Contemporary Monastic Economy: A Sociological Perspective Across Continents 9781032073361, 9781032077284, 9781003208525

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Contemporary Monastic Economy

This book examines the economy of contemporary Catholic monasticism from a sociological perspective, considering the ways in which monasteries engage with the capitalist world economy via a model which aims less at ‘performance’ per se, than at the fulfilment of human and religious values. Based on fieldwork across several countries in Europe, Africa and South America, it explores not only the daily work and economy in monastic communities in their tensions with religious life, but also the new interest from society in monastic products or monastic management. With attention to present trends in monastic economy, including the growth of ecology and the role of monasteries in the social and economic development of their localities, the author demonstrates that monastic economy consists not solely in the subsistence of religious communities outside the world, but in economic activity that has a real impact on its local or even more global environment, in part through transnational networks of monasteries. As such, Contemporary Monastic Economy: A Sociological Perspective will appeal to scholars of religious studies and sociology with interests in contemporary monasticism. Isabelle Jonveaux is Lecturer in Religious Studies at Private University College of Teacher Education of Graz and at the Catholic University of Linz, Austria. She is the co-editor of Monasticism in Modern Times and The Transformation of Religious Orders in Central and Eastern Europe.

Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Religion

A platform for the latest scholarly research in the sociology of religion, this series welcomes both theoretical and empirical studies that pay close attention to religion in social context. It publishes work that explores the ways in which religions adapt or react to social change and how spirituality lends meaning to people’s lives and shapes individual, collective and national identities. Anti-Atheist Nation Religion and Secularism in the United States Petra Klug Religion, Spirituality and Secularity among Millennials The Generation Shaping American and Canadian Trends Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme Polish Catholicism between Tradition and Migration Agency, Reflexivity and Transcendence Wojciech Sadlon Society and the Death of God Sal Restivo The Transformation of Religious Orders in Central and Eastern Europe Sociological Insights Stefania Palmisano, Isabelle Jonveaux, Marcin Jewdokimow Bisexuality, Religion and Spirituality Critical Perspectives Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip, Alex Toft Contemporary Monastic Economy A Sociological Perspective across Continents Isabelle Jonveaux For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com

Contemporary Monastic Economy A Sociological Perspective across Continents Isabelle Jonveaux

First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Isabelle Jonveaux The right of Isabelle Jonveaux to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-032-07336-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-07728-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-20852-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525 Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra

Contents

List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements

ix xi xiii

Introduction 1 Research 3

1

1 Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context 1 How can we define the monastery from a sociological point of view?  5 2  Monastic economy: A deep contradiction in monastic life?  8 3  History of the monastic economy  9 a  Origin of work in Christian monasticism  10 b  Evolution of the forms of monastic work throughout history  10 c  Development of the monastic economy in Europe  13

5

2 Models of monastic economy: organisation and sources of revenue 1  Is autarky still possible?  17 2  Presentation of different models  20 a  Direct work of monastics with an internal economy of production 21 b  Economy of external activities or an externalised economy  21 c  Economy of patrimony  22 d  Economy of donation  23 e  Economy of aging  23 3  External influences on the monastic economy  25 a  Factors of influence  25 b  Origin of the differences  31

17

3 Work and prayer in monastic life 1  Necessity of work in monastic life?  35 a  Sense of work in monastic life  35 b  Specificities of work in monastic life  38

35

vi Contents 2  The right balance between work and prayer  41 a  Time balance in monastic life  41 b  Body, work and stress  44 c  Between priests and monks: Which identity?  48 4 Integration of economic activity into monastic life: tensions and solutions 1  Models of integration of economic activity into monastic life  52 a  Denying economic activity  52 b  Distance from economic activity  54 c  Integrating economic activity: Strategies of recomposition 58 d  Ex-post legitimation: Managing the money  69 2  Between negation and affirmation of economics  72 a  To speak about the econony in monastic life  72 b Balancing performance: Between economic and religious determinants  74 c  Is the monastic economy a performant economy?  77 3  Integrating lay employees in monastic activities  79 5 Daily life economy: what does monastic poverty mean today? 1  Objective poverty in monastic life  85 a  Criteria of objective poverty in monastic communities  85 b  Expenditure of monasteries: Influence of asceticism?  88 2  Perception of poverty by society  91 a  Poverty in European monasteries: Perception of society  92 b  Europe: The question of household  93 c  Africa: Which perception of poverty?  95 3  Lived poverty in daily monastic life: A subjective dimension?  98 a  Monastic poverty on the individual level  98 b  Subjective poverty in Europe  101 c  Africa: Living in monastic poverty in a poor country  102 d  Subjective poverty: Poverty as spirituality?  106 6 Specificities of female monasteries 1  Nuns in the economic history of the monastery, near and far  108 2 Inequalities between male and female monasteries concerning economic activities  110 3  Characteristics of the female monastic economy  116 a  Rentability and innovation  116 b  A dependence on (male) laypeople?  120

52

84

108

Contents  vii 7 Monastic products and interactions with the world economy 123 1  The success of monastic products  123 a  Quality, tradition and the economy of beauty  123 b Charismatic economy 127 c Use of monastic image by lay firms and protection of monastic brands  131 2  The shop: How can mercantile activity be justified?  133 a  Trade: A forbidden activity for monastics?  133 b  A place for meetings and pastoral care  136 c  The choice of products and organisation of the shop  137 d  Integration of the shop into monastic time and space  141 3  High prices and luxury: Paradoxes of monastic products  146 a  Determining a fair price  146 b  Does quality mean luxury products?  148 c  Monastic products in Africa: A hiatus with customers  151 4  E-commerce: Selling without leaving the enclosure?  153 a Timid beginnings 153 b  International sales networks without leaving the monastery  155 c  The economic enclosure online  157 5  Dependency of the world economy  158 a  Norms and standards  158 b  Crises and monastic economic  159 c Monastic economy in the African context: Dependency on the infrastructure  161 8 Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery 1  The boom of monastic visitors: Different profiles  164 2 Lay people in the monastery: Between welcoming and preservation 167 a  Pilgrims and tourists: Position of lay people in the monasteries 167 b  Tensions caused by monastic guesthouses  171 3  Heritagisation of monasteries and cultural goods  176

164

9 Monastic economy and (sustainable) development 1 Impact of the monastic economy: Towards an alternative economy  180 a  A utopian economy for the world?  180 b  Social dimension of the monastic economy in Europe  182 c  Monasteries as places of innovation  185 2  Sustainable development and ecology  188 a  Elective affinity between monasticism and ecology  188

180

viii Contents b  Monastics; rational pioneers of ecology  189 c  A systemic approach or rational ecology  194 3 Towards a secularisation of the ecological discourse or integration of the ecological discourse into the monastic sphere?  196 4  Development in Africa  199 a  A ‘pro-poor’ economy?  200 b  The impulse behind monastic development  203 c  Direct and indirect development: social activities of monasteries 204 d  From development to ecology  209 Conclusion Appendix Reference Index

211 215 217 227

Figures



Tables

4.1

Ratio of monks to employees in monastic communities. (The figures are from a point in time in the monastery at the time of the study and therefore vary regularly.) A.1 Monasteries in which the field inquiries were conducted A.2 Interviews with monks outside their monastery

83 215 216

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those without whom this book would not have been possible, above all, the monks and nuns who, since 2004, have accepted me into their monasteries and agreed to be interviewed by me. I would especially like to thank Brother André Ardouin, who gave me access to his audit reports on the accounts from many communities. I also thank my colleagues with whom I was able to carry out some of the investigations in this book: Muhammad Bâ in Senegal, Barbora Spalová in the Czech Republic and some monasteries in Austria and Marcin Jewdokimow in Poland. I am also grateful to Katrin Langewiesche for her cooperation on a research project in West Africa. Finally, I am grateful to Rachel Makinson for her tedious but essential work in proofreading the English text.

Introduction

Economy and monasticism may at first sight appear to be an oxymoron; a strange association of two realities. Is the monastic not the one who leaves the world – understood as secular social life – to devote himself solely to God? Yet the monastic economy also echoes familiar elements of European culture. Everyone knows of food products where a monk – rarely a nun – usually a little plump is on the label. But what about the economy of monasteries today? What do they live on and how do they organise their economy so that it can be integrated into monastic life without altering it? What similarities and differences can be observed between European and African countries? Finally, to what extent does the history of these monasteries, anchored in their own socio-political context, as well as the current social framework, play a role in determining their form of economy? We are speaking here about monastic economies, which means the production and the management of the resources of the monastery. There is no specific word for the economy of other religious orders, like beggars or apostolic. One of the reasons for this is that the majority of monastic orders have to develop a productive economy of their own. In apostolic orders, religious brothers and sisters are often paid for their mission. Some of them have a paid job in society, in which they try to live out their religious values, others have a religious paid job, for instance in pastoral care, or are paid through the main mission activity of the congregation, for instance a school or a hospital. The majority of apostolic sisters and brothers are paid for a job which is also their mission as sisters and brothers. The situation is different in monastic life, where the first mission of the monastic is to pray. In a social context of labour division where society pays monastics to pray, monks and nuns do not need to produce revenue through other activities. If this does not happen, they have to work and develop economic activities that do not at first sight correspond to their mission as monastics but are intended to meet their needs. It seems, then, that the economy and the monastic mission are separate. The difference is that income-generating activities are, in the case of apostolic communities, most often coupled with the very mission of that religious institute, whereas monastic communities have to develop

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-1

2 Introduction economic activities that at first sight do not correspond to their primary raison d’être. The economy in monastic life unfolds on three levels: on the personal level of each monk and nun in their relationship with work and the economy, at the community level and finally on the level of relationships with the outside world. Most communities have two levels of economy, in addition to legal ones: the domestic level, which concerns the economy of the community as a household, as people living under the same roof, and the entrepreneurial level of the economic companies which belong to the communities and from which they draw all or part of their income. In this book, I am focusing on the sociology of religion and economic sociology. ‘Socio-economics posits from the outset that the economy is embedded in society and can therefore explain purely economic phenomena by relating them to their social, political and cultural foundations’ (Lévesque et al. 2001, p. 43). The economic sociology approach allows us to take into account the non-economic, i.e. social or religious determinants of the monastic economy. This book is also part of a material approach to religion. ‘A material approach takes as its starting point the understanding that religion becomes concrete and palpable through people, their practices and use of things, and is part and parcel of power structures’ (Meyer 2012, p. 7). We note that in the book edited by Brent Plate Key Terms in Material Religion (2015) there is no entry for the term ‘economy’. However, there is no religion without economy, if only to ensure the spatial framework of the ritual and the material necessary for this. The economy of the host discussed in this book is a central example of material religion. In the present case of the monastic economy, however, it is primarily a question of materiality not only directly linked to the performance of religious practices, but linked to the daily life of those who dedicate their whole life to God and who in this way live in a constant ritualisation of their daily life (Jonveaux 2018a, p. 47). Why study monastic economy? In 2004, as I began my work on the monastic economy in four European countries, this topic was not really present in the social sciences, apart from in the seminal work by Max Weber. It should be noted, however, that his examples come mainly from the Middle Ages. Since then, however, other research has been carried out, for example, by Barbora Spalová on the Czech Republic or Katrin Langewiesche on Burkina Faso. Other disciplines have also taken up the subject, for example auditing with the project led by Birgit Feldbauer-Durstmüller in Austria (2019), marketing by Marie-Catherine Husson-Paquier (2015) and economics in the book by Benoît-Joseph Pons (2018). As capitalism in crisis increasingly shows its limits and the appeal of various forms of alternative economies grows, interest in one particular but historic form of alternative economy, that of the monasteries, is also growing in the field of social science. The countries studied in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, in Western and Eastern Africa and in Argentina exhibit great differences from one other. European countries, especially Western Europe with Italy and France, are

Introduction  3 countries where the monastic tradition goes back some 15 centuries. They are also countries that have seen the birth of monastic traditions that appear among the most widespread in the world today, for example, Benedictine monasticism in Italy and the Cistercian and Trappist reforms in France. The countries of Western Europe all have a specific history of monastic life in recent centuries, but what is common to France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Austria is a relative continuity of monastic life since the beginning of the 20th century. The case of Eastern Europe, notably Poland and the Czech Republic, differs because of the decades of communism experienced in these countries until the early 1990s. The consequences of communism on the monasteries were not the same in each country, but the impact of these consequences still largely persists today. The situation of Catholic monasticism in Africa is very different from that in Europe because it is still very recent, historically speaking. The first Catholic monasteries were founded in East Africa in 1898, when the Pope sent the missionary Benedictine congregation of St. Ottilien to evangelise East Africa. The first monastery in Central and Western Africa was founded in 1954 (de Dreuille 1979, p. 154), but the great wave of foundations did not begin until the 1960s, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. This book seeks to explore the responses and strategies of monks and nuns with regard to how they live their economic and monastic life without altering the latter. After presenting the theoretical and historical background of the monastic economy, I will outline the sources of income of today’s monasteries and the social criteria that influence economic models. Going further into this economy, the third chapter will study the way in which productive work is integrated into monastic life. The fourth chapter will then analyse the tensions that exist between the economy and monastic life and how communities try to respond to them, thereby reducing areas of friction between the economy and religion. Considering economic life within monastic daily life in more detail, the fifth chapter deals with the way resources are allocated in monastic life, as well as the role of monastic poverty in the daily economy. The sixth chapter will examine the potential differences between the economies of male and female monasteries and the reasons for this. Focusing on the economic interactions between the monastery and the world, the seventh chapter deals with monastic products and monastery shops, whilst the eighth chapter examines the visitors to monasteries and the services available to them: guesthouses, tours, cultural offerings, restaurants, etc. Finally, the last chapter deals with the impact of the monastic economy on the world, from a social, ecological and developmental perspective, focusing on the developmental role of monasteries in Africa.

