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DECEMBER 20, 1947
THIRTEEN
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FREEMAN CONVALESCENT HOME
Where the Aged Receive Professional Nursing
KEYSVILLE, GEORGIA
Phone 6 Geneva R. Freeman
w REASONABLE RATES
Southeastern Band Instrument Co.
ALL KINDS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS REPAIRED
PLATING-LACQUERING-SERVICE
W« Specialize in Repairing and Kcplating all Types of Silverware
Phone Main 3756 307 Peachtree St., N. E.
„ Atlanta 3, Georgia
ENTREKIN’S MARKET
QUALITY MEATS — MUNICIPAL MARKET
JA 8247 ATLANTA, GA. J§
GREETINGS FROM £
S. & W. SEAFOOD MARKET
THE FRESHEST FISH IN ATLANTA
Municipal Market — Edgewood Avenue §!
NOW IS THE TIME TO CLEAN UP
DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS I
1
LIST AND SEND TO US FOR COLLECTION-
NO COLLECTION — NO CHARGE
Creditors Mercantile & Adjustment Agency
S 204-5 GRANT BLDG. WA. 2055 ATLANTA, GA.
Christmas Greetings
From
SILVER’S
5 and 10c Store
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Holiday Greetings
John M. Born Travel Agency
TO PRAY AND TO LABOR -Two former servicemen who have
entered the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Ghost, at
Conyers, Georgia, are pictured laying brick as they work on the con
struction of the new Abbey —(Photo by Jack Young—Courtesy The
Atlanta Journal).
93-B Forsyth St., N. W.
Atlanta, Ga. Jjj
TOURS and CRUISES
RESORT, AIR AND STEAMER RESERVATIONS
THE MIRROR
! 76 Whitehall St., S. W.
P. J. McDermott, Mgr
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
;^ m i (H |l K t cwm UMUM.i(H[«^i«4aMHCNWUMta«CIC<C>C<CUMIKt(<«W*
MnmMMMmMhMMK
Greetings
King Plow Company
..ATLANTA, GEORGIA
TWELFTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES MEET—War vet
erans who aspire to become Trappist monks are pictured in the
habit of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, which
dates back to the twelfth century, as they use twentieth century
methods to work on the foundations of the new Abbey of Our Lady
of the Holy Ghost, which is now under construction near Conyers,
Georgia, where a Trappist monastery was established in March,
1944.—(Atlanta Journal photo).
Savannah K. of C. Plan
Party for City’s Orphans
SAVANNAH, Ga.—E. P. Daly,
grand knight of Savannah Council.
No. 631, Knights of Columbus, has
appointed John M. Brennan as
chairman of the committee to ar
range for the annual Christmas
party which will be given by the
council for the orphans of the
city.
As subcommittee chairmen, the
grand knight appointed: T. J. Cor
coran and John E. Buckley, re
freshment committee; C. J. Fox,
floor committee; J. C. Halligan,
transportation committee; James
F. Glass, master of ceremonies;
Kenneth Helmly, music, arid John
J. Fogarty, assistant to Santa
Claus.
SACRED HEART COLLEGE
ALUMNAE IN GASTONIA
TO SPONSOR DANCE
(Special to The Bulletin)
BELMONT. N. C.—The Gaston
County chapter of the Alumnae
Association of Sacred Heart Col
lege will sponsor a mid-winter
dance on January 9 in the Haid
Gymnasium at Belmont Abbey Col
lege.
Mrs. Harold R. Howe, of Bel
mont, is chairman of the commit
tee in charge, and those assisting
are Miss Mary Jo Bumgardner,
Miss Mildred Tate, Miss porcus
Horsley, Belmont; Miss Jane “Hod-
nett and Miss Nancy Jordan, Gas
tonia; Miss Marjorie Roper and
Mrs. Kelly Lewis Mount Holly,
and Mrs, Mary E. Carpenter,
Ctamertou.
VETERANS OF WAR
ARE SEEKING PEACE
IN MONASTERY LIFE
-CONYERS, Ga.—Thirteen vet
erans of World War II, “in the
• hope that a prayer and sacrifice
will bring peace where their arms
failed,” have applied for admis
sion to the Trappist monastery
here.
Out of the twenty-five men who
have applied for admission to the
Order of Cistercians of the Strict
Observance in the last year, more
than half are war veterans. They
have given themselves to a rule
of spiritual life so rigorous that
they refrain from speaking, except
to their Superior, and which de
crees that they must spend seven
hours a day in prayer, attending
Mass or reciting tile Divine Office,
and must work for seven more
hours of the day at manual labor.
In many respects, the veterans
of the atomic age have turned
back the clock to the Middle Ages.
Their day begins when they
arise at 2 a. m„ and their meals
consist of brown wheat bread,
vegetables and fruits grown on the
monastery farm, hut with no meat.
Eight of the veterans now at
the Abbey of Our Lady of the
Holy Ghost here served in the
Army, three in the Marine Corps,
and two in the Navy. Among them
are two Marine pilots, one of
whom fought on Guadalcanal and
Okinawa. The others also were
combat men.
Five more veterans of World
War II are awaiting admission lo
the community said Abbot M.
James Fox, O. C. S. O., who served
as an officer in the U. S. Navy
in the first World War. Before
acceptance as postulants, the ap
plicants will be screened and their
letters of recommendation check
ed.
If admitted, they will remain as
postulants for thirty days, and
then begin a two year period of
training as novices. After that
test they will take temporary vows,
and in three years, they may kneel
and pronounce their permanent
vows to a monastic life.
These veterans could have
chosen no life in sharper contrast
to the turbulance and profaneness
of military camps and battle fields.
The silent fields of the Trappists
roll over Rockdale County hills for
1,500 acres. The only sounds are
so rare that they seem magnified,
a cow thudding toward the dairy
barn, the scraping of a .monk’s
shovel on a rock.
Abbot James said that as far as
lie knew there was no one with war
experience which had led the
former GIs to the Abbey.
“They have found that peace
cannot be won with bullets,” he
explained, “and they have realized
that the trouble with the world is
leaving God out of it, out of edu
cation, out of business. Only God
may bring peace.”
Working alongside a middle-age
lay brother, whose tonsured hair
was fringed with white, was a
former master sergeant in the
Army. The husky sergeant still
wore his combat boots, the monk
liis buskins. They were digging
the foundation for tile new $1,QJ)0,-
00 Abbey which the Trappists at
Conyers expect to complete in
about five years.
Standing nearby, in the raw, red
mud, an cx-Marino flier, and two
youths were swinging pickaxes in
double time. They were clad in
the centuries old habit of the
Trappists.
Three sixteen-year-old youths
have joined the monastery com
munity in recent months. They
will become eligible for ordination
to the priesthood in seven years.
Although Trappists take no
vows of silence, as is generally
believed, members of the com
munity, except the Superior, guest
master, and procurator, speak only
to their Superior, with his per
mission except on very infrequent
occasions of necessity or special
privilege.
However, despite their habitual
silence and rigorous life of morti
fication, the Trappist monks who
have left the world behind them
when they entered the monastery
are happy and contented.
Some weeks ago, Monsignor Ed
ward L. Stephens, pastor of St.
Mary's Church, Alexandria, Va„
spoke to the Trappists at Conyers,
and his thirty-five minute talk was
frequently interrupted by hearty
laughter as he related humorous
anecdotes of his experiences while
serving on the missions of Vir
ginia with the trailer chapel of tile
Diocese of Richmond.