seeing quite a few Nuns, but very few Monks, I think one signed me at Samos, and I think I recall stopping in another Albergue and there might have been a couple, but to say its such a huge religious thing, not many. Where is the best place to interact with Monks, possibly as Patrick Leigh Fermor did in "A Time to keep Silence"

The monastery at Sobrado dos Monxes is my recommendation. It is located on both the Camino de Norte and the Variante Verde of the Camino Primitivo. The monastery is an active religious community. Bonus: It brews its own beer. The brothers offer rooms for extended stays, for contemplation and worship with the brothers.

 

[SYates]

The Benedictine monks in Rabanal del offer pilgrims the possibility to stay several days for a retreat during/after their Camino: https://monteirago.org/en/hospitalidad/acogida-monastica-de-huespedes/
BC SY

 

[MinnehonkTom]

The monastery at Sobrado dos Monxes is my recommendation. It is located on both the Camino de Norte and the Variante Verde of the Camino Primitivo. The monastery is an active religious community. Bonus: It brews its own beer. The brothers offer rooms for extended stays, for contemplation and worship with the brothers.

(sin título)

www.monasteriodesobrado.org

 

[Rebekah Scott]

"...but to say it's such a huge religious thing? Not many"
The Camino de Santiago is a huge religious thing. It is the product of monastic expansion, and for a thousand years Christian worship has been its hearbeat. Monastics are now only a small part of this "hige religious thing..." but The faith and worshop are alive in the pilgrims and natives all around you on the Way.
Not every religious person is a monk or nun.

 

[davejsy]

Well I stayed at what was I think a Monastery in Estella run by monks, Albergue Capuchinos. I didn't see any monk-like-looking people though, and the guy who checked me in was wearing jeans and t-shirt and smoking - not that there's anything wrong with that but just not the image I had in my head. Maybe I mis-read my guide-book!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Well I stayed at what was I think a Monastery in Estella run by monks, Albergue Capuchinos. I didn't see any monk-like-looking people though, and the guy who checked me in was wearing jeans and t-shirt and smoking - not that there's anything wrong with that but just not the image I had in my head. Maybe I mis-read my guide-book!

...and not every monastic is going to meet your expectations.

 

[Bradypus]

...and not every monastic is going to meet your expectations.

The priest who presided at our marriage many years ago also ran a small printing press. Derek hired a lorry one day to pick up a load of supplies for the business. Wearing his usual checked shirt and jeans. On the way he stopped to pick up a young Franciscan friar in brown habit who was hitchhiking. Newly professed and very eager to tell Derek all about it. Derek simply nodded and made appropriate noises as the monologue went on. As the young friar stepped down from the cab he said brightly "I don't suppose you pick up many hitchhiking friars!" Just before pulling away Derek replied "I don't suppose you get many lifts from priests driving lorries either."

 

[oursonpolaire]

I would underline what others have suggested about Sobrado. You could also take a bus trip of an hour out of Burgos to the monastery at Silos, which appears to have accommodation for retreatants or multi-day stays. I understand that the monastery at Leyre (on the Aragones) also provides for muli-day stays. Given the decreasing numbers of monks available to support their ancient ministery of hospitality, monasteries have refined their approach. But it's still there, just not visible to casual passersby as it was seven centuries ago.

@davejsy - the saying, claimed by many: it's not the habit that makes the monk

 

[El Cascayal]

In 2021 just after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, I was able to spend 3 nights in the Monastery at Oseira on the Sanabres. An incredible experience. All the guests were welcome to participate in the choir with the monks for the Hours which were sung in Gregorian chant. At Completas the abbot blessed each individual monk and guest as one excited the choir.
Now they have a newly completed albergue as well. It is a great place for peaceful reflection. All are welcome.

 

[Lydia Gillen]