1 Research This book is the result of much research carried out since 2004 into existing Catholic monasteries. The first surveys, conducted as part of my

4 Introduction master’s degree and then my doctoral thesis, had the direct aim of studying the economy of monasteries. These surveys took place in monasteries in France, Italy, Belgium and Germany. I then continued my research into monastic life from the angle of asceticism, mainly in Austrian and French monasteries. Parallel to this, since 2017 I have been studying the question of monasticism and the internet. In 2013, I began to conduct investigations in monasteries outside Europe, in Argentina and in Africa (Togo, Senegal, Kenya, Benin and Burkina Faso). In addition to this, two cooperation projects on monastic economies were then added, one in the Czech Republic and the other in Poland. I have conducted most of these surveys alone, although some were also conducted with colleagues: Barbora Spalová from the University of St. Charles in Prague for the surveys in the Czech Republic and two Austrian monasteries, which I had also studied alone (2016 and 2017), and Muhammad Bâ from the Gaston Berger University of St. Louis in Senegal for my second survey on the monastery of Keur Moussa (2017) and finally Marcin Jewdokimow from the University of Warsaw for the survey in Poland (2019). Both in the Czech Republic and in Poland, cooperation with my colleagues was essential for the simultaneous translation during the interviews. The methodology therefore included field research and qualitative interviews, which had to be adapted according to each context. First inquiries in Africa showed that it was important to spend time in the monastery with an ethnological perspective prior to conducting interviews, in order to understand the social and cultural context. The study of monastic life in an unfamiliar context cannot be disconnected from the general social context, otherwise monastic specificities could potentially be confused with societal norms. I spend between three days and three weeks in the different communities. Interviews were conducted not only with nuns and monks from different age groups but also with those who have a responsibility in the community, especially for the economic part: abbot/abbess, bursar, managers of the shop, of an economic activity, … In addition, interviews were conducted with lay people who are concerned with the economy of the monastery: accountants, employees and client. More than 250 interviews were analysed to produce this book. I have chosen to use examples of communities from different continents in some sections, which show that monasteries in these countries are confronted with the same issues whatever their context, even if they take different forms. In this case, it is necessary to pose questions, all things being equal, that can be relevant regardless of the socio-cultural or -economic context. In other chapters or sub-sections, a distinction is made between continents in order to shift the focus to issues specifically related to these contexts. Finally, the multiplicity of geographical examples also serves, through comparison, to better understand the mechanisms and issues linked to specific local contexts that directly or indirectly influence the monastic economy.

1

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context

As stated in the introduction, the sociology of monasticism is not a highly developed field of sociology. Between Max Weber and the recent studies of the 21st century, few authors have been interested in the monastery as a sociological object, with the notable exception of the French sociologist Jean Séguy (1971). There has, however, been an increase in studies on the subject since the 2010s. On the other hand, abundant literature exists on monastic life from both a theological and a historical point of view. This section aims to establish the theoretical framework of the study, starting with the definition of the object, which is the monastery, from a sociological point of view, and then focusing on the main points of the history of the economy and work in monastic life. This is necessary in order to better grasp its contemporary developments.

1 How can we define the monastery from a sociological point of view? How can we define monastery, monastic life and its inhabitants, monks and nuns, from a sociological point of view? As already stated, monastery and monastic life was first defined by theology, which is at this point an emic perspective. In medieval theology, the monastery is often referred to as the ‘paradisus claustra’. Petrus Cellensis (1115–1183) writes in De Disciplina claustrali: ‘The monastery is on the border of the purity of the angels and the defilement of the world’ (Celle 1977, p. 153). The monastery is compared to the ‘internal forecourt’, the ‘treasure room’, the ‘earthly sanctuary’ and the ‘royal room’ (Celle 1977, titles of the chapters XII, XIII, XIV and XV). Not only it is a border place between earth and paradise, but it is also in a certain sense already the Kingdom of God, the self-contained hortus deliciarum, the way the Garden of Eden might have looked according to some theologians of the Middle Ages. According to Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘in fact, the monastery is a paradise, a region protected by the rampart of discipline, in which there is a great abundance of precious riches’ (quoted by Delumeau 1992, p. 100). The architecture as well as the structural arrangement of the monastery also

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-2

6  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context aims to reproduce the heavenly Jerusalem. The French monastery of Cluny was conceived with this in mind: ‘They dreamed of founding a new society led by the ‘pure’, the ‘perfect’. According to Georges Duby, the monks of Cluny wanted to be the ‘bridgehead of the Kingdom of God’’ (Vingtain 1998, p. 2). In this sense, the monks of the Middle Ages created an explicitly religious hierarchy in which they were placed at the top. These theological ideas allow the French sociologist Jean Séguy to describe the monastery as a utopia of the Kingdom of God that is both already there and yet to come. The term ‘utopia’ is to be understood as follows: ‘One calls Utopia every total ideological system aiming, implicitly or explicitly, through a call to the imagination alone (written Utopia) or through some transition of practice (practised Utopia), to radically transform the existing global social systems’ (Séguy 2014, p. 287). Utopia is a concept that allows us to think about monastic alterity. Written utopia is contained in the Rule, which also refers to the Gospel, and seeks to bring it to perfect application. According to Weber, ‘the really complete Christian is the monk’ (Weber 2021, 164). The written utopia is an ideal that the monastics can only ever try to approach. The practised utopia refers to the monastics’ actual life. In contrast to the socialist utopias of the 19th century, monastics are not the owners of the ideological system on which the utopia is based, i.e. the Kingdom of God, but they see themselves only as workers for its realisation, which, however, can basically only be realised to a limited extent with human power. The monastery thus builds a total and uniform system where everything, down to the smallest detail, must serve one goal, which is the coming of the Kingdom of God. This system aims to build itself as a contrasting society or counter-society to the world. In this respect, it is an alternative project: Both utopia and millenarianism can be simultaneously defined as imaginary projects of alternative societies. They are essentially the project of an Elsewhere, of a Whole Other: another regime of human links, another regime of economic goods, another regime of work or leisure, another regime of authority, another regime of cultural or cultic life, another earth, other skies, other man, other gods. (Desroche 1973, p. 228) For the economy in particular, this would mean that the monastery constructs a different type of economy with a different relationship between property, money and work. We shall explore in this study to what extent this is the case and the extent to which the monastic economy differs from the norm. Furthermore, the monastery is in the sociological sense a total institution, in Erving Goffman’s terms, because its inhabitants experience the three main activities of life in the same place: work, free time and rest (Goffman 1968). According to Goffman, a total institution is ‘a place of residence and

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context  7 work where a large number of like-situated individuals, cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life’ (1968, p. 11). In his definition, Goffman puts the monastery on the same level as hospitals and prisons. However, it should be noted that nowadays monastics are free to leave the monastery. In this respect, the monastery can be more accurately described as a ‘free total institution’. Nevertheless, it is true that for most monastics, the monastery is a place of work, rest and leisure, if they do not work outside of it. In this case, it is their home as well as their place of economic production. Michael Hill defines the religious orders as follows: We may define the religious order as an organization recognized by the church, either centralized and hierarchically governed, or locally governed but bound to uniformity of Rule and observance, of priests, or laymen, or priests and laymen, or laywomen who have committed themselves to the goals of the organization and who live in segregation and community – the degree of which will vary between different orders – and who accept as binding on themselves more exacting moral injunctions than those propounded for the church at large. (Hill 1973, p. 21) The religious order is thus an institution not which is the Church, but which is recognised by it. In this sense it is not a dissident organisation. Nevertheless, it is an institution that belongs to the Church and wants to be different from the Church. For Séguy, ‘the monastic institution is thus a counter-society institutionalised indirectly through a Church tending to regulate both the global society and its counter-societies’ (2014, p. 294). Owing to the fact that the monastery is not an actual ecclesial institution, people are attracted there who would otherwise not go to a Church or presbytery either because they are opposed to the institutional Church or feel a lack of belonging to it. As already stated, the sociology of monasticism begins with sociology itself and one of the founders of sociology, Max Weber. In his study of society, Weber is looking for ideal-typical models and monasteries, whether Catholic or Buddhist, which represent, in their extreme form of life, an ideal-type of life consecrated to God. Weber thus has the peculiarity of being interested in religious life. One may note here that he confuses apostolic and monastic orders as he mixes the terms of monks and monasteries – not only in its relation to the divine and its position as a religious virtuoso in society but also in its economic aspect and the economic role of monasteries in their local environment. Max Weber’s best-known definition of monks is their classification as virtuosi of asceticism (Weber 1988, p. 260). Compared to other Christians, monks do not necessarily have a particular duty. However, they devote their entire lives to the search for salvation.

8  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context They carry out their daily tasks and search professionally, so to speak, whereas the laity can be regarded as amateurs in this regard. ‘Only the religious virtuoso, the ascetic, the monk, the Sufi, the Dervish strove for sacred values, which were ‘other-worldly’’ (Weber 1946, p. 277). This ability to be a virtuoso and to place his life under the discipline of asceticism is given to the monk by God, by whom he is chosen and called. What defines the monk is therefore, theoretically, his total dedication to the goal of divine research.

2 Monastic economy: A deep contradiction in monastic life? If the monk is characterised by his total consecration to God in an intensive and exclusive search for salvation, is there not a fundamental contradiction from the outset between the economy and monastic life? This dimension is nevertheless necessary for the survival of the monastery and therefore for the proper conduct of its religious activity. The main aim of the monasteries is not to be economically successful. The primary purpose of a monastery is to pursue the search for God and to perform divine service, which seems at first sight antithetical to any idea of economy. But monasteries nevertheless ‘engage in economic activities’ and are, according to Max Weber, ‘regulatory groups…whose norms regulate the economic behavior of the participants and whose organs do not continuously direct economic activities through participation, concrete instructions or injunctions’ (1978, pp. 339–341). Indeed, the very fact of being a place where individuals spend the whole of their time results in the need to provide for the same biological (food) and material (housing, clothing, etc.) needs of these same individuals. In certain phases of its development, monasticism or certain apostolic orders were able to rely on donations. But as the example of the Franciscans shows, the management of the financial donations as well as of the patrimony donated to them becomes a real economic activity (see Todeschini 2008). The economy does not only refer to the production of resources but also to their management, even if the resources come from outside. In this respect, monastic life without economy is impossible. And the same is true for other non-monastic religious orders. In a sense, resource management is all the more important because resources are scarce, and therefore, the economy would be more centralised in communities with limited resources. Indeed, in Italy, the Franciscans, originally an order focused on poverty and dispossession, has become the richest religious order. However, as we shall see, this economy is subject to different characteristics specific to the environment. The framing of the economy is all the more important in monastic life because the primary goal of the monastery is not economic but religious. In theory, everything in the monastery and in monastic life must have the goal of divine research. In this context, what kind of relationship can we define between the monastery as a religious entity and its economy? According to Welch and Müller, economics and

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context  9 religion can interact according to four models: the first is ‘economics separate from religion’ (Welch & Müller 2001), when economics is unrelated to religion because of a certain hostility between them. The second one is ‘economics in service of religion’ – a situation which ‘appeals to religious beliefs or arguments [which] are made to attain economic objectives’ (Welch  & Mueller 2001, p. 193). Then we have ‘religion in service of economics’, which includes the ‘situation where appeals to religious beliefs or arguments are made to attain economic objectives’ (id., p. 193). And finally, ‘religion and economics in union’, ‘where religion and economics, rather than being held apart or one in service of the other, work together’ (id., p. 195). In the case of the monastic economy, we will see that the first and third cases can be verified according to the configurations. But generally speaking, the aim of the monastic is to be at the service of religion in order to make the exercise of religion possible. As the utopia of the Kingdom of God, already there and still to come, every dimension of monastic life should theoretically be oriented towards this end. But because utopia aims at an absolute, it is necessarily a place of tension. Danièle Hervieu-Léger speaks of ‘a mortal dilemma of all utopias’ (Hervieu-Léger 2017). The economy is then confronted with the need to integrate itself into this total system which a priori rejects it. Monastic life is in fact characterised by what tradition has called the fuga mundi, flight from the world. This concept refers to the origins of monasticism where the first monks were ascetics who left society to go to the desert of Syria and Egypt. The fuga mundi was then characterised by a geographical displacement from society. Not only with the institutionalisation of monasticism and its inclusion in the space of society in the sense that monasteries were built in cities or cities around monasteries, but also with social activities increasingly assumed by the monasteries, the idea of world refusal became above all an idea of independence from society. For ‘to participate in the affairs of the world is to accept the world, and so it is an alienation from God’ (Weber 1995, p. 308). And so, ‘monastic asceticism requires independence from the ‘world’’ (Weber 1991, p. 193). ‘Let us remember that the world is the state, the profession, the family, and generally speaking, its spheres and values’ (Ouédraogo 2006). This independence also includes economic independence, hence the model of autarky promoted by St Benedict in his rule.

