L'Abbaye de Solesmes

November 1st

This abbey has to be one of my favorite excursions that been on so far.  One of our priests from Notre Dame, who is fluent in French, was in Angers for the Simone Weil conference and organized this trip for the ND students. We piled into the bus rather early because it was a longish drive and we had to make it in time for Sunday mass. I don't know if any of you have been to high mass in Latin before, this was only my third or so time, but it is one of the most beautiful things in the world. The mass was really for the monks in the heart of the church but they open up the very long, very thin aisle for the community to be in attendance. The specialty of these monks, and has been since the 1800's, is their absolute dedication to the Gregorian chant and its preservation. The entire mass was done in their beautiful plain chant and I've never heard anything so beautiful. It made mass feel like one continual perfectly sung prayer with no gaps or transitions between the parts. They also combined the noon hour of prayer, Sext, with mass which was even more beautiful. Anyway, if you're interested I loved it so much that I bought two CD's of their chant -I'm actually giving them as a present- but Kurt will let me burn you a copy if you want.
 After mass we met up with the monk in charge of most of the welcoming of tours. He lead us around the cloisters to a small building where we could eat our picnic lunch. It was pouring rain outside so he built us a fire and pulled out not a small number of their bottles of homemade wine. While he had to return to his duties for a while, we ate and enjoyed the fire and the company of Father Driscoll and his wonderful stories.

When he returned he brought us supplies to make coffee- which we accepted gladly- while he spoke and answered our questions for nearly 2 hours on the monastic life and their specific way of life at the abbey. The rain outside combined with the warm fire and his beautiful welcoming spirit made me feel right at home and like I'd known him for years. I did venture out a bit in the rain to take some pictures of the abbey. It's situated right along a river and the colorful fall foilage made the whole place beautifully picturesque.

 The last little highlight of the day was inside another welcoming room at the abbey. They have a certain number of beds allotted to travelers each night and it just so happened that a youth a cappella choir from France was staying there. Their instructor gave us a very detailed explanation of the school and their mission- it is apparently one of the most prestigious choirs in France- and he let us listen to one of their rehearsals. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. These young kids, who looked like every other french teenager, had the strongest most pure voices I've ever heard. The acoustics of the building were perfect and just their small group of about 10 students filled the room with perfect harmonies- it honestly gave me chills. We were all reluctant to leave- everyone seemed as transfixed by their music as I was- but we finally tore ourselves away.

On one last note, I've decided I'm moving right next door to that monastery. I even found the perfect house right across the street from the church so I can skip over for mass any time I want. I promise you won't blame me when you see this house that is for sale- you can even come visit if you want. So if I don't show in December, you will find me with the monks, spending my life listening to their incredible music.