I have stayed a few times in the village of Santa Domingo de Silos and attended church services in the monastery. These monks like to sing all the psalms. There is a bus from Burgos at 5.30 each evening and a bus returns to Burgos at 8 a.m. It is a workers bus so does not run on Sundays. I usually stay 3 nights so I am there for 2 full days. Men can stay in the monastery, and join in their life for a few days. I imagine that you would have to book in advance. Please do not start a discussion and row about discrimination on the Camino. This is 65 klm from the Camino. The monastery is their home and they are obeying an ancient rule. One can have a tour of the cloister. it is a most unusual cloister in that it is 2 storey. The carvings are beautiful. One also can tour the ancient pharmacy. Many years ago when times were bad they had to sell all their beautiful jars, centuries later they came up for sale and the man who bought them gifted them back to the present day monks. at another stage the government took over all religious houses and sold them off , but out of respect for the monks of Silos nobody would buy and when there was a change of government they got the building back again . Just writing this gives me a longing to visit Silos again. The monks pray at different hours of the day Laudes (praise early morning,) Terce (Third hour about 9a.m.) I think they have Community Mass at 12.noon, and Vespers in the evening and Compline(night prayer.) I know that when I arrive and check into the hotel I have to make a bee line to be in time They also get up in the middle of the night Matins to pray for all people because life is at a low ebb then. For me it is always a deeply spiritual time. Wear your warmest clothes the church is freezing cold.!!!

 

[Bradypus]

Well I stayed at what was I think a Monastery in Estella run by monks, Albergue Capuchinos.

Just to be pedantic: the Capuchins are friars, not monks. The main difference is that friars get out and about more while monks are largely tied to their particular monasteries and the daily cycle of prayer and work there.

 

[davejsy]

Just to be pedantic: the Capuchins are friars, not monks. The main difference is that friars get out and about more while monks are largely tied to their particular monasteries and the daily cycle of prayer and work there.

Yes, apologies if I offended anyone - I am not an expert in these matters. And I can confirm that despite the absence of any Friar Tuck types I had a very pleasant stay there.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

PS: In the remarkable pilgrimage book "The Crossway" Guy Stagg gives a very powerful account of the impact of time spent in the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos on the atheist but fascinated and respectful author.

I have also read the "Crossway" and was about to reply hen I noticed you already had. Those remote monasteries in the high mountains along his pilgrimage were very intriguing to read about.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

In 2021 just after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, I was able to spend 3 nights in the Monastery at Oseira on the Sanabres. An incredible experience. All the guests were welcome to participate in the choir with the monks for the Hours which were sung in Gregorian chant. At Completas the abbot blessed each individual monk and guest as one excited the choir.
Now they have a newly completed albergue as well. It is a great place for peaceful reflection. All are welcome.

I loved my experience at the monastery in Oseira. I signed up for the wonderful tour of the property and later returned for vespers, and we were escorted to a chapel down a long hall.
The new albergue was exceptionally nice! Its beautiful shiny kitchen had no cooking supplies, but was no surprise, but had plenty of nice tables and chairs if you brought your own food or snacks.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

the Capuchins are friars

Instead of making beer, I wonder if the Capuchins make Cappuccinos for their guests.

 

[dougfitz]

At Completas the abbot blessed each individual monk and guest as one excited the choir.

My singing has never excited a choir! I think I would have remained unblessed!!

 

[dougfitz]

Now they have a newly completed albergue as well. It is a great place for peaceful reflection.

This is a Xunta albergue, built next to but not part of the Monastery. I stayed there last year, and it was possible to visit the Monastery both to attend services and for a tour of the buildings.

 

[drgalvin]

....any Camino.

Further to the thread about Monks at Roncevalles, how many Monks actually live along the Camino Frances.

I recall seeing quite a few Nuns, but very few Monks, I think one signed me at Samos, and I think I recall stopping in another Albergue and there might have been a couple, but to say its such a huge religious thing, not many. Where is the best place to interact with Monks, possibly as Patrick Leigh Fermor did in "A Time to keep Silence"

There are monks at Samos.

 

[MinnehonkTom]

Not to prolong this discussion unnecessarily, but I want to remind us all that Royal Decrees in 1836 and 1837 closed all monasteries and convents in Spain. The government confiscated the buildings and land, and monks and nuns were secularizad or forced to leave the country. Very like what Henry VIII did in England, only 3 centuries later. The religious institutions never fully recovered, even after it was possible to reestablish communities of faith. Which has been a long, slow process.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Instead of making beer, I wonder if the Capuchins make Cappuccinos for their guests.

Chris, I believe I read that the word cappuccino came from the color of the robes that the Capuchins wore. Pedantry again after @Bradypus'; I'm sorry.

 

[Bedspring]

Thank you for all the replies, very interesting. I think it would be nice to do a walk/journey/camino over a couple of months staying at a series of "active" monasteries for a few nights.

Something I did not get to understand at Samos, was exactly how many Monks live there now, and how many lived there at its peak, possibly a bit of internet research is called for.