3 History of the monastic economy The aim of this book is not to retrace the history of the monastic economy and work, which has been the subject of numerous historical investigations. Nevertheless, it is essential to outline some of the main features of this history in order to understand the current situation of the monastic economy and to better grasp possible specificities of the contemporary period. Monasticism is in constant dialogue with its past, as much through

10  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context the centuries-old buildings that the communities occupy as through the use of tradition in the economy, but also because the monastics themselves are often the historians of their own past. a Origin of work in Christian monasticism The integration of work and economy in Catholic monasticism is the subject of a long path of tension which has never really been resolved and which begins with the first forms of pre-monastic life in the desert. The origin of monasticism, legend has it, is that it took the appearance of an angel to Saint Anthony, considered to be the first monk, for him to understand that he had to combine a life of work and a life of prayer; it was therefore by no means natural. This vision of work as being necessary to human beings is rather incongruous in this period, which lived in the approach of the Greek and Latin philosophers, where otium is superior to negotium seen as non-leisure and productive work. ‘It is leisure that constitutes positively defined time, time devoted to science, art or philosophy’ (Pillon & Vatin 2003, p. 7). Work is the hallmark of the slave condition. Monasticism played a crucial role in the renewal of this debate: ‘The first great socio-ideological conflict around work in the Middle Ages appeared in the monastic environment’ (Le Goff 1990, p. 15). The monastic debate was to provide the Christian West with arguments in favour of work and its benefits for mankind for the first time. Prinz underlines that ‘only with Christianity, and still in the special mode of the rules of life practised in monasteries, does work assume a positive value, a dignity and a theological justification’ (Prinz 1987, p. 267). From being a protest movement and a virtuoso in the desert, monasticism gradually, with the writing of rules, became institutionalised. The first of these was that of Pachomius, who stated that work is an activity that must not interrupt contemplation, but which is essential to the monk’s life. The importance Pachomius gave to work is illustrated by the organisation of the communities, for he ‘groups his disciples according to the trade they practise, there is the house of the weavers, that of the tailors…’ (Cousin 1956, p. 54). Work became one of the main determinants of the community, which was built as much as a community of work as a community of prayer. The institutionalisation of work through monastic rules reached its peak with the Rule of Benedict, written in the 6th century, which became the most widely practised through the intervention of Charlemagne, which includes work in the definition of a monk, as we shall see later. b Evolution of the forms of monastic work throughout history The tradition of monastic work thus begins with the desert fathers, who engaged in manual labour that left the mind free to meditate and repeat the verses of psalms (ruminatio) or sing praises.

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context  11 For the ancient monks it was only manual work, since there was no other form of work in the strict sense of the word; intellectual work was expressly excluded, because most of the monks were uncultured, as was apostolic or ministerial work, because almost all of them were lay people and because such activity became incompatible with solitude and contemplation. (Sena 1993, p. 175) The image often used is that of the monk weaving a basket; work that teaches patience, gives ascetic discipline, enables the most basic needs to be provided for and eventually enables charitable acts. With the institutionalisation of monasticism, the emergence of the cenobites and the writing of the rules, work became an integral part of monasticism. The rules regarding work were written into the rule book, thereby institutionalising it. The work recommended by Benedict is essentially manual; it is not very tiring, leaves room for prayer and keeps the monastery alive, while remaining within the area of the cloister. From this point of view, agriculture would not be suitable for monastic life, as it requires leaving the monastery. But it is also ‘conceived as a productive or remunerative activity’ (Vogüe 1985, p. 344), as well as a response to the obligation of charity. Work, according to Saint Benedict, is an essential element in the building of a human reality, both personal and communal, which is part of God’s saving plan and in solidarity with the rest of mankind: work serves to maintain the monastery economically, to promote charity towards the poor, to avoid falling into the temptation of man’s destructive idleness. (Maccarinelli 2006, p. 601) It can be argued that there are many justifications for a single activity, especially as each could stand on its own. This multiplication of justifications exemplifies the difficulty in integrating work into the coherent system of monastic life. With the expansion of monasticism and the routinisation of the original charisma, new trends emerged. A debate is slowly emerging on the most appropriate type of work for the monastics, especially in a context where ‘the work of administration of salvation goods’ (Weber 1996), i.e. the religious work of monks, is increasing. With the reformist statutes of Benedict of Aniane (747–821), a Benedictine abbot in France and founder of the Aniane Abbey, the monks were increasingly occupied with the activities of the choir and consequently left it to non-monks to provide for their daily needs. The lay brothers, or servants, were mainly assigned to agricultural work, and as they could devote themselves to this full time, these activities took off considerably. The monasteries are thus firmly anchored in the rural economy of the time.

12  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context The monks of Cluny, from the time of its foundation in 909, have not exploited their domain themselves but have left its management to laymen so they may devote themselves to perpetual prayer. Three elements of the charter define the specificity of Cluny: the divine office, aid to the poor and the cult of the dead (Vingtain 1998, p. 25). The numerous services and masses for the dead have left little time for work. The means of survival must therefore come from other sources, either directly through donations, which show that society agrees with this position of the monks, or through the work of monastery employees. Cluny experienced these two models successively, for example, during the period of Abbot Hugues (1049–1109), the economy was mainly based on donations, whereas Peter the Venerable (1122–1157) chose to return to an estate economy with the employment of many lay people. Agricultural work was considered unsuitable for monks, as Peter the Venerable considered it ‘contrary to monastic recollection’ (Higounet 1982, p. 26). With the Cistercian reform, a spirituality of humility developed, whereby work was seen as a curse imposed by God as a result of original sin. ‘For them, manual labour, to which they chose to devote themselves, remained a negative value, an act of humiliation and penance’ (Duby 1988, p. 185). Work became regarded as both a symbol of redemption and a consequence of sin. One type of monastic work developed in the Middle Ages, which has had a lasting impact on the image of the monk in the European culture, is that of copying manuscripts. However, this low-paid work was only possible when the monastic economy was built on sources of production other than the direct work of the monks. For Cuthbert de Butler, abbot of Downside from 1906 to 1922: Throughout the Middle Ages, until the invention of printing, the transcription of books was an excellent substitute for manual labour. The monks were very active in this work, finding in it everything that befits a monastic labour, laborious, difficult, demanding, pacifying, and at the same time a valuable contribution to the work of the world. […] Nothing since has been found to replace it that is as generally suitable and has as many advantages. (Dubois 1996, p. 97) With the adoption of this intellectual work, the monks became clerics, intellectuals in the face of an illiterate society, despite the fact that the first monks were agricultural workers. A shift upwards in the social position of the monk thus took place. This work also developed as a monastic speciality, which did not encroach on the domain of the laity and which remains in today’s imagination the monastic work par excellence. Apart from the fact that it fits perfectly into the rhythm of monastic life, it is the only activity over which monks had a virtual monopoly.

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context  13 Gradually, from a group that had voluntarily cut itself off from society, during the 11th and 12th centuries, the monks were integrated into the division of labour within society. This was established according to three orders, in which the position of the monk was clearly to pray for the salvation of society, who did not have time to do so themselves. The work of administering the goods of salvation was established at the heart of the monastic identity and became its main job. According to Alcuin (724–804), abbot of Saint-Martin de Tours Abbey: ‘The work of monastic life is fruitful, while secular work is fruitless’ (Chélini 1968, p. 25). The monastery was thus integrated into the social division of labour and in this sense became fully part of the society of the Three Orders. c Development of the monastic economy in Europe From a direct subsistence economy in the early centuries of monasticism, the monastic economy in Europe gradually became an expansive economy, based on a large patrimony and deploying commercial networks throughout Europe. The monastic economies of the 17th and 18th centuries became mainly patrimonial economies, where society itself contributed to the support of its monks. Fully ascetic work, in its role as a physical outlet, was not eradicated, but it was no longer a remunerative source. With an increase in their production – linked to the increase in non-monastic labour – the monastic economy became more and more a commercial economy. Thus, ‘it can be said that trade and industry during the early Middle Ages, except in Italy, were mainly done by the great Benedictine abbeys’ (Martin 1880, p. 82). Little by little, the economy of the monasteries became an economy that in many ways exceeded the performance of the world. The case of the Cistercians is particularly striking because they chose to live in poverty in reaction to Benedictine wealth, ‘the desire to escape the wealth of the Benedictines and to live on monastic work alone was not in itself a programme likely to ensure economic success for the Order’ (Higounet 1977, p. 346). The major asset of the Cistercian system, which initially stemmed from the ascetic desire for independence, is the system of barns ‘because it ensured that each abbey was self-sufficient in its subsistence, with the multiplication of farms in different sites and regions providing complementary production’ (id., p. 354). This system was relatively revolutionary for its time. In the management of these barns and other properties, the Cistercian economy differs from the practice of earlier establishments in four main areas: the intensification of livestock farming in the order, the manual labour of the monks and the conversi, the isolation of the barns from the seigniorial system and the exemption from tithes and royalty

14  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context rates. These characteristics produced savings and financial benefits that partly explain the rapid enrichment of the order. (Berman 1992, p. 167) Historians identify that around 1220–1250 the Cistercians had a ‘full economic flourishing which is the main characteristic of the economy with the disappearance of any restraint’ (Chauvin 1983, p. 39). It seems here that the monks no longer restricted their economic success out of concern for the protection of their religious life, for example at Grandselves in south-western France: ‘In the 13th century, Grandselve was caught up in the spiral of productive capital, which its own energy was irresistibly driving towards a constant increase’ (Barrière 1977, p. 95). The conversi were partly responsible for this monastic enrichment, notably through the savings they made because they had no family to feed, and which enabled them to considerably increase the surface area of the land (Berman 1992). In addition to meeting a need for labour due to the increase in land, the lay people also allowed the monks to follow the rule as closely as possible to its ideal, given the exordium of Cîteaux, the founding text of the Cistercians, ‘without lay brothers, one cannot really follow the rule’ (Dubois 1968, p. 183). The inflow of money from society to the monasteries is also partly responsible for the wealth of the religious communities. Gifts and bequests, especially at the time of the foundations, flowed into the communities, especially as a reward for the monks’ work for salvation. In the Middle Ages, the purchase of a burial site on the abbey’s holy ground by important people was also a significant source of income (Coomans 2015, p. 70). The dowries, intended precisely to exempt noble children from working, contributed to the monastic enrichment. Dowries, gifts and legacies were also the source of the extensive patrimony of the monasteries. Thus, the power of the monasteries comes from the fact that they are large landowners in a system of closed economy, based on the possession of the soil (Schmitz 1948, p. 11). To this must be added the monopolies that the monks granted themselves, forbidding, for example, a competitor to set up shop near them and demanding that foreign merchants pay taxes at their tolls. This was even more advantageous for the monks, since their immunity exempted them from paying taxes. In a society entirely preoccupied with its own salvation, those who hold the monopoly of this service are quickly at the centre of a strong demand. The religious activity that sometimes draws crowds to the monasteries contributes to the enrichment of the communities: Very often, the very location of the monastery became a source of wealth: these were monastic churches built over the tombs of saints or constituted guardians of insignificant relics and became the centre of a pilgrimage. These pilgrimages brought crowds of people who made voluntary offerings to the ‘saint’. These alms given by the saint to the ‘poor

Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context  15 of Christ’ were so numerous and generous that in some places they were enough to ensure the subsistence of a community. (Schmitz 1948, p. 298) The pilgrimage economy thus appears quite early in the history of the monastic economy and is directly linked to the religious dimension of the monastery. The antagonism that appears at first sight between monastic life and the economy does not seem to be verified by the examples given in this section. However, it also appears that the economic success of monasteries was often accompanied or followed by a decline in religious asceticism, described by critics as decadence. When the time comes for community life to be balanced, it is rare that one does not pass the measure, that one does not give in to the idea that one will have a much more spiritually fruitful life if one does not allow oneself to be distracted by earthly tasks whose necessity has disappeared. And the result is always the same according to history: without being able to determine a precise moment when the error was consummated, one slips from otium contemplationis to a pious laziness that has nothing in common with it. (Bouyer 2008, p. 247) Does this show an incompatibility between monastic life and economic life? Patrice Cousin notes that ‘wealth has been continuously harmful to monks’ (Cousin 1956, p. 531), especially because ‘it makes wealthy monasteries the target of envy and covetousness of secularists’ (id., p. 532). As Max Weber shows, economic success does not necessarily lead to religious decadence, but it does make asceticism more difficult to live and can make concentrating on the goal of divine search more diffuse. The monastic economy follows the development of the world economy or precedes it when they themselves innovate in the technical or agricultural fields. The monastic world did not escape industrialisation, which appeared in monasteries from the 19th century onwards. This step seems almost logical in the economic development of the monastery, which has always sought to rationalise its modes of production in order to maximise the time devoted to prayer. However, this new scale of production also brought with it problems concerning the balance of economic performance that continued into the 20th and 21st centuries. Bernard Delpal, studying the chocolate factory of the Trappists of Aiguebelle (France) in the 19th century, writes: ‘This (first) chocolate factory of Aiguebelle is a victim of its growth. In 1890, it became obvious that it was too cramped for its premises in Saint-Joseph’ (Delpal 1998, p. 335). A new limited company was founded in 1891, which hired no fewer than 200 employees (id., p. 335). Seeking to maximise the time and quality of prayer, the monks produced, as if against their will,

16  Monastic economy in its sociological and historical context economies of scale beyond the monastic framework. We will see later that this idea of being a victim of economic growth is also used by the monks in the 21st century. A quick overview of the main stages of the monastic economy and work highlights two main elements: on the one hand, a balance has never been achieved between work and monastic life and on the other hand, the search for a rational economy alters monastic life either by the withdrawal of monks from work activities or by the excessive importance of the economy in the utopia. The groundwork has been laid here for the relationship between monastic life and economy/work, which we will now study for the present day.

