By Joachim Mohr
The Vitality Center for medicinal treatments is in the basement of the new wing. The sisters have installed a chapel on the top floor. Visitors can be snappily transported from relaxation to revelation in seven stories, via an elevator. An architectural assemblage of glass, concrete and wood, the chapel is visible from afar.
A cross of red glass blocks points in all four directions. The Rhine meanders past castles and vineyards in the valley below; the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers at Deutsches Eck ("German Corner") is a stone's throw away.
The Arenberg makeover was a bone of contention in the order. For many older sisters, this holistic blend of religion and relaxation was a travesty of the mission prescribed by their founder Cherubine, namely ministering to the poor and the sick. Yet Sister Scholastika, one of the project's most committed proponents, stresses: "The unity of body and soul is an ancient Christian concept, and what we do here is to address both body and soul." And, of course, balance the books and hence survive.
Historically, the orders have been a potent economic force in many rural regions and often owned much of the land. The religious communities thrived on donations, gifts, inheritances and the unpaid labors of their numerous monks and nuns. Today these sources of income have dwindled to almost nothing. The funds the orders receive from the churches or the government are earmarked for specific purposes only, such as grants for building maintenance.
Consequently, most civic activities of the sisters and brothers now adhere to the laws of free enterprise. In addition to the smaller ventures, their businesses include giants such as the beer-brewing Benedictines of the Andechs monastery with annual sales reaching 20 million euros, and the Franciscan nuns of Waldbreitbach, whose company - Marienhaus - operates some 50 hospitals, homes and hospices.
A few monks, such as ex-Benedictine Anselm Bilgri and still-Benedictine Anselm Grün, have even become spiritual superstars over the past two decades. Loosely following the motto of the Benedictine order, ora et labora (pray and work), armies of executive types have availed themselves of these men's product: motivating mind massages.
In seminars on business management held at the cloister, speeches at major corporations and pamphlets on efficient human resource policies ("Lead People - Encourage Life" authored by Grün), profit maximization dovetails smoothly with brotherly love. Leavened with appropriate quotes from the Bible or St. Benedict, capital and morality are neatly reconciled, and business bosses granted absolution for public and covert chicanery in the struggle for rising share prices and higher revenues. Bilgri and Grün were making millions.
But then a dispute broke out between the consultants and their communities over their worldly engagement. Today Bilgri teaches outside the monastery, and Grün has had to promise his order to keep a lower public profile. The abbots weren't alone in finding that the two media stars had little in common with their cloistered brothers' ideal of serving only God - and absolutely nothing to do with their forebears' asceticism.
The origins of the Christian orders extend back to Egypt and Syria in 200 C.E., when thousands of hermits lived in caves or makeshift shelters in the desert. They believed that the only way to be near God and Jesus was to turn away from all things worldly. Over time, these early Christian hermits formed small, loosely knit communities. Silence, meditation and prayer punctuated their daily routines.
Benedict of Nursia is regarded as the founder of Western monasticism. The scion of a middle-class family, he was born between 480 and 490. Benedict broke off his studies in Rome, appalled by the iniquity in the city. He spent the next three years in seclusion in a cave - according to a record penned by Pope Gregory the Great's biographer some 30 years after his death. In 529, so the narrative goes, Benedict took up residence on Monte Cassino, some 100 miles south of the Eternal City, where he and several disciples established their own monastery. He died some time between 555 and 560.
During his time on Monte Cassino, Benedict composed the Regula Benedicti, the "Rule of St. Benedict," which remains a seminal work today: 73 brief chapters in which he laid out the agenda for monastic life. Above all, the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience were supposed to liberate men from the shackles of worldly routine and set them free to serve God alone.
For the brethren of the Beuron Monastery on the upper Danube, the Rule of St. Benedict is as relevant as it was 1,500 years ago. Every day follows a strict schedule of communal prayer, referred to as the canonical hours: Nocturns, Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. Monks gather for their morning prayer no later than 5 a.m. At 7:30 they attend the third hour celebration of Holy Mass; midday prayer is at 12:15. At 6 p.m. on the dot they assemble for Vespers and end the day with the Office of Compline at 7:45. All told, the Benedictine monks spend three to three and-a-half hours a day praying together - 365 days a year.
"Our lives center around praising God," says Prior Tutilo (41), a deputy abbot who entered the order immediately after high school. "Above all, a monastery possesses a prophetic and charismatic dimension." The monks hold the deep conviction that beseeching God is not only necessary but also effective. The great significance of prayer and the Eucharistic celebration is typical of contemplative orders such as the Benedictines, Carthusians, Carmelites and Cistercians. The Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits are more focused on action: missionary work, teaching, pastoral care and healing.
"They all come to us: high school and college students, civil servants, freelance professionals, hikers and the homeless," says Father Landelin, who has long looked after the guests in Beuron. "Some just want to work in peace, some need space to come to terms with grief, and others are simply looking for a place to lay their heads."
The monastery offers numerous courses during the year: a convention on "Spirituality and Mysticism," spiritual exercises - and the annual Beuron Symposium on Business Ethics, whose theme this year was responsibility in management. Faith is always at the fulcrum. Popular fads are frowned upon; "wellness" regarded as fashionable claptrap.
The monks take their noon meal in silence. Heavy wooden tables line the long, dimly-lit refectory. Stone arches filled with frescoes adorn one wall, and a crucifixion scene dominates one end of the room. Each monk has his designated place; the seat of the abbot is slightly elevated. Dining begins only when the abbot takes his first mouthful.
A pulpit rises in the middle of the refectory. One of the monks reads aloud every day, sometimes a religious text, sometimes something secular: the biography of a saint, or a travel report from the German journalist Peter Scholl-Latour. The reader's voice, accompanied by the clatter of plates, lends the scene a monotone soundtrack.
The fare consists of hearty home cooking; beverages on offer are apple juice and water. Beer is served only on Sundays, one bottle per person, and wine is imbibed only three times a year: one glass each at Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
The brothers of Beuron have few worldly possessions: there are no cell phones, credit cards, televisions or cars. Whenever a monk wants to leave the monastery, he asks the abbot's permission. If necessary, he will be given some pocket money. The rooms are furnished with a bed, chair, table and wardrobe. A private bathroom? Get real. This is a monastery.
The word cloister is derived from the Latin "claustrum," which translates roughly as "that which is closed off." Time here passes far more slowly than on the outside. Sooner or later, this cloistered world with its perennial rituals and a formulaic liturgy that has remained unchanged for centuries, will calm even the most incorrigible human dynamo. At 8 p.m., after final prayers are said in Beuron and Arenberg, guests too must turn in for the night - in austere cells with only their thoughts as company.
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