Here's a not-your-average Christmas story. I should know. I was there. The crackling strains of Silent Night filled the room from the antiquated radio. It was a German recording of Silent Night, very close to the original score that had been composed by Franz Xavier Gruber in December 1818. ‘Could you turn it louder?’ I [...]
With the recent scandal that’s come to light about acts of sexual abuse in two English monasteries over the last forty years, it’s made me think about my own experiences at a certain Benedictine monastery. Ampleforth Abbey, to be precise, tucked deep into the sweeping hills, yawning valleys and mythical forests of North Yorkshire, as [...]