2

Models of monastic economy Organisation and sources of revenue

What about the monastic economy in today’s world? Monasteries are not very well known for their economy, even though it is a subject of growing interest in the context of capitalism in crisis and in the search for alternative economic models (Pons 2018). The vast majority of people, including practising Catholics, are not sure what monks and nuns live on. The many myths about the origins of the communities’ sources of income do not generally incorporate the idea of a rational conception of the economy. The landscape of the monastic economy on the international level is, however, blurred because the sources turn out to be very different, depending on the country, order or gender of the community. In this chapter, we will therefore look at where the income of today’s monastic communities comes from.

1 Is autarky still possible? The first model of monastic economy that theoretically responds to the conception of a self-contained and extramundane model would be that of economic autarky, where the community produces everything it needs. As an anticipation of paradise, the monastery should be a place where the monk lacks nothing and where he can find the answer to all his needs. This model of self-sufficiency is one that derives in part from the rule of St. Benedict, which recommends that the resources necessary for the needs of the community be produced within the monastic setting (RB1 66, 6–7) and that all the workshops necessary for the maintenance of the monastery be owned by the monastery (RB, 66). The economic self-sufficiency of the Benedictine monasteries of the early Middle Ages was not only the result of objective prudence, but the appropriate translation of a desire for substantial independence from the rules of the market and everything that was connected to it. (Abbruzzese 1995, p. 206) Complete self-sufficiency was in fact rarely achieved in the monastic setting, even desert ascetics in the early days of monasticism would sell

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-3

18  Models of monastic economy their handiwork (baskets, for example) in the city. However, this tendency towards self-sufficiency is a highlight of the monastic economy, especially because a large proportion of the monastic products sold outside the monastery originated from the products produced for the community themselves: wine, cheese, beer, etc. It was also the desire to be self-sufficient or at least to provide for the majority of their needs, which led the monks to develop efficient economic systems, such as the Cistercian barns, or innovative and advanced techniques and knowledge. Similarly, the pharmaceutical skills acquired by monks over the centuries stem from the need to produce their own remedies in a self-sufficient system. In modern society, where the division of labour has increased considerably, autarky is increasingly less feasible. At the same time, the emergence of new needs (for example, in technology of communication) and the integration of monastics into social systems such as social security contributions require the generation of financial income. The debate on absolute autarky no longer exists in monasticism today, as the French association ‘Monastic’2 states: ‘It is no longer possible today to live in autarky by providing for the various needs of the community by oneself, as, for example, St. Benedict recommended in his rule in the 6th century’ (Questions d’éthique 1998, p. 2). When the question is put to monks and nuns, their answer is equally categorical: No, it is not possible anymore. It is like the farmers in Larzac! (laughs) We would like to be able to start a vegetable garden again, but we are not impervious to society, to the evolution of the world. We could, if we didn’t have heating, we would do away with heating, we would use candles, that’s all. At that point, you lower your expenses and you can live a much more self-sufficient life, but who would accept that? You have to live with the times in the age of the Internet and central heating. I don’t think we can be totally outside the world. Today, the economy serves to live. (Sr. Agathe, Bursar, France, 06.2008) It appears clearly in Sister Agathe’s words what Jean Séguy calls the ‘limits of utopia’. ‘In other words, ‘practised’ monastic utopia has its limits, the very same as those of the structures or systems of plausibility of an epoch or of a place’ (Séguy 2014, p. 293). Monasticism is currently developing an alternative economic model, but it does not seem plausible to leave the existing systems completely. However, if complete autarky is no longer possible or plausible, ‘sectors of autarky’ are identified in communities. I refer here to Desroche’s expression of ‘sectors of alternation’. ‘A society that cannot last in its over-society  – ‘this exaltation cannot last, it is too powerful’ – arranges or allows itself to be arranged within sectors of alternation where this over-society can fulfil its function of counter-society’ (Desroche 1973, p. 50). These sectors of

Models of monastic economy  19 self-sufficiency refer to relative self-sufficiency through the self-production of products used within the monasteries, particularly food, energy or clothing. A sister in Kenya explains: We also have our garden, so we try to be self-sustainable. We plant our own vegetables; we try as much as possible not to buy the things we are able to produce ourselves. We also have some cows over there, so we try to reduce the cost of things, of buying things from outside. […] You know Benedict encourages people to work hard and to earn their living and the monks had everything in the community. We are also trying to live according to the rule of St. Benedict. Like we have our sewing room also, we don’t go out to make the habits, we have a sister who is trained for that and also those who are joining the religious community the young people are trained. (Sr. Judith, Kenya, 02.2014) The idea of autarky and self-sufficiency in monastic life includes financial independence. This same sister continues: ‘Also we have a sister who is working outside, who is teaching […]. So, whatever they get there, they bring in the community, that is how we are able to sustain ourselves’ (02.2014). Consumption of food and drink produced by the monasteries can be observed in the guesthouses, where guests are served community products. In France, although I was rarely served produce from the monastery whilst a guest there, at the Trappist monastery of Tamié I ate the cheese produced at the monastery, which is served each day. Many Italian monasteries offer food they produce themselves, such as honey in Praglia. In Belgium too, Westmalle’s cheese and beer are served to guests, although the cheese is almost exclusively for their own consumption, and the brewery produces a type of beer intended only for the monastery table. Similarly, in Benin at Kokoubou, the monks serve cottage cheese to guests which they produce themselves, although this is now almost exclusively for internal consumption. However, the consumption of food and drink produced by themselves is not always integrated into the accounts of the communities, as one auditor pointed out, particularly in the case of Kokoubou. This means that they appear to the communities as a non-economic dimension that has no place in the accounts. This is an alternation sector of negation of the economy, as we shall see below. A distinction must be made here between food production that is intended for commercial sale and that which is directly and solely for consumption by the community. Because of the high quality of their products and therefore their high price on the market, it is generally more profitable for the communities to sell their products rather than to keep them for their own consumption. For example, a sister from a French monastery explained that they buy jam rather than consume their own, which is more expensive. In addition, the loss or absence of a land patrimony does not allow communities in some countries such as France to aim at autarky.

20  Models of monastic economy A significant degree of autarky or at least self-sufficiency is achieved in African communities with the presence of workshops in the monastic enclosure, which allow the maintenance needs of the monastery to be met internally. This configuration is described in the Rule of St. Benedict but is rarely found in European monasteries today. Maintenance and repair work are now normally outsourced. For example, the monastery of Keur Moussa in Senegal has a garage and a metal workshop, as does the monastery of the monks of Koubri in Burkina Faso. The degree of autarky also appears to depend on the local economic infrastructure. The less this infrastructure is present, the more autarkic dimensions the monasteries develop. Self-sufficiency is currently gaining importance in European monasteries, driven by ecological goals. In the Benedictine monastery of Plankstetten in Bavaria, for example, the monks have developed what they call a ‘regional Autarkiekonzept’. This system does not aim at independence from society as in Benedict’s time but at knowing the origin of the products they consume and ensuring everything is locally produced. Consuming what one has produced oneself or buying from producers in one’s own neighbourhood achieves the perfect coherence of the all-organic system. For example, 80% of the food served in the monks’ guesthouses and refectory comes from the monastery’s garden or farm, both of which are organic. Some monks within the community would like to push this percentage to its maximum, but others recognise that it is impossible. Nevertheless, the idea is to create a system that is as self-sufficient as possible within the time available.

2 Presentation of different models Due to the fact that total self-sufficiency is neither possible nor desirable, monastic communities must find ways to generate financial income. If we compare various different Catholic monasteries, we find very different models regarding their sources of income. My field research in Europe, Africa and Argentina have led me to identify five models: • • • • •

Internal economy of production with direct work of monks or nuns Economy of external activities or an externalised economy Economy of patrimony Economy of donation Economy of aging

These models refer to the main source of income, which does not mean that monasteries cannot have activities described in the other models. I will now present each model and give concrete examples which show how each type of economy works. The difference observed in monastic economies in the world depend on different factors: the spirituality of the community, especially the spirituality of work and poverty; the social and political history of each country and the stage of development of a monastery.

Models of monastic economy  21 a Direct work of monastics with an internal economy of production Internal economy of production This model means that the main source of income for the community is from the work of monks and nuns in productive activities. This is the case in the majority of monasteries in France, for instance, where monastic communities have small (or not so small) production companies. Monastics – and often laypeople – carry out the activities, which mostly take place within the monastery. In this case, the revenue from the work done by the monastics themselves is the primary source of income. For the monasteries I studied for my PhD in France (Jonveaux 2011a, p. 135), this accounted for between 28% and 45% of the total income of the monastery or between 41% and 58% if we include income from the guesthouse. The economy of production means that communities have to sell the fruit of their production through trade. Economy of pastoral care In this model, the main source of revenue derives from pastoral ministry, which is, again, work carried out by the monastics. For instance, 80% of the revenue of the Cistercian monastery in Jędrzejów, Poland, comes from parishes and pastoral activities. In this sense, we can still speak about work done by the monks themselves, but in the form of pastoral activities. Two points should be stressed: firstly, this type of economy mainly concerns male communities in which the monks have access to the priesthood and can therefore dispense the sacraments, and secondly, for pastoral work to become an important part of a monastery’s economy, it must be remunerated. In countries where priest-monks are not paid by the diocese for the care of a parish, income from the priesthood does exist through mass fees. At Kokoubou in Benin, for example, the brother bursar explains that the Mass fees constitute a significant part of their income, not because of the local people, who pay about 2,000 CFA francs for a Mass, but because of the fees up to 17 euros per mass which are paid to them by a priest from Noumea in New Caledonia and the Abbey of Bellefontaine in France, which is their founding monastery. This is because they do not have the capacity to meet the demand for the amount of requests for Mass that they receive. An economy of the Mass is thus developing at the international level, in which people with the ability to pay the fees for a Mass are offered this service in a country in which there is a higher capacity of priests. b Economy of external activities or an externalised economy Externalised economy means that monastic communities have entrusted laypeople with monastic firms or have sold the production process to a

22  Models of monastic economy lay firm and receive royalties for the trade brand. For instance, in the Benedictine Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium, royalties for beer and cheese represented 46% of the income in 2008 (Jonveaux 2011a, p. 137). Sometimes monastic communities have also externalised the activities in the sense that they take place outside the walls of the monastery. In the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle in Belgium, the monks externalised their brewery by retiring from production themselves, keeping only one monk on the executive board. The monks themselves work on a small farm which does not generate income for the community. This externalisation of the economy is normally for activities which have become too time-consuming for the community and which the monks can no longer carry out themselves. The activity is therefore removed from the spatial enclosure of the monasteries. I will elaborate on this case in the section on outsourcing as a strategy for integrating the economy into monastic life. c Economy of patrimony An economy of patrimony means that the main source of income for monastic communities is revenue from property. A good example of this are the male monasteries in Austria, where the majority of their revenue comes from forestry and property holdings (Jonveaux 2018b). For instance, 90% of the revenue of the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria comes from forestry and the properties owned by monks in the city of Kremsmünster or in Linz, which they rent out. The monks work in parishes or at the monastery school but do not participate in the activities which bring in the largest part of the revenue. In Kremsmünster in 2017, only one monk worked in forestry, as the manager of this business, but he was training a young lay woman to take over from him. In the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, revenue from forestry represents 80% of the total income. The forester says: ‘We have two forest companies; one here in Heiligenkreuz with nearly 50,000 ha and other one in Styria with nearly 11000ha and half of this area is forest, and the other part is just rocks and mountains’ (03.2017). Some monasteries in Austria have very large properties, such as Admont Abbey, which is the seventh biggest landowner in Austria.3 This model is only possible in the case of relatively old monasteries which have accumulated heritage over the centuries, which they have managed not to lose through the vicissitudes of history. It is therefore irrelevant for new monasteries. In this model, it means that monastics do not actually work for their most important source of revenue. This does not mean that monks do not have lucrative work, but compared to the revenue of the patrimony, this does not represent a significant share. It should be noted that this model is very rare in women’s monasteries, which, due to their history, have had far fewer land donations. I will return to this subject in the chapter about female communities.

