Monastery Hides Near MTA

In the winter of 1865, in the little English village of Cowley St. John, two miles from Oxford, a group of Anglican clergymen gathered together for sanctuary and religious guidance.

It was the end of an Evangelical period in English eccleciastical history, a period in which the Church of England bracketed a nebulous alliance of Angelicans, Protestants, and Nonconformists alike in resistance to Roman Catholicism.

For a year these men lived under the guidance of Father Benson, the Vicar of Cowley. Then, on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist in 1866, Father Grafton and Father Prescott, American priests, Father O'Neill, a master of Eton, and Father Benson took the following oath in each other's presence:

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost Amen. I promise and vow to Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, before the whole company of heaven, and be-you, my Fathers, that I will live in celibacy, poverty, and obedience, as one of the Mission Priests of St. John the Evangelist unto my life's end. So help me God."

Thus began the first enduring movement in the Church of England toward the religious life for priests, the life of celibacy, silence, and humble living.

Sisterhoods at Oxford, Wantage, and Clewer had already offered, with the blessing of Anglican bishops a number of sanctuaries for women. Great communities dedicated to the saints had sprung up all over England. It remained only for an organized movement of men to develop. The Society of St. John the Evangelist, or the Cowley Fathers, provided that organization.

From these early beginnings has grown a world-wide Anglican institution, comprised of British, American, and Canadian congregations, with missions in Scotland, Japan, India, and South Africa. The Society publishes three periodicals, numerous pamphlets and books, and has carried Episcopal missionary work to the remotest corners of the earth. Its headquarters in the United States are at the Monastery of St. Mary and St. John, in Cambridge.

980 Memorial Drive is hidden behind two fences, one of French ash wood staked into the ground; the other of gray brick granite. There is no sign, except a solitary cross located on the bell tower, to indicate the nature, denomination, or purpose of the people gathered within. On one side of the Monastery lies the transit bus yard; on the other, a silent cluster of apartment houses.

Inside, past the black wood gate in the garden of St. Francis, absolute silence prevails. Long unoccupied benches line the walls. A disparate growth of ivy has worked half-way up the stone. The grass needs cutting and fall leaves have gathered in brown clumps on the walk.

"The past has united Harvard and the Monastery in a number of ways," stated Father Granville Williams, the Superior. He spoke seated in the Common Room, where all guests are greeted. The room, like most in the Monastery, is usually in semi-darkness and faces Memorial Drive and the Charles River.

"Father Burton, Harvard, Class of '03, actually began our work in Cambridge." Father Williams is a white-haired man with plain rimless spectacles. "It was Burton's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Burton of Cincinnati, who donated this very land. Spencer Burton joined the Society shortly after college, and did a good deal of work abroad. He returned to Cambridge in 1912, and began a program of guidance and help for Harvard undergraduates. Since he founded it many Harvard men have served here."

Candidates for the Society of St. John may enter any one of ten similar monasteries in the United States. Men must ordinarily be at least twenty-one years of age, and must present a certificate of baptism, in addition to medical and psychiatric reports from reputable physicians.

Life in the Monastery is not easy. Candidates are expected to perform whatever chores and duties are assigned to them. They undergo all types of humiliation to learn to live simply for the glory of God. "Obedience, humility, and fervour in prayer," are the goals which the Society seeks.

If the Father Superior accepts the credentials of a candidates, he enters a period of postulancy lasting from three to nine months. During this time he must wear an ordinary choir cassock so long as he remains in the Monastery. Outside the enclosure, he resumes normal dress.

Novitiate lasts two years. At the conclusion of that time, if he has reached the age of thirty, he becomes eligible for election to life vows by the Chapter.

Place for Laymen

"Not all who come to the Monastery intend to enter the priesthood," Father Williams noted. "Laymen are encouraged to study toward this end, but there is a real place in the Society for consecrated laymen, who, for one reason or another, feel no vocation for the priestly life."

"The Monastery of St. Mary and St. John is entirely sustained by pledges and donations," said Father Williams. "We charge nothing for our various services.

"We own and minister to two churches in Boston at the present time. The Mission Church on Bowdoin Street and the Church of St. Augustine and St. Martin in Roxbury. It's primarily attended by colored people. Not that's it's segregated, but the neighborhood has changed during the years."

He referred to a printed pamphlet. "A number of Harvard students serve as acolytes in our regular Sunday services. And we attract a lot of students at our regular morning and evening services and the Sunday afternoon coffee hours."

Episcopal students may attend Mass, Vespers, and Compline daily and Sunday. The Monastery provides students with breakfast each morning and community recreation each week. Confessions are heard in the Chapel on Saturdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Only fifteen men live in the Monastery at the present time. Each inhabits a monastic cell, a single room equipped with a cot, a spindly desk, one chair, a chest-of-drawers, a closet, and a lamp. There is a wash basin in one corner and a bathroom down the hall. The only adornment on the wall is a crucifix. Simple white curtains frame the window.

The day begins at 5:45 in the morning, when the members of the Community arise. Matins, Lauds, Prime, and Preparation for Mass take place at half-past six. Priests then offer the Holy Sacrifice. The daily public Mass begins at 7:30.6The gilded wood altar screen above above is believed to have originated in the early 15th Century Venice. Members of the monastery, however, are still engaged in efforts to discover its history.