The Heretics of St. Possenti

by Rolf Nelson

  “Far too many to use.”

  “Keep it simple. Don’t want to scare any of them away in the first week with too much fire and brimstone.”

  “That was my thinking, too. Stick to the basics. Cover the Big Ten and why the commandments make sense even for those not in hardcore, Bible-thumper families.”

  “Excellent idea. Simple is good. May not want to use them all up at once though.”

  “True. We’ll be here a while. We have lots of time to hit them all.”

  “And with Mass every day, lots of opportunities to fill in as needed.”

  The abbot nodded. “Much to cover. Many chances. But we still need a strong start.”

  Vows

  Above all things, that the Abbot may not neglect or undervalue the welfare of the souls entrusted to him, let him not have too great a concern about fleeting, earthly, perishable things; but let him always consider that he hath undertaken the government of souls, of which he must give an account.

  The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, Ch. II (The Qualities of an Abbot)

  “Oh, my God!” exclaimed Abbot Thomas in a voice very unlike him.

  “What?” the three brothers—Mickey, Hugh, and Joshua—all said nearly in unison, looking up from the Bibles they were studying in silence.

  “Orders!”

  “Ord–? Oh, yeah. Vows and holy orders.” The surprised expression on the younger men fell, realizing what had been, in the excitement and confusion of the move-in, overlooked. The formal taking of the vows of the order.

  Mickey had helped work on them, together with Thomas, Malone, and some of regulars from the Howling Puffin. They had all worked on putting them together and had been given a final copy to read over before they got on the bus, so they knew what they were getting in to. But vows had not been officially taken.

  Because the Order of St. Possenti was so unlike any well-established monastic order, or even the old chivalric orders, none of those could be just lifted and reapplied, and nobody wanted to just “reinterpret” existing monastic rules into meaning something entirely different because if words don’t mean what they clearly say, then words mean nothing. And nobody wanted to be devoted to The Book if words were overly flexible. It sort of defeats the purpose of writing things down.

  So they had written their own.

  The vows were based on an amalgamation of traditional monastic orders, chivalric orders, practical experience codified, knowledge of the potential issues with PTSD soldiers and other castoffs of society, and modern medical understanding and psychiatry as well as the expectation that most monks would not be with them for life, but for only so long a period as was needed to get their heads back together, their bodies healthy, and their spirits strong.

  The historic monastic vows of obedience, stability, and conversatio morum all had different connotations and context in a temporary situation than they normally would in a lifetime commitment to the Church and abbey life. Communal sleeping arrangements couldn’t be avoided at the moment but were not practical for the long haul and modern sensibilities. On the other hand, St. Benedict’s chapter XXXV required everyone to help in the kitchen, which seemed both eminently reasonable and, indeed, necessary. But the newly established order had no aged or senior brethren to be the “porter of the abbey” as laid out in chapter LXVI, but keeping a “fire-watch” or “gate guard” man or team seemed a prudent thing to do, and calling him the porter was as good as anything (for now, at least).

  Similarly, an ordinary feudal oath between vassal and suzerain fell far short of the mark though there was an explicit quid pro quo in the relationship between the abbey and church on one side and the monks on the other. The abbey was to support, teach, train, and protect the monks, and in return they were to do their best to become physically and spiritually strong and then return to the world and both spread the word and act as sheepdogs for the flock, keeping the wolves of barbarism at bay and keeping their eyes open for new members.

  The historical knight’s code of chivalry was in many ways for a different time and mission, but it had solid core concepts, even if their application today would look very different. To be brave and honest, to protect the good who are weak and defenseless, and to serve with valor and faith, and modeling the virtues as best they could all looked very good both on paper and in the real world.

  After some thought, they came up with their list of vows, and just as importantly they divided them into three parts: those applying to the monks in residence at the abbey, duties beyond their initial term when they became monks errant, and the abbey’s duties to the men in return. They drew from many places and prominently included widely recognized virtues: Faith, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Truth, Diligence, Hope, Dependability, and Bravery among them.

  The newly minted monks had far more of the hard-won wisdom of experience than most novices at a monastery had, and preventing a slide into cynicism was a specific concern, so they kept the two-sided agreement explicit. The aims and goals were spelled out. But everyone still had to be sworn in.

  “Gather everyone together. We may as well do the grand swearing-in all at once and then the first Sunday sermon. I can’t believe we missed it!”

  “I can. You’ve been very busy and gotten little sleep, and these guys are not used to this sort of thing.”

  “Well, let’s make sure we don’t miss it again when the postulants arrive one day.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure things will be so upside down by then will miss it at least once,” joked Mickey as he left the room to call everyone and to make sure the brothers all hit the bathroom before they showed up; it might be a long afternoon. Thomas shot him a reproving look. Thomas allowed that Finnegan might be right, but hoped he wasn’t.