Models of monastic economy  23 d Economy of donation In this model, monks or nuns work in activities which are not profitable for the community (maybe because this work is not remunerated) and they essentially live from donations. This model can be found in new communities which are not yet financially autonomous, for instance in Asia or Africa, where Catholic monastic life has been developing, especially since the 1960s. A lot of the monasteries here are still financially dependent on the congregation or mother abbey. If we take the example of a recently founded monastery, the monastery of Séguaya, founded in Guinea Conackry by the Senegalese abbey of Keur Moussa at the end of 2003, we can indeed note a great dependence on donations. On average, 52.4% of ordinary income for the last three years has come from donations. In this case, the model of economy of donation is a transitory model. In fact, financial autonomy is one of the three criteria for achieving the autonomous status of the foundation of the Benedictine family. However, in the case of the African monasteries I have observed, that financial autonomy was guaranteed for daily life but not for major expenses, especially for building work. For large expenses such as this, the community has to turn to the mother house for financial help. The bursar of L’Étoile in Benin explains: ‘We can’t cover the big expenses. For food, we can cover these expenses. For small expenses, we can cover them, but when it is huge, we ask for help’ (03.2019). Katrin Langewiesche underlines that the African monasteries ‘can survive only with the help of money from the North’ (2015, p. 140). This model of economy of donations can also be found in communities that have a vow of poverty not only for the individual (which is the case for monastics within the Benedictine family) but also for the communities themselves, like the Poor Clares, who live according to the Franciscan spirituality like a mendicant order. According to this spirituality, nuns should live only from gifts. In the Poor Clares’ convent in Cormontreuil in France, 40% of the revenue comes from donations (see graph 1) and more than half of the food that the sisters eat also comes from gifts of food – products that are beyond their sell-by date that merchants prefer to give rather than throw away. In this case, it is a model driven by spirituality and desired as such, which finds its stability in the network of donors, for instance for food, that the sisters set up (Figure 2.1). e Economy of aging The economy of aging is increasingly present in the monasteries of Western and Central Europe, especially female monasteries; it means that the main source of revenue are the pensions of the old sisters or brothers. In the two female communities I studied in France for my PhD, the main source of income is based on pensions, 44% in one and 36% in the other. This makes

24  Models of monastic economy

Figure 2.1 Income of a French Poor Clare monastery (2017).

the brother accountant of La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey say humorously that ‘they are in an economy where old age also has its advantages’ (11.2005). Nevertheless, this form of economy is not stable for the future and does not allow for large expenses. As a Benedictine sister told me during a survey in France in 2005, when they lose a sister, they lose an income (Jonveaux 2011a, p. 155). She explains: We live off the pensions of the older sisters. It must be said that we pay quite a lot of contributions for the young people. You have monasteries where there are only young people, there you have to pay, they get nothing. Whereas we pay, we still receive the pension of the elders. So, when we lose a sister, when we have a deceased sister, for us it’s very important, you see. And we know that today, we have a fragile balance, we’re going to be without a sister for eight years when we reach

Models of monastic economy  25 ­ ­

26  Models of monastic economy properties, taxes, social security contributions and the legal system for the internal functioning of monastic economic activities. Monastic properties: 1 The history of monastic property in Europe during the last 1,500 years can rarely boast continuity. The oldest Cistercian monastery in the world, for example, is not in France, the country of origin of this order, but in Austria, near Graz. It is Rein Abbey and was founded in 1129. Many monasteries in Europe lost their properties during suppression, and these were returned later, once monastic life was once again permitted, like in Italy after the suppression by the State in 1866 or more recently in the Czech Republic with the restitutions since 2012 after the communist era (Spalová & Jonveaux 2018). It should be noted, however, that the restitution of monastic property has never been problem-free. As regards Italy, Ferroglio writes in 1931: These [the religious orders] demanded to regain possession first of their unsold items, then also of those that had passed into the hands of private individuals, claiming that the latter were not unaware of the vice of their possession, the legitimate owners having been dispossessed. (1931, p. 221) It is the same problem at the moment in the Czech Republic, where restitutions are not without conflict when land or buildings have been acquired by individuals who feel that they have paid fairly for the property (Spalová & Jonveaux 2021, p. 9). In other countries, the monasteries lost their estates, which were never returned to them, like in France after both suppressions during the Revolution of 1789 and in the 19th century. Most of the monasteries have been able, over time, to recover a large part of their monastery buildings but little of their land and other real estate holdings. In countries like Austria, monasteries did not lose their estates, at least those that were not suppressed during the reform of Joseph II. The situation of monasteries under the communist law in the 20th century was very different from one country to the other. In Poland, monasteries lost a big part of their property but were not suppressed like in the Czech Republic. Czesław Stryjewski estimates that religious orders used to hold ca 75,000 hectares of land. The 1950 legal act annexing so-called ‘dead-hand lands’, i.e. ones that would not be sold, left them with 2,000 hectares for 458 male houses, and 7,500 hectares for 2,321 female houses, stemming from the fact that ‘houses would be left with an average of 5 hectares of land and religious structures’. (155) (Jewdokimow 2020, p. 64)

Models of monastic economy  27 A commission was created in 1989 to work on the restitution of property to religious orders. In Poland and in the Czech Republic, the monasteries recovered first of all the conventual and religious buildings, in order to re-establish proper monastic life. However, not all buildings or properties related to the monastery’s economy have been returned and some have only recently been returned. The reconstruction of the economy of these monasteries is therefore handicapped by the absence of these properties or their late restitution. The monastic economy therefore takes on a very different form depending on whether communities have kept their estates or not. As we have seen above, the patrimony economy model of income generation is generally only possible in cases where monasteries have not lost their land or property, as in Austria, or if they have been able to recover their estates in full. Taxes: The position of monasteries with regard to taxes has varied over the centuries. In Europe, monks used to be able to levy taxes, the tithe. For example, it represented 27% of the income of the Menat monastery in France in 1789 on the eve of the Revolution (Goudot 2006, p. 14). As early as the Carolingian period, but even more so in the 10th and 11th centuries, abbeys, by donation or otherwise, acquired tithes along with land and churches that received these tithes regularly. It could also happen that a monastic church obtained parochial character and that from then on the tithe was legitimately granted to it. (Ganshof 1968, p. 414) These tithes come essentially from the parishes attached to the abbey. Parallel to this, monasteries were exempt from most taxes, for example, rent (cens). The monasteries thus had a clear fiscal advantage in that they could levy taxes but were often exempt from paying them. Exemption of state taxes for monasteries is currently very uneven between countries. Countries where Catholicism occupies an important place seem to grant more benefits to monasteries. Italian monasteries, for example, are not subject to roof tax; given the size of the buildings, it is an obvious advantage. In Poland, however, monasteries pay taxes like everyone else. The question of tax also concerns economic activities. Not all monastic economic activities are subject to taxation according to the criteria of each country, and here again we can observe, depending on the country, exceptions made for monasteries or, on the contrary, an alignment with the general system. Monasteries in Europe generally pay tax on the income from their lucrative activities. Some monastic activities, such as the guesthouses in France, are not lucrative. This means that the communities do not pay tax on this income but must submit to the rules of non-lucrative activities, which notably require not having a set price and not advertising. For this

28  Models of monastic economy reason, French monasteries do not give an exact price for hospitality, but a price range where one leaves what he wants, because it is in truth a gift. According to the chartered accountant of the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille, the Mass fees are not taxable for tax purposes either. Social contributions: By becoming a monk or a nun, an individual chooses to step outside the networks of society and opts for a radically alternative life. He extracts himself – or tries to extract himself – from the systems of the society to which he belongs. This independence from society defines what Max Weber called the asceticism that refuses the world: Concentration upon the actual pursuit of salvation may entail a formal withdrawal from the ‘world’: from social and psychological ties with the family, from the possession of worldly goods, and from political, economic, artistic, and erotic activities — in short, from all creaturely interests. One with such an attitude may regard any participation in these affairs as an acceptance of the world, leading to alienation from God. This is ‘world-rejecting asceticism’ (weltablehnende Askese). (Weber 1978, p. 542) However, monastics are also reintegrated into social systems through obligations imposed on them by the state. Assignment to social contributions thus reintegrates monks and nuns into the social system, representing not only costs for the communities but also income, especially for the older communities. Depending on the country, however, not all monastics are assigned to social contributions in the same way. For instance, in France, they have been affiliated to a special regime of the state since 1979. In 1968, the Saint-Martin mutual insurance company for religious brothers and sisters and priests was created. Then in 1979, came the obligation for all members of the clergy to contribute to CAMAC for sickness and CAMAVIC for old age (these two funds merged in 1999 to take the name of CAVIMAC4). The obligation to pay social security contributions, especially when it is compulsory, puts a strain on the budget of communities, which then have to generate income above what would be required for their daily subsistence. In 2005, these costs represented 11% of the budget of the Abbey of La Pierre-qui-Vire in France. In the French Benedictine monastery of Rosheim in 2015, health insurance contributions represented 7.8% of total expenditure and old-age contributions 6.5%. In Poland, monks and nuns also have to pay social contributions, which, according to a monk in the Jedrzejów monastery, represents a significant expenditure, even though pensions are a source of revenue due to the age of the community. In Italy, on the other hand, monastic communities are not subject to social security contributions but receive the minimum state pension. Much of the divergence between

Models of monastic economy  29 French and Italian monasteries in terms of economic organisation is due to this primary difference. In other countries, such as Germany, monks are not subject to social security contributions but choose to contribute to a mutual insurance company for their health and pension costs. In Africa, social security systems are not very well developed and few local monks and nuns make contributions, especially for retirement. Health insurance is often taken out, however, to reduce health costs while allowing monastics to be sent to good hospitals. Legal system for the internal functioning of monastic economic activities: The legal system of economic activities also has a direct influence on monastic activities, whether or not it contributes to the secularisation of the monastic economy. These factors participate in the quotidianisation of the economy in the sense that it becomes integrated by necessity into the systems of society. In this sense, it loses part of its charisma and utopia. Quotidianisation of monastic charisma comes not only from the internal evolution of the charisma but also from the external society, which assimilates the charismatic community into its legal systems. Quotidianisation refers to the integration of charisma in daily life, especially within the economic dimension. Commenting on Max Weber, Jean-Pierre Grossein explains that ‘the notion of ‘Alltag’ (daily life) does not have a negative connotation but designates the system of daily life, where the ordinary activity of people takes place, especially economic activity’ (Grossein, in Weber 1996, p. 123). In this sense, the monastic economy is not independent from the economy of the world, but rather it depends on its legal frameworks. A monk from Camaldoli Monastery in Italy explains: ‘We are subject to the law, to the normal fiscal norms, like all businesses’ (03.2007). The monastic organisation is usually divided into different legal entities, with the monastic community on one side and economic activities on the other. This separation of religious and economic entities is one of the essential elements of the monastic organisational chart and is mainly intended to protect the community in the event of an economic crisis. This separation is not yet widely applied in Western African monasteries, but convincing the communities to do so is one of the objectives of the auditor I met. The same monk from Camaldoli presents the economic structure of the monastery: Let me explain: we are the general house, the organization, with a non-commercial branch, which would be the family, the monks, everything to do with maintenance, everything that concerns the life of the monks in particular. And there is a second branch of accounting which is the commercial activity. We, within the administrative office, have two distinct accounts. The accounting of the family and the accounting of the commercial activities. For this, there are two types of invoices, the invoices related to the monastic life and the invoices

30  Models of monastic economy related to each activity. Each commercial activity has then subdivided cost centers and product centers. (Camaldoli 03.2007) This flow chart can be found in most European monasteries. However, there are differences in the organisation of the profit-making activities, which can either be grouped together in the same company or can each be a separate commercial company (Figure 2.2). The separation of the economic and domestic entities proves that the monastic economy is not a domestic economy, if we mean domestic economy as ‘intra-family exchanges with all their diversity (within a household, between several households and between family generations), within a larger whole, the domestic economy, i.e. the production, distribution and circulation of goods and services outside the market and outside institutions’ (Gramain et al. 2005, p. 467). More precisely, the domestic economy is a separate entity from the productive economy. However, monasteries try to opt for legal forms that best allow the economy and the monastic utopia to coincide. The monastery of La Pierre-qui-Vire in France provides an interesting example of this case. At the time of my first survey in 2005, the community had just changed the legal form of their economic activities so that they would better correspond to the religious vows. In the old society, each professed member owned a share of the company. This was in contradiction to the vow of poverty, of dispossession, that the monk had just taken. We are in the process of changing because there is a certain incoherence between what we are from a religious point of view, what we commit ourselves to in relation to the possession of goods. By religious profession we commit ourselves to not owning anything and then we have hardly made profession to commit ourselves to that when the cellarer tells us ‘I will give you money, you will be the owner of shares in a commercial company’. (Bursar, France, 11.2005)

Community

Salaries

Economic companies

royalties

Donations

Guesthouse

Pensions

Shop

Figure 2.2 Flow chart of European monasteries.

