There is a Giant Crucifix at the Table!

The Grand Refectory.  Notice the Abbot's Table under the painting in the center and the Lecturn on the left.

There is a Giant Crucifix at the Table!  In fact there are two!

The first time I came to Solesmes was for Holy Week with Father Fonti when we were seminarians in Rome in 1990.  Before we left a priest who had been there the year before said we should eat as much as possible at the beginning of the week because they give you less and less food as Holy Week moves on.

Upon entering the Grand Refectory for the first time on Monday, we saw an old monk who looked a lot like Uncle Fester from The Munsters TV show eating crumbs off the floor.  Fonti looked at me with a big grin and said:  "O'Connor, you're never gunna last!"  I obviously did.  There was plenty of food to go around. "Uncle Fester" was just a monk way up in years who had kinda lost it and was very scrupulous about wasting food.

A year or so later I returned to S. Pierre during the summer.  Expecting to see "Uncle Fester" in the refectory, instead I saw a Giant Crucifix where his place was.  "Uncle Fester" had died earlier in the month and the Benedictine tradition is to place a Crucifix at the dead monk's place in the refectory for thirty days.  In the old days the food he would have eaten during that time would have been given to the poor for his intentions.  Today the monastery makes a monetary gift to the poor for his intentions.  This Holy Week I found two Giant Crucifixes in the refectory and freshly turned earth in the graveyard.

As opposed to Mass and choir where seating is dependent on office or function, seating in the refectory is by seniority.  The abbot sits alone (or with special guests, ie. visiting bishops and abbots) on a central raised platform, then on either side of the refectory are raised rows of tables where the monks sit at one wall side facing out.  The monks on the abbot's right begins with a small table for the prior alone.  The monks on the abbot's left begin with a small table for the sub-prior alone.  The rest of the monks alternate from side to side by seniority in tables of five, determined by the date that they arrived at the abbey.  The more senior you are the closer you are to Father Abbot.

There is a table right before the abbot's table that is for the guests/retreatants.  We don't get a raised platform.  But we do get to eat first and we have wine!

So everyone asks how is the food?  Well, it's not bad actually.  Not bad at all.  Now, there is no choice, mind you.  You get what they serve and the presentation is very institutional - stainless steel trays and buckets, but it tastes fine so far.  Without a doubt the bread at the monastery and throughout France is phenomenal.  But I will leave that for another posting.

Monks eating main meal in the Grand Refectory while others serve them.

The monks take turns serving the meals and I guess there is a Chef Monk who is in charge of the kitchen.  When you are cooking for close to a hundred hungry men, you can't leave these things to chance.  As I mentioned before meals are take in silence while one of the monks reads.  On very special days recorded classical music is played in place of the reading.

Monk reading from the Lecturn of the Grand Refectory.

Each meal always begins and ends with sung prayers which are always lead by the abbot or, if he is absent, by the prior.  After the main meal the guests/retreatants can go to the small guest refectory to have coffee.

While it's not a three star restaurant, there is one literally across the street.  I haven't been yet but it has only been five days.  More tempting, for me, is the patisserie which is just down the street.  That I might have to visit right after we encounter the Empty Tomb again.  It wouldn't be Easter without some sweets.  But I can wait because I'm definitely not eating crumbs off the floor.