  Commandment 10

  The vice of private ownership must be uprooted from the monastery. No one, without the abbot’s permission, shall dare give, receive or keep anything—not book, tablet, or pen—nothing at all. Monks have neither free will nor free body, but must receive all they need from the abbot…

  The Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter XXXIII (Private Ownership by Monks)

  Abbot Thomas Cranberry stood in the middle of the main room of the ranch house, surrounded by the brothers, who were standing or sitting as room and arrival time allowed. He hadn’t felt nervous addressing a congregation, and he almost felt like he was with old friends by now. He smiled warmly at them. “So. First Sunday. Welcome! Going to church, for many of you, has been an on-again, off-again ritual in life. The Catholic Church is big on ritual. We have rituals for just about everything. For many, that is comforting. For some of you men of action, it may have seemed a waste of time.” As he spoke, he turned slowly around, paced back and forth in the small space he’d kept clear for motion, and met the eyes of many. “Things change.” A murmur of mirth and agreement rippled around the room.

  “But how do you ‘go’ to church when you are living in God’s house?” Abbot Cranberry waved to the ranch house’s great room, packed with brothers. “This may not look much like a house of God. Yet they did not have fancy cathedrals when Christians first started meeting together, or when the Caesars hunted them. But one day… one day this site will look like a proper house of worship, not just an ordinary house.”

  “Be pretty hard to get four hundred in here anyway,” wisecracked Ken’s voice from the back.

  “Even if we exhale,” deadpanned Amos.

  “True enough. We’ll build a proper church eventually. But for now, church is wherever we hang our hats, so to speak. Here at the moment. There will be Mass every day, and I will be leading that, of course.”

  “Why so often?” queried Hugh.

  “The fact is that as a priest, while I’m not required by canon law to say Mass every day, it is very strongly encouraged.”

  “What if there’s nobody around?”

  “Whether anyone is around to hear it or not. During the Middle Ages, before Martin Luther, many priests were employed saying Mass all
day, every day, for the living and the departed, usually away from the nave in the cathedral chapels. But with only two ordained priests here, and Prior Frank being formally retired”—Bunt grinned at the comment—“that would be a problem.”

  “Wow. A regular prayer factory.”

  “You could say that, though I’d much rather you use a less flippant tone, Brother Ken. Prayer is a primary duty for a monk.” He looked at the rather less-than-serious member for a long moment. “You all have been studying The Book for a while now and doing most excellently. Truly, I am impressed. As time goes on and you learn more and need less of my detailed guidance, you’ll be able to do more on your own. Eventually, some of you will be ordained as priests and be able to lead Mass yourselves.”

  Some of the men startled a bit at the thought, but after a moment’s reflection, the probability that a few of the hundreds who passed through would do so was suddenly obvious.

  “But for today I’m going to take a practical turn and look at the Ten Commandments as the pragmatic basis of a huge chunk of Western civilization. Because, let us face it, most of you—” he paused and looked directly at Brother Ken Johnson—“are here not because you felt Jesus tugging at your soul. You are here for a chance to breathe in peace—to inhale as well as exhale—for a steady meal, a roof, and the company of men you can relate to. So let us look at these from a logical, cause-effect, pragmatic, what does this do for me today? perspective.

  “I will delve into them all in more biblical detail later, along with the virtues which hold the sins at bay. I trust that some—like the sixth and eighth, about murder and stealing—are largely self-evident. But today I’d like to take a look at thou shall not covet. The Tenth Commandment. Exodus 20:17. Part six of Rule IV of The Holy Rule of St. Benedict.”

  That drew a wide variety of expressions and muttered comments from the assembled brothers. Thomas expected them to be a little surprised at the choice.

  “To covet: to yearn to possess or have something. Desire. Crave. It’s the first cousin of envy, one of the cardinal sins. Why is it so bad? Why is it up there with murder, theft, and adultery? Because it corrodes your spirit to think more about what others have than what you do. Worse, you only see what they appear to have, leading you into all sorts of temptation and less than wise choices.

  “I counseled hundreds of couples in my time as a priest, and the single biggest problem is money. Specifically, the Smiths spending money to keep up with the Joneses because they see the Jones’s nice big house, the Jones’s nice new car, and the nice new clothes on Mrs. Jones. The Smiths don’t see the crushing debt heaped upon the Joneses: the mortgage, the unaffordable lease on the car, or the monthly minimum credit-card payment for those fancy clothes.

  “The ironic thing is that all too often the Joneses are doing the same thing, trying to keep up appearances with the Smiths, because they see the nice, professionally maintained yard and hear about the private tutoring for the kids and the vacations to exotic locations.”

  The facial expressions and sotto voce comments confirmed his audience knew the subject all too well.

  “If you focus on what other people appear to have, or an advertisement that tells you what you need, or what your wife or girlfriend tells you she wants, you will be led down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass of impossible demands. Desires are unlimited. Focus on the needs of the family—actual needs that fit the budget—and you will both feel better about yourself and avoid the anxiety of debt and avarice forever more. Debt means someone else owns your life, your time, and your mind, and coveting leads straight to painful levels of debt and poor choices. Happiness is a state of mind in recognizing the blessing you have. It is not a thing you buy. How many rich kids do you know of who are spoiled rotten, spiritually hollow, and miserable? Compare them to the poor-but-happy-enough family you met living in a mud hut with no running water in some village in Suck-i-stan.”