Activity 1

Activity 2……

Models of monastic economy  31 The change is therefore in favour of a free universal society, which allows the application of the support value where the income will go directly to the community without passing through the individuals. The legal status of religious congregations differs from country to country. For instance, in France, the law of 1 July 1901 provides religious communities with legal state authorisation to enjoy all the rights attached to a fully legal entity, comparable to public utility associations. This is a derogatory regime within the common law of associations. The dissolution of a legally recognised congregation is in this case subject to state intervention. According to the list of monasteries published in 2007 by the Fondation des monastères (Foundation of Monasteries), 189 of the 316 monasteries listed are legally recognised. Legal recognition is encouraged by the Conference of Major Superiors and by the auditors of the communities, not least because being legally recognised makes it possible for monasteries to receive donations and legacies in their own name. When they are not recognised, the communities encourage naming the Foundation of Monasteries as a legatee, which then takes care of paying most of the money to the community. The issue of legal recognition of communities thus has a direct impact on their economy. In Benin, a monk explains: Something that we are also considering is to have a trading house based in Cotonou collect all our products. That is, we don’t take care of the sale. … We wanted to go in this direction, but we were blocked by administrative problems because until now we have not had a legal status. We submitted the papers more than two years ago and since then it’s been slow going. In order to work with a trading company, we need to have our own legal status. We are blocked. (Fr. Claude, Kokoubou, 03.2019) The non-legal status of religious communities underlines their extramundane nature and a certain refusal to compromise with legal reality. However, it also reduces their economic capacity, which requires acceptance of the current legal framework in order to flourish. b Origin of the differences In general, the differences observed in the model of monastic economy have their origins in the religious and political history of the society in which the monastic community lives, especially as regards the suppression and conservation of property. I am not going to detail here the monastic history of all the countries studied, but I shall take some ideal-typical cases. French monasteries were subjected to two rounds of suppression, the first of which was during the French Revolution and the second during the 19th century, which led to the loss of their hereditaments and property holdings. In November 1789, the State abolished religious orders, monastic vows

32  Models of monastic economy were prohibited and the property of congregations was confiscated. This suppression also dissociated the monasteries from their parishes, and the latter did not return to the care of the monastic communities. The second suppression is known as the expulsion of the congregations and took place in 1880 and 1886. This one concerned only male congregations which were not authorised by the State. The expelled monks sometimes found refuge with neighbours in the vicinity, such as the Benedictines of Solemes, who discreetly returned to the convent buildings once tensions had subsided (Hasquenoph 2009, p. 1099). Other communities went into exile abroad, notably in Belgium. At the end of the 19th century, after the Revolution, monastic life was re-founded by priests – there were no longer monks and nuns alive – who had a very romantic idea of monastic life in the Middle Ages (Hervieu-Léger 2017). These different factors – loss of heritage, the romantic ideal of manual labour – explain the basis of the French monastic economy, which is centred on handwork and productive activities. In addition to this is the so-called ‘revelation of the congregations billion’, which occurred in the context of an investigation preparatory to the 1901 law and which evaluated the market value of the buildings owned or occupied religious orders on 1 January 1900 at 1,071,775 francs. The anticlericals spoke of the ‘peril’ represented by ‘a growing mainmorte which threatens the principle of the circulation of goods’ (Sorel 2003, p. 69). The property of the congregations was seen as an immobilisation of wealth that would harm the national economy. As a result, the wealth of religious communities in France is still considered to be non-legitimate, especially if it does not come from the direct productive work of religious communities. In Austria, on the other hand, in the framework of the Enlightenment, Emperor Joseph II, following the theories of the French economist Quesnay, enacted a law in 1780 to eliminate all religious communities which had no ‘useful’ activity for society (Schmitz 1960, p. 133). As a consequence, Austrian monasteries, including monasteries which were part of the Austrian Empire at the time, such as parts of Poland and the Czech Republic, opened schools and began to work in parishes, while they also received new parishes from the state. The suppression of the monasteries was suspended in 1788, and in 1790 Emperor Leopold II returned the administration of their property to them. As a result, the monasteries still have their historical heritage from which they derive most of their income. This discrepancy in history is directly reflected in the activities of the monasteries today. 30% of monasteries in Austria are currently running a school and at Kremsmünster Abbey for instance, 54% of the monks work in a parish (Jonveaux 2018b, p. 58). However, only 48.9% of monasteries in Austria have a shop. If comparing only the Benedictines, 60.9% of the monasteries in Austria have a shop, while in France it is 78.6%. The difference in the type of economy, between the economy of internal production which requires trade and the economy of heritage, which is deployed in other channels, is visible here.

Models of monastic economy  33 In Poland, monasteries were not closed during communism, but their properties were nationalised. They were actually subjected to suppression before Communism, in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the restoration occurred in the 19th and more especially 20th century (Jewdokimow 2020, p. 63). The suppression followed the partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungary Empire in 1772. The territories ruled by the Austrian Empire were confronted with the politics of Emperor Joseph II. The biggest part of the restoration of other religious orders happened after the World War I (Górniak-Kocikowska 2016, p. 163). From an economic point of view, monasteries did not have the freedom of self-determination towards their properties. A text of 1950 stipulates: ‘The use of the order’s assets is subject to approval by the state. If approval is denied, the assets are forfeited to the state’ (Kloczowski 1983, p. 70). In spite of this legal situation, communities could find ways to cover their daily necessities. As the bursar of Jędrzejów explains: Politically it has been more difficult, but economically it was easier. It was easier because we were independent in terms of economy. We had this farm and the communist reality, you know, having a farm, having your own product, was something very good, because the market was very restricted. It was a stable market, so there were no products on the market. […] Also, we could have loans, but we did not have to pay and right now they do not. Right now, the problem is that the political climate has changed but not the economic one, this is quite different because if you receive some money, you have to give it back […]. So, it was more difficult politically, than economically… (Bursar, Poland, 05.2019) For him, the situation concerning the farm was actually better than today. As agriculture is a traditional activity of monks and especially of Cistercian monks, the community of Jędrzejów could find an activity which corresponded to the political situation and to their own vocation. However, the fate of monasteries in communist countries was not the same everywhere. Thus, in the Czech Republic, monasteries were closed during communism, but since 2012 their properties, such as forests, have started being returned to them. ‘In 1949 the communist state expropriated churches and religious life was strictly controlled. Until 1990, consecrated life was illegal in Czechoslovakia’ (Spalová & Jonveaux 2018, p. 271). The resumption of monastic life is therefore still recent, and the restitution of property has not been completed. The Czech Republic is therefore still in a phase of refoundation. To sum up, the countries being studied here are affected differently by the weight of history, depending on whether or not the suppressions had a direct impact on the activity of the monastic communities, whether the properties were restituted or not and how recent these suppressions were. In the case

34  Models of monastic economy of recent restitutions, this implies significant investment to restart economic activities. This centuries-long history, however, does not weigh heavily on the monasteries founded in Africa in the 20th century, or at least in part because their foundation was also integrated into colonial history. During the great wave of foundations in the early 1960s, the founding communities brought with them the model influenced by the history of their country. In this respect, it is not valid to consider that monasticism imported into Africa is a European model but rather a model of the founding country, France or Germany for example.

Notes 1 International notation for Rule of Benedict, chapter. 2 Founded in 1989, the Monastic Association brings together nearly 230 monastic communities, mainly in France. Its aim is to help communities with economic issues. 3 http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/671228/Grundbesitz_Wemgehoert-Oesterreich [consulted on 6.02.2022]. 4 Caisse d’Assurance Vieillesse, Maladie et Invalidité des Cultes.

3

Work and prayer in monastic life

The production of resources, if it does not come from gifts or patrimony, requires work, which is primarily carried out by the monks and nuns themselves. Monastic work was originally born out of the immediate need to meet primary biological needs, such as food, clothing and, depending on the region, heating. Although historical developments have in some cases separated the functions of labour activity per se and the production of resources for the community, work became inseparable from monastic life very early on. However, working contradicts the original dream of living as if in Paradise, detached from material realities, and its justification within the monastic framework remains necessary. The first monks who wished to live the Gospel as fully as possible found themselves confronted with two seemingly incompatible exhortations from St. Paul: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat’ (2 Th. 3, 10) and ‘Pray continually!’ (1 Th. 5, 17). The difficult balance between work and prayer is therefore a key point in monastic organisation. The new characteristics of work or the demography of communities challenge this balance, which must be constantly reinvented. The study of work is not a diversion in the analysis of the monastic economy because in most economic models it is at the origin of production, and in addition to this this, the economic activities of monasteries are determined by the meaning given to work.

1 Necessity of work in monastic life? a Sense of work in monastic life As already stated, the first monks of the desert were tempted by continuous contemplation and therefore not working. They wanted to live like angels in the Kingdom of God, where there is no need to work. According to Max Weber, ‘labor was something which distracted the monk from concentration upon the contemplated value of salvation’ (1946, p. 422). But the need for work in monastic life arises from the necessity of material and especially biological sustenance, from which monastics cannot escape. It is reported that some mystics – especially women (Bynum 1994) – could live only from

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-4

36  Work and prayer in monastic life the Eucharist, but they remained exceptions. A nun in Poland says: ‘Now if we were waiting for charity, we would probably die of hunger, so this work is necessary for life’. The work appears to be a necessity but conflicts with the coherent system of the monastic utopia. In order to be integrated into monastic life without endangering it, work must therefore be justified according to monastic criteria. In reality, work in monastic life occupies a different place according to the spiritual tradition to which the monastery belongs. The example that has most influenced the tradition is that of the Benedictine rule, which links work to the definition of the monk. ‘When they live by the labour of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks’ (RB, 48). The response to this tension is different in orders founded for women, such as the Poor Clares as we saw before, where the main source of income was the dowries that the sisters brought upon entering monastic life. Living on gifts can be another kind of response to the need for sustenance and perfect contemplation, but it does not mean that the nuns do not work, if only housework and garden maintenance. As the material justification for the necessity of work would be insufficient to integrate it fully into the monastic project, this justification must be associated inseparably with the spiritual justification within monastic arguments. As Jacques Dubois notes, ‘no rule excites people to work because of the need to get something to eat’ (1996, p. 78). Defined as a spiritual and ascetic activity, work can take its full place in monastic life. The highest justification is to make the work itself a prayer. For instance, a Benedictine sister in Karen (Nairobi), who is working as the porter of the monastery, explains: Monastic work becomes a prayer in a way that this one for me, I don’t choose any kind of work given to me. You know when work becomes a prayer is when I do it with love. Even washing a toilet and I wash it with love, that is a prayer, that is a song of love. […] So, I do it with love, different from when I do it as a command, when I don’t have a choice. But willingly and joyfully doing it, it becomes an expression of love which leads to prayer and my work does not disconnect me with God but it unites me even more. […] All this work, I will not separate the work from my relationship with God. I come, I bring them together, my work becomes a prayer. (Sr. Louise, Kenya, 02.2014) This approach developed by Sister Louise is undoubtedly the one given by the teachings of the community since Sister Bernadette from the same monastery uses the similar terms about her work in the laundry: I do it with love, not just doing it, I do it with a lot of love. Until they feel themselves that this cloth is washed with love. Even when you sweep,

Work and prayer in monastic life  37 you sweep a place with love and somebody will look at it and say ‘Yes, this was done with love’. (Sr. Bernadette, 02.2014) Making work a prayer makes it possible to reconcile the two requirements of prayer and the production of sustenance, and thus, it must become the keystone of the monastic organisation. The ascetic dimension of work has spiritual and physical dimensions. Max Weber emphasises work as a means of ascetic hygiene (Weber 1996, p. 211). It is recommended in cases of acedia (a kind of fatigue of the soul) and also allows a balance between body and soul when it comes to manual work. ‘Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labour as well as for prayerful reading’ (RB 48, 1). Saint Benedict in fact enjoins the monks to work in order not to fall into idleness, but it is not only the work itself that will combat idleness but the precise structuring of time and the alternation of activities. Indeed, Michel Foucault sees the strict organisation of monastic time as a pillar of discipline (Foucault 1975, p. 180). Work is also the bodily counterpart of prayer. This dimension of physical balance appears in the surveys to be all the more important for young monks and nuns who need to exercise. The masters and mistresses of novices emphasise the importance of physical work for young monastics. In Jędrzejów, the master of novices says that they do physical work to this end. Also, in Agbang, Togo, postulants and novices work in the fields around the monastery and tend the vegetable garden, while the professed monks are busy with other tasks. As a last example, a monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire in France said: ‘We have a young brother in our house, we bought him a chainsaw, so that he can cut down trees. He really needs it, for his balance, otherwise he would not have stayed’ (Fr. Bertrand, 11.2005). However, we will see below that this physical balance is challenged by new forms of work, especially computer work. The legitimisation of work by assimilating it to the very identity of the monk, found in the Benedictine rule, leads to an obligation for monastics to work, whatever the type of work or the profitability, because the aim is not only economic. Every monastic must have a laborious activity, whatever their faculties and potential profitability. Unlike a lay company which hires according to its needs, monastic activity is subject to two constraints: to use the labour force already present and to aim for the maximum level of employment for the community. A monastic who is neither competent nor efficient cannot be dismissed. However, in order to avoid the labour requirement becoming an economic handicap, communities with productive economies often keep simple work in handicraft mode when it could be mechanised, to allow the elders to work. The sorting of hosts among the French Carmelites or the packaging of cheese among the Trappists at

38  Work and prayer in monastic life Tamié is a job reserved for elderly monks or nuns to enable them to continue working. A Benedictine sister from Jouarre in France also points out to what extent work belongs to the identity of the monastic, also for the older ones: A life of work, a life of work and prayer. […] And it is very beautiful to see that the very old sisters do more than just a simple job, and they continue to come to the workshops to glaze the little santons. There is one, if she didn’t come, it would be a depression. A fall. That is the problem with old people’s homes where people find themselves without any activity from one day to the next. […] You have to feel that you are still useful, that you can do a little something. Or else, there is a 94-year-old sister who does peeling every morning. Peeling apples for the community, so that keeps them going. (Sr. Sabine, France, 08.2012) As Benoît-Joseph Pons notes: ‘The monastic economy is a challenge to a certain worldly vision of retirees as inactive people dependent on society’ (Pons 2020: online). Making work a category of monastic identity not only allows it to be smoothly integrated into the monastic utopia but also presents challenges from an economic and organisational point of view since everyone must have a job regardless of their skills and age. b Specificities of work in monastic life To what extent does work in monastic life have specificities compared to work in society? To answer this question, we must first define work in society. Professional work is associated in society with production (of a good or service) and payment for that production. As François Vatin points out: ‘To put it bluntly, if we pay people, it is so that they ‘produce’’ (Vatin 2008, p. 180). In the case where monastics are engaged in internal work in the monastery (not paid work outside), there is a disconnection of the link between work and salary. In this respect, the monastery effectively fits into the concept of the totalitarian institution described by Goffman: ‘Totalitarian institutions are incompatible with the basic structure of our society: the work/wage relationship and the family’ (1968, p. 53). Does this mean that the work of monks and nuns is not paid? An illusion seems to prevail that the monastics have unlimited free time to practise their primary and radical commitment to God. A French monk I met in Rome in 2021 told me that the groups who ask to hear the testimony of one of the brothers pay neither for his time nor for the cost of the room. They do not take into account that the time the monk gives to their group is time deducted from his productive work. Similarly, the French YouTube influencer Tibo InShape, who made a video in a nuns’ monastery in 2021, asks them if they are ‘volunteers’. However, as seen above, an income is essential for the livelihood of the community, whether or not it is

Work and prayer in monastic life  39 in the form of a wage. The systems of remuneration for the monastics’ work depend on the country. In France, for example, legislation requires that employees of commercial companies receive a salary, but communities consider that receiving a salary in a personal account would go against the vow of poverty. To get around this, the so-called ‘support value’ was introduced in France, which allows wages to be paid directly to the community and not to the individual. This system has the effect of disconnecting work from wages at the individual level: ‘The notion of support value makes it possible, as far as possible, to respect the community dimension of the remunerative activities of a congregational community, when its members actually work together’ (Durand 1999). In the words of the La Martinière circular of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, which formalised the support value in 1966, it ‘does not in any way have the character of a salary’. There are three reasons for this assertion: it is not paid personally to the worker, the worker is not subordinate to the person in charge of the work, and finally, the support value does not correspond exactly to the value of the work. It is therefore ‘deemed to correspond to the expenses incurred for the support and subsistence of the clerks’. The support value is not based on the skills or qualifications of the monastics, as there are only two levels of pay, which are determined according to the actual difficulty of the work. This value does not correspond exactly to that of the labour, so the dimension of it being a transaction is eradicated. The expert accountant of Saint-Wandrille Abbey explains why educational levels are not taken into account: No, because if you do, you are closer to the commercial sector where salaries depend on the level of training and professional experience. You have a salary which is necessarily linked to that, to those criteria. So here, it is the monk, whoever the monk is, whatever his training, we start from the same level of cost. (France, 02.2005) We identify here an attempt to redefine work utopically by disconnecting it from its economic dimension. This corresponds to a direct critique of the market order from the city of inspiration as Bolstanki and Thévenot outline it: ‘Money is part of the servitude (the servitude of venal persons) from which one must free oneself in order to be in a state to receive inspiration’ (1991, p. 294). The point here is to establish a means of raising income from the commercial activities of communities that is not identifiable with a wage from the merchant city. More interestingly, this redefinition is supported and validated by the legislation of a secular state because it allowed monasteries not to pay double contributions for the monastics. This means that the utopian construction of the monastery, in that it extracts itself from the normal systems of society, nevertheless needs to be approved or enabled by the State. This corresponds to another type of integration into what Séguy calls ‘global social systems’

40  Work and prayer in monastic life (Séguy 2014, p. 287). The support value is paid directly to the community without transition through a monastic’s personal account. This is an attempt to circumvent what Max Weber calls the ‘secularising effect of possession’ (2003, p. 291) because the worker cannot theoretically create a link between his or her work and the wage that comes from it. However, the temptation of personal appropriation of income is always present in monastic life, as this interview extract shows: The relationship with money is so personalised. It is very strange… You can’t spend anything, because spending is bad, but you can’t stand not having a wallet for example. How are we going to do it if we don’t have any money? There is the opposite, ‘Oh, with all the money I earn, you can change my computer.’ That is what you hear almost like that. It is very, very hard not to personalise your income. Yes, it is very difficult. (Bursar, La Pierre-qui-Vire, 02.2006) The link between work and remuneration is therefore difficult to overcome, and even if all work is theoretically put on the same level in a community, paid or income-producing work tends to be considered as real work compared to other unpaid services. The same monk explains: There was an old brother who was put [on the mail order] to help. He is 80 years old, he had always worked in the services at our place, sewing, lingerie, and at 80 years old he was doing a job that directly brought in money. That really touched him. And he said: ‘For the first time, I am earning a living’. He didn’t realize that the work he was doing, if he wasn’t doing it, would have been done outside, it would have cost. It wasn’t the same as making something that could be sold, that would bring in money. (Bursar, La Pierre-qui-Vire, 02.2006) The above cases took place in communities with a direct production economy model, but this tension can also occur in communities where some of the monastics carry out unpaid activities in the community and others have paid jobs outside, such as teaching in a school. The differences in income generation between monks in the same community sometimes represent a challenge to the realisation of the ‘micro classless society’ of which Séguy speaks (2014, p. 305). Work in monastic life is not what determines the identity of monastics. Unlike in society, where one often presents oneself with one’s profession, monastics do not identify themselves with their regularly changing office in the community. By entering monastic life, the individual renounces other social statuses, including those defined by work and profession. Thus, Salvatore Abbruzzese speaks of the entry into religious life as a social disinvestment which is

Work and prayer in monastic life  41 the act of renouncing the social statuses held up to that moment, the social positions occupied and, consequently, the expectations that the neighbouring social world (the family, in particular, but also the group or class of origin, insofar as both are producers of a specific ethos) had cultivated with regard to the subject himself. (2000, p. 47) For instance, a young Cistercian monk in Heiligenkreuz in Austria says: At first, I am monk, I entered monastery because I want to become monk, that’s for me important. The abbot said to me that I should work in forest, then I will do it, so I do it, it is nice to do it, but when he needs me for something other, I will do something other, it is for my life and my identity is not important. […] I am monk and no forest machine. (Austria, 05.2017) Theoretically, the type of work is not what defines the monastic and offices change regularly. However, this non-attachment to the office becomes more difficult in the case of work related to a specific training, for example teaching in schools, and that related to priestly ordination.

2 The right balance between work and prayer According to Max Weber, the monk is the ‘human being who lives rationally, who works methodically and by rational means toward a goal, namely the future life’ (Weber 2021, p. 164). As we have seen, work is part of the definition of the monk or nun, but it is not limited to a specific job that would be constitutive of his or her identity. In spite of the legitimisation of work through its integration in the definition of the monastic, the balance between work and prayer remains difficult at both the personal and community levels. This difficulty seems to show that the integration of work into monastic life is never perfect and therefore that work remains a disruptive element. a Time balance in monastic life The traditional contemplative life is punctuated by times of community prayer (up to 7 per day), personal prayer (lectio divina), work and rest. As a Polish Trappist explains it: Ora et labora. […] In this principle not ‘ora’ is important, not ‘labora’ is important, but it is ‘et’. Because a monk cannot pray too much, because he will stop working, and he cannot work too much, because he will stop praying. That is why saint Benedict in his rule writes that our day

42  Work and prayer in monastic life is divided into these three stages, eight hours of work, eight hours of prayer, eight hours for rest. (Jędrzejów, Poland, 05.2019) The prayers are at fixed times during the day, and work is supposed to fit in between them. The first tension is observed in the monastic timetable when the rhythm of work conflicts with that of prayer. The alternation of services and offices makes it difficult to interrupt work. This is one of the reasons why the Benedictine monks of Saint-Wandrille in France sold their wax production: the process was quite long, and if they had to stop for prayer while working, the wax would freeze in the pipes, leading to several hours of cleaning the machine before work could recommence. The interruption of work for prayer – theoretically as soon as the bell rings (RB 43, 1) – is a characteristic of traditional monastic work that affirms the preeminence of prayer. The distance from the workplace increases these tensions, as shown by the Benedictine monk in Plankstetten, Germany, who is responsible for the farm and has to travel back and forth between the farm and the monastery: It is a big gap, yes, a tension. In Saint Benedict’s time, it was simpler because everyone worked together for sustenance, in the garden, farming, and the rhythm of the year… Saint Benedict lived in a natural rhythm, in summer he worked more and less in winter. Our schedule and prayers are a compromise. And I, as a monk, and as a farmer, I have to see here how I fit into this system, it is always important that my prayer life is less intensive in the summer, linked to nature, but in autumn I make up for it. And it is always, back and forth! (laughs) Five to six times a day! (laughs) And… each time changing! (Br. Michael, Germany, 11.2007) The hiring of lay employees solves this tension to some extent. At Tamié Abbey, the incompatibility of farm hours and monastic hours was overcome in this way: Precisely, if we have staff, it’s because there are times when we can’t… For the collection of milk, because we collect milk in the vicinity, at that time, the monks are in church. So, we have two drivers who collect the milk. (Br. Marc, Bursar, 10.2008) Similarly, in the shop at Saint-Wandrille Abbey, when a customer asks the employee why there is not a monk at the checkout, he replies: ‘They go to prayer, there’s a factory up there, for the reception, someone is needed! That’s it!’ (France, 10.2004).

Work and prayer in monastic life  43 Another solution is to work on the work-prayer balance itself by reducing the number of prayers per day. This mainly concerns communities that are not engaged in productive activities in the monastery but in tertiary work that brings them into contact with the laity, e.g. school or pastoral work in the parishes. I calculated that Austrian Benedictine male monasteries have an average of 5 services per day (between 4 and 7), while French male monasteries have an average of 6.6 per day (between 5 and 8) (Jonveaux 2018b, p. 57). Despite the reduction in the number of prayers, it is not always possible for the monastics, to come regularly to the services, as it depends on their work. A monk from Seitenstetten in Austria who teaches at the monastery school and is chaplain in a parish explains: No, no, I can’t. I never go at lunchtime because I am at school, because I teach. I can always be there in the morning. I try to be consistent about that, it is also our custom once a week everyone takes a day off and can sleep in. But I try to aim for the morning and in the evening, I usually go out for vespers. If I have evening mass in the parish at 19, today I have mass at 19, I can’t come to compline. (Austria, 06.2012) Work activities, especially when they are associated with lay time and not only with monastic time, can therefore prevent monastics from participating in all the offices. Similarly, the rhythm of the night services kept in some French monasteries does not fit in with certain important workloads. The guestmaster of the Trappist abbey of Mont-des-Cats in France explains: At the moment, I don’t go to the night service anymore, because I am too busy. That is the danger with us of being too busy. The Abbot prefers that I continue my work without going to the night service. I can’t do that anymore. I went for a long time, but I often went back to bed afterwards. (Fr. Jacques-Henri, France, 04.2014) In this extract the arbitration is pronounced by the abbot in favour of work – which has a pastoral dimension since it concerns hospitality – and not in favour of prayer. In general, it can be observed that communities that have tasks integrated into the lay rhythm of time, which may involve evening meetings, start their monastic day later. On average, men’s monasteries in Austria have their first service in the morning at about 6 a.m., while it is at about 5 a.m. in men’s monasteries in France (Jonveaux 2018b). The prior of the Trappist monastery of Kokoubou in Benin, however, insists on the importance of finding an economic activity that does not impinge on the prayer life and on protecting the spiritual life of the brothers involved in this activity:

44  Work and prayer in monastic life It is not good when it is an activity that would prevent us from going to prayer. Before, we used to fight a lot against that. […] On the other hand, working with bees is a good activity because we harvest honey and then we sell it at a high price. But it is difficult and demanding because it is night work. Does a brother do it himself or an employee? We have an employee. But he doesn’t do it alone. […] As it is a night job, if the brothers go there, they must sacrifice the vigil. […] So much so that I have said several times, this is not for the monks! (laughs) If there were one worker or two workers, we would tell them to do the work. That is what would be good (Prior, Benin, 03.2019). What often appears to be traditional work for monks, because beehives have always been part of monasteries, originally for wax, is in fact work that conflicts with the monastic schedule. The employment of salaried workers allows the monastics to maintain the balance of their rhythm of life, but as we shall see, it also poses other challenges to the monastic institution. The integration of work into monastic life is thus organised around tension between respecting the prayer times and finding remunerative work that fit into this tight schedule. b Body, work and stress As already mentioned, work in monastic life has the function of enabling balance through the involvement of the body. The relationship with the body is therefore essential in the monastic approach to work, which recommends manual work that involves the body while leaving the mind free to pray. And yet the tertiarisation of the economy and mechanisation do not spare monasteries, where physical activity is an ever-decreasing part of economic activity. The sedentarisation of work, particularly through computerisation, has also entered the monasteries. As a 70-year-old monk at La Pierre-qui-Vire points out: At the moment, it is certain that the main work in a monastery, or at least work that is becoming very important, is computer work, so it is very sedentary work, no physical effort. It doesn’t have the balance value of real manual work at all. Tertiarisation is coming to the monasteries with less and less work related to the physical world. Originally, monastic work, together with agriculture, was the primary domain. But parallel to the growth of tertiary and sedentary work, there are trends towards a return to manual forms of work, justified by an ever-greater appeal to the tradition of the Desert Fathers (Abbruzzese 1995, p. 36). The orientation towards purely manual work

Work and prayer in monastic life  45 and renouncing mechanisation would not, however, in most cases allow sufficient profitability to ensure the community’s living costs. Consequently, the monastics set up manual sectors either in addition to other activities or within an activity itself. For example, the silk-screen printing monk at La Pierre-qui-Vire has chosen not to mechanise the entire production of cards: In making silk-screen cards, I have chosen that the folding is for the time being manual. … For me this is inspired by the Desert Fathers. The Desert Fathers did things differently, they made wicker baskets…. These are small manual tasks that keep the hands busy, that are not too time-consuming and that allow you to meditate, think, reflect […]. When you fold for half an hour, you sit down, only your hands are doing the work, so there you go. […] Let’s say that there is an energy that is spent at certain times of the day and to have a very simple, manual job, I find it balancing. (Fr. Christian, France, 11.2005) This manual activity only aims to reintegrate factors of physical balance and unity with prayer that other economic work does not allow for. Here we see that the balance of monastic life takes precedence over the objective of productivity. The Westmalle farm is an example of a manual sector added to the other economic activities solely to establish manual work, while subsistence comes from the brewery where lay people work. The community of Farfa, Italy, maintains a herb garden and a small farm to perpetuate tradition and to offer manual work, while their activities are mainly intellectual: We want to recover this dimension of manual work. That is why we have a garden. […] It is a memorial recovery, there is not really a programme. It is not really a production to sell outside. But the garden has advantages. We do a little bit of breeding, but it is for internal use. It is a way to get some manual labour back. (Prior, Farfa, Italy, 06.2007) Similarly, in Steinerkirchen, Austria, the sisters enjoy manual work in the garden: I think it is very healthy too. (laughter) I also need something physical. I also work in the garden at the weekend, tending some plants or something, I also need to have a physical job. That is very healthy for me; that is a balance, I need that. (11.2012) This activity, although considered as work judging by the words used, is more a leisure activity to maintain a balance than a means of production.