 

[dougfitz]

The government confiscated the buildings and land, and monks and nuns were secularizad or forced to leave the country.

Rabbit warren warning. About 10 years later, one of the Benedictine monks who fled from their abbey in SDC to what is now Italy, arrived in Western Australia. There he and a companion priest founded what became New Norcia, the only monastery town in Australia. He then sent back specimens of the Blue Gum to his native Galicia. As they say, the rest is history.

 

[Bedspring]

Rabbit warren warning. About 10 years later, one of the Benedictine monks who fled from their abbey in SDC to what is now Italy, arrived in Western Australia. There he and a companion priest founded what became New Norcia, the only monastery town in Australia. He then sent back specimens of the Blue Gum to his native Galicia. As they say, the rest is history.

When I was walking my Camino I saw a lot of trees that looked to my uneducated eye like Eucalyptus trees, could they have been Black Gum?

 

[dougfitz]

When I was walking my Camino I saw a lot of trees that looked to my uneducated eye like Eucalyptus trees, could they have been Black Gum?

I don't know. I didn't know that Black Gum had been introduced into Spain. If you have photos, you might find a plant identification app that will help.

 

[dick bird]

When I was walking my Camino I saw a lot of trees that looked to my uneducated eye like Eucalyptus trees, could they have been Black Gum?

Eucalyptus trees in Spain are an environmental disaster. They were planted mainly to feed wood pulping and cellulose industries but have replaced native habitats over vast areas of Galicia endangering or eliminating native species in the process.

 

[Bradypus]

I don't know. I didn't know that Black Gum had been introduced into Spain. If you have photos, you might find a plant identification app that will help.

Just been down that rabbit hole online. It seems that the great majority of eucalyptus in Galicia is blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) but that in recent years there has been increasing use of another species - Eucalyptus nitens (shining gum / silvertop) especially at higher elevations because of its greater resistance to cold and pests.

 

[dougfitz]

Eucalyptus trees in Spain are an environmental disaster.

I think this is so for any monoculture. Whether it is eucalypts on the Iberian peninsula or some South American countries, or any other crop. Without any specific justification, I think forestry operations might be worse because they seem to be conducted in the more marginal areas where the destruction of animal and bird habitats makes a greater difference to the local environment.

 

[MinnehonkTom]

Rabbit warren warning. About 10 years later, one of the Benedictine monks who fled from their abbey in SDC to what is now Italy, arrived in Western Australia. There he and a companion priest founded what became New Norcia, the only monastery town in Australia. He then sent back specimens of the Blue Gum to his native Galicia. As they say, the rest is history.

Thanks! I’ve always wondered how the eucalyptus got to Spain. Now I know whom to blame.

 

[VNwalking]

Off topic. But just to add:

I think this is so for any monoculture.

Eucalyptus are worse than some because on top of simply being a green desert, they are allelopathic - producing toxins that prevent germination and growth of other plants.

 

[VNwalking]

As they say, the rest is history.

And they were from not just any monastery in Santiago, but San Martin Pinario!:

New Norcia - Pre-history​

Next to the famous Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia was the Benedictine monastery of San Martín Pinario. There, two young men had made their monastic profession, promising to live a fully monastic and obedient life. Following closure of the monasteries by the anti-clerical government in Spain in 1835 one of these men, Dom José Benito Serra, went to the renowned Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity of Cava, near Salerno in Italy. After a few years of waiting in vain for his own monastery to re-open, Dom Rosendo Salvado followed Serra to Cava.

History - New Norcia Benedictine Community

www.newnorcia.com.au

Thanks, @dougfitz , for the interesting rabbit hole.

 

[Frankybaby66]

....any Camino.

Further to the thread about Monks at Roncevalles, how many Monks actually live along the Camino Frances.

I recall seeing quite a few Nuns, but very few Monks, I think one signed me at Samos, and I think I recall stopping in another Albergue and there might have been a couple, but to say its such a huge religious thing, not many. Where is the best place to interact with Monks, possibly as Patrick Leigh Fermor did in "A Time to keep Silence"

I remember encountering a monk on the CF one year in one of the albergues. He was walking the Camino and had a backpack(more of a knapsack really) that probably held a bar of soap and a change of underwear at most. (how humbled were we with our state of the art backpacks and gear).
He practically chain-smoked and played blues acoustic guitar like you wouldn't believe - quite a character to say the least.
Probably not the most helpful of replies, but just though that I'd share