  For the next hour Thomas held forth on the practical problems of wanting what others have just because they have it and how to think critically and dispassionately to separate needs from wants. When Clint brought up the endless things to buy on the “honey-do” list, what started as a sermon transitioned into a Socratic discussion of how to prevent unreasonable demands from being made, how to explain budgets to a hot-looking but financially unwise spouse, what was really needed, how to budget for small luxuries for sanity’s sake, and more than a little bit of historical perspective on what abject poverty most of human history had been spent in. On the latter point, though, this group of vets had seen much more on deployment overseas than most Americans knew, and Cranberry didn’t have to sell that idea very hard for it to be understood.

  When it was time to break for lunch, Mickey came up to Thomas and shook his hand. “I’ve got to give it to you, Padre; I never thought of the commandments that way. Even my father always saw them from a ‘handed down from God’ view, and they needed no explanation. You make a heck of a solid case for the worldly utility and personal benefit of morality. If you can do that every week, these guys will be on firm footing even if they never set foot in a church for the rest of their lives. Some of them I think are even ready to buy in on the ascetic, or at least minimalist, lifestyle.”

  “I would not go that far.”

  “I would. Not all of them, of course. But at least a couple. Amos. Ted. Tyler. Maybe Aziz.”

  “You think?”

  “Could be. He grew up around Copts as well as Muslims. Ethiopia has a long history of desert hermits. K.I.S.S. was a way of life out of necessity.”

  “I suppose. Good to hear, in any case.”

  “You delivered it like you believed it, not like someone putting in time reading a script. I can see why you joined the priesthood… So what’s the follow-up act?”

  “Likely the third. Taking the Lord’s name in vain is about accepting responsibility for your actions and admitting we cannot know the big picture well enough to blame Him for what happens to us. Not simple fatalism, but a follow-through on personal choice and faith: if you are doing right, you will do well enough in the long run.”

  “And in the long run–”

  “–we’re all dead,” they said together with a smile of understanding.

  * * *

  That afternoon, the abbot, Brother Finnegan, Chaplain (prior pro tempore) Bunt, and a few of the more biblically literate of the brothers spent some time mapping out some of the practical perspectives and real-life applications of the ten commandments. Cranberry decided that one of the best ways to make biblical teachings stick with a monk-errant was to focus on the daily utility of them in terms of being among the founding principles of Western civilization, the loss of which meant the loss of civilization. No sane denomination, Christian or not, wanted to see the collapse of their culture and civilization around them, no matter how many problems they see. So taking the time to weave a tapestry of understanding and references from elsewhere in the New Testament around those core commandments was critical. That would take patience, lots of reference books for the library, and time.

  Some commandments, like not committing theft, appeared obvious at first. But putting the ideas fully in context with the loss of productivity when men had to spend all their time and effort simply protecting material possessions was not easy. But doing so made them realize that the same idea extended to adultery, bearing false witness, and most of the rest. The commandments worked to minimize economic friction and maximize productivity and therefore freed time and energy to go toward creativity or the study of God. The commandments were eminently practical, demonstrating that God had wanted believers to thrive.

  Brother Aziz pointed out that for the first time he considered Islam’s Five Pillars from a practical rather than practicing standpoint, and he realized only one had any possible connection to a well-ordered and productive society: that of giving alms. The others were primarily for indoctrination and ensuring compliance. They were brilliant from a psychological conditioning
perspective, and the totalitarian and legalistic nature of it made it good for the imams, but while the haj might be a great fundraising tool for those close to Mecca, it didn’t having any bearing on improving daily life for an adherent. It had rules for everything, but not fundamental principles to base them on.

  Other commandments, however, looked like they might require a bit more work beyond the obvious. The first, third, and fourth needed some more subtle explanations.

  “How are you going to approach the seven deadly sins though, Tom?” asked Mickey. “They seem pretty attractive some days.”

  “Likely by pairing each one with a virtue. It’s a fairly traditional approach. Illustrate how diligence overcomes sloth and things like that. Inculcate the habits of virtue. Explain the real-world value that may not be obvious. The same as with the commandments. Perhaps using examples from Butler’s Lives of the Saints, which they’ll have to read anyway. May as well give them some context for it.”

  “So how is chastity of value?” asked Bill. “Well, I mean, before you’re married, of course. Afterward, it’s pretty obvious. Well, monogamy anyway. Faithfulness. You know what I mean.”

  “It’s not at all obvious to some people, Bill,” replied Thomas. “They might mouth the words or cite a small reason like disease control and problematic pregnancies, but they don’t really get it.”

  “Basic game theory,” said Finnegan. “As in, you got game?” Cranberry looked at him blankly. “I mean, if you show no interest in a lady when she drops a small hint, she takes it as a challenge. She thinks you don’t think she’s in your league. She’ll try to up her game and make you notice her. You neg her rather than chasing her, and she goes nuts. If you’re ignoring her ’cause you are married or gay, that’s one thing, but if there isn’t any obvious reason, then chastity is a good way to get a wife by playing hard to get without actually playing. You’re just staying safe and out of difficult entanglements until you find someone worth catching. Stay out of the market until you are in the market. She’s got to be serious, and you are less likely to do something stupid.