46  Work and prayer in monastic life At  Plankstetten Abbey, the brother with the role as bursar carries out beekeeping, which allows him to find a balance with the function of bursar: These are two small enterprises of the monastery [beekeeping and brewing], which have almost no economic significance, but beekeeping has a long tradition dating back to the 12th century and for me it was important to continue this tradition. I took over the beekeeping with another older brother who had already been doing it for 30 years. […] And I believe that bees belong sentimentally to the monastery, the Benedictine knowledge of beekeeping is important. (Br. Matthias, Plankstetten, Germany, 11.2007) While the bursar’s office is an activity that can be particularly difficult to integrate into monastic life because of its relationship with money, the beekeeping activity makes it possible to rediscover a religious approach to the monk’s work, including the relationship with nature and the protection of creation in a context where bees are in danger of becoming extinct. Others, however, whether at community or on an individual level, accept the separation of the economy and bodily activities, moving towards physical activities that are officially no longer considered as work but as leisure or sport. At this point, a split is made between the original concept of monastic work, where bodily balance was achieved through work, and physical activity for its own sake, which was not foreseen in the original rules. A Cistercian monk from Heiligenkreuz who has been offering spiritual and sports weeks for young men since 2010 – body building and prayer – explains how he gave up looking for physical activity as part of his work and instead turned to sport: I am a great propagator of sport because I think that we have been living through a historical break for 100 years, that there is no longer any manual work. […] We are in the 21st century, everything I could do manually, we can do better, faster and cheaper with machines. […] When I was a priest, I liked to do gardening. It was a small garden; I didn’t have a machine. And when I returned to the monastery where everything is much bigger, I asked to work in the garden. Father Alban put a spade in my hands and I dug all afternoon in the sun in the garden. It was an area about twice the size of this room, and it took me four hours. I was happy, it was beautiful, I had worked, I had breathed, but the next day our gardener came with a machine and did in 5 minutes what I had done in four hours and the whole field. And so, I thought, this is not good. It’s frustrating. […] We are a psychomotor unit, and we see that people who sit in front of books, or a computer have an effect on the psyche. The endorphins are no longer there. And when you go for a run and come back an hour later, you are simply another man. I think it

Work and prayer in monastic life  47 is good for the future of the Church if monks and priests also invest in their bodies. Sport is very, very, very important to me. (Austria, 07.2012) According to this interview extract, the option of sport is based on an indissoluble link between work and profitability, which is not the case with the other examples given, where a part of the work can be consciously kept in manual mode for physical balance. Its lesser profitability does not disqualify it because of its bodily value and the fact that it is limited so as not to jeopardise the economic activity. However, the increasing presence of sport in monastic life and of sports halls in monasteries shows as much a lesser involvement of the body in work as a new awareness of the body (Jonveaux 2018a). Monastic work was originally developed as remunerative work that involved the body. In the face of increasing mechanisation and tertiarisation, the monasteries offer two types of response: either the conservation of the relationship between the work and the body, which translates into the reinstatement of manual work that is not necessarily profitable or productive, or the conservation of the relationship between work and remuneration by finding the bodily equilibrium in other activities such as sport. Either way, the ternary relationship of work-body involvement – remuneration is broken, and leisure makes its appearance either as another activity or as work that in fact becomes leisure. Tertiarisation and new technologies also have the effect of making traditional monastic forms of work more complex, which can become an obstacle for the communities when they are the main workforce. Indeed, it can happen that monastics close down production because it becomes too complex for them, as was the case of the Zodiaque publishing house at La Pierrequi-Vire in 1995. A survey conducted by the French association Monastic in 20071 also identified, among the main constraints encountered in development, difficulties linked to technical installations for 39% of monasteries, more so for the nuns than for the monks. This can lead to a loss of what seems to characterise monastic life from the outside: peace and quiet. A brother from La Pierre-qui-Vire explains: Next to our monastic life, we are at the risk of everyone today, which is to be stressed. Because there are so many things, (laughs) so many demands, so many things, the computer, it is all the same, you can’t do anything stupid. (Br. Christian, silk-screen printer, 11.2005) Just as it appeared in the world of secular work, the term stress also appears in the discourse of monks. According to the former novice master of the same monastery:

48  Work and prayer in monastic life We are caught up in this stress with automatic machines of course. The slightest hitch means we are not available because we lose a lot. Before reaping by hand, there was more physical fatigue, but much less stress. But now, since the automation of the curdling process, the first year they had some really difficult moments when the machine broke down and the curds were already in the machine, what should we do? And as the machine frees us up, we can do more, we can get caught up in this spiral of activism. (Novice master, La Pierre-qui-Vire, France, 05.2011) The increase in the pace of work due to the need for profitability and the decrease in the available workforce lead to stressful situations. The rational organisation of monastic life had integrated the dimension of physical fatigue as an essential counterpart to contemplation, which sleep would repair. Nervous fatigue was not taken into account by the presupposition of its non-existence. As in society, ‘legitimately recognised fatigue is linked to wear and tear at work, which justifies retirement as a well-deserved rest, not nervous fatigue or stress’ (Detrez 2002, p. 85). The appearance of this new type of fatigue leads to the introduction of a third pole in the monastic decision-making between prayer and work, which will be that of rest and in particular the increase in personal holiday time in the majority of communities (Jonveaux 2011a, pp. 299–300). c Between priests and monks: Which identity? ‘The ancient tradition does not see the exercise of the monastic priesthood as work; this medieval theme is not attested to in ancient monasticism’ (Grégoire 1991, p. 136). Indeed, the first monastic rule, that of Pachomius, affirms on the one hand the need to work in order to survive independently of society, and on the other hand, the refusal to have ‘clerics among the monks in order to avoid jealousy and vain glory’ (Cousin 1956, p. 51). Benedict provides for the ordination of monks only for the direct sacramental needs of the community and they are not exempt from manual labour. ‘Just because he is a priest, he may not therefore forget the obedience and discipline of the rule but must make more and more progress towards God’ (RB 62, 4). For Benedict, priesthood is not a job, but a service to the community. With the reform of Benedict of Aniane in France (747–821) and the many additions he made to the office, monks became more and more detached from the manual work of the monastery. From the 11th century onwards, the monk’s priesthood began to be seen as (remunerative) work, and this took precedence over worldly jobs in the division of labour. Developments throughout history have either given more weight to the priestly mission of monks or, on the contrary, have gradually relieved them of this role, depending upon the country. In France, for example, the Revolution which abolished the monasteries cut the link between them and

Work and prayer in monastic life  49 the parishes. When the monasteries were refounded at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, they no longer had any link with the parishes. As already mentioned, the reforms of Emperor Joseph II of Austria between 1781 and 1788 onwards strengthened the pastoral service of monks in the parishes in the whole of the Austrian Empire, thus also in the parts of Poland (for instance Jędrzejów) and the Czech Republic (for instance Vyšší Brod and Břevnov) that were part of the Empire at that time. With the new division of parishes under Joseph II, the monasteries were obliged to look after additional parishes. The Schotten Abbey in Vienna, for example, received seven new parishes, Göttweig nine and Melk 11. In 1966 Joseph Wodka noted: ‘At present in no country are the religious orders so intensively involved in parish pastoral care as in Austria in particular’ (Wodka 1966, p. 108). The Austrian monasteries have integrated this service in the parishes into their own identity. It is not uncommon for half of the community to work in the parishes and some of them also live in the parish and come to the monastery for important feasts or encounters with the community. For the generation that entered after World War II, one motivation for becoming a monk was often because it offered the possibility to become a priest while having the support of a community. Other monasteries outside Austria, however, find it more difficult to integrate parish work into their identity. The prior of Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic says: ‘It is not Cistercian to have pastoral work outside the monastery. One must pray in the monastery like Bernard of Clairvaux’ (04.2017). He therefore refuses to take on parish duties. The Cistercian monks of Jędrzejów also believe that parish work does not belong to their vocation but consider it as a consequence or even as an accident of history (Jonveaux 2021a, p. 51). The master of novices says: Our congregation says that pastoral care is an important element of our vocation, but not essential. We took up the parishes properly for various historical reasons and somewhere in the past in the Enlightment due to the fact that we could actually protect ourselves from total liquidation […] In contrast, parishes are just such a dissonance in our monastery. (05.2019) According to another monk, it looks like a fatal occurrence in history that they accepted parishes: ‘It just happened’. It is interesting to note in these interviews that the monks do not try to justify this situation from a monastic point of view but accept that it does not belong to the monastic project. In this sense, they recognise that monastic life is also the fruit of social and political situations. Pastoral work in the parishes raises the question about how it is possible to live as a monk and as a priest. On a personal level, the monks of Jędrzejów identify a conflict between these two identities. A monk explains that it is important for him that his vocation as a monk stays in first place: ‘First of all, we have the identity of a monk, then there

50  Work and prayer in monastic life is the priesthood, as secondary to this religious vocation […]’. For him, it is also important that becoming a priest is not automatic. ‘Unfortunately, in our Cistercian monasteries, there is a tendency to simply become a priest’. A monk of the Benedictine monastery of Praglia in Italy told me: ‘That, which the parish priest does, the monk cannot do’ (02.2007). And he added: ‘I am also a parish priest elsewhere, but it is not easy to have a job outside. It is difficult to be a priest and a monk; you need a lot of willpower’. In Italy especially, monks have to answer more and more to the demands of the Church, given that it has fewer and fewer priests. On several levels, this demand removes the monk from his closed and coherent environment. By assimilating him to the role as religious functionary, it fragments his life between times when he is a monk, according to the definition of the rule, and others when he is a priest, in charge of a parish. The situation of clerical monasticism remains at a turning point, especially with the new aspirations of the younger generation. As I have observed in Austria (Jonveaux 2018b), younger generations of monks do not always want to become priests and assume responsibility for a parish. They want to focus once again on the heart of their monastic vocation. At the same time, there are voices saying that ordination into monastic life is no longer necessarily self-evident. An abbot from a Benedictine monastery states: I see my being a monk as having a service to do for the community. Suppose I were to enter the monastery now, I would be really happy if I were a trained carpenter, that I could pursue this task in the monastery; that would be super. […] One of our friars is not ordained. He looks after the guests, organises parties and does many other things. I think that is great and wonderful. Ordination is not mandatory. (Fr. Philipp, Austria, 06.2012) The former abbot of Seckau Abbey, also in Austria, says: ‘It is almost a trend now that not all monks also become priests. But that has only been the case for a few years’ (06.2012). Among the new generation, there is a tendency to separate the identities of priest and monk. A 28-year-old monk, for example, explained that he made a conscious decision not to allow himself to be ordained as a brother, even though he had completed the necessary theological studies. I have decided not to become a priest as a monk. […] For me, there are two different vocations. On the one hand, each of us should have and cultivate the vocation to monastic life. For me, the daily hourly prayer is simply important, this structuring of the daily routine. The priesthood is then a vocation of its own, connected with parish pastoral care, which I do not aspire to for myself. (Br. Norbert, Austria, 02.2015)

Work and prayer in monastic life  51 He goes on to say that his goal would be to revalue being a brother. Nowadays, therefore, there exists a de-clericalisation of Austrian monasticism, in the sense that monks do not belong to the presbyterate. The same can be observed in Poland, where the master of novices of Jędrzejów explains: ‘Younger monks understand that the parishes disturb us in monastic life’. He identifies that older monks were often recruited with a priestly vocation, but it is no longer the case. The link between parishes and monasteries, which becomes an economic link when the work of external pastoral care is a source of income for the community, is therefore in the process of change. This also affects the identity of monastic life. This question will have to be studied once again, in about 20 years’ time, in order to measure the possible changes brought about by the new generation.

Note 1 Monastic, Enquête générale de l’automne 2007: monastères et problèmes économiques, results presented by Pierre-Yves Gomez and Renaud de Mazières.

4

Integration of economic activity into monastic life Tensions and solutions

The strategies for integrating economic activity into monastic life and the discourse of the monks and nuns suggest that the justification of economic activity and work for the mere necessity of biological subsistence is not sufficient. For this reason, it is possible to observe a number of different strategies that aim to resolve the tension between economic activity and monastic life. These strategies aim to make economic activity possible within the monastic framework as well as to protect monastic life from its ‘secularising effect’. Due to the constant difficulty in maintaining the right balance between religious and economic responsibilities, monastics must develop alternative types of economic activity.

1 Models of integration of economic activity into monastic life As stated above, carrying out economic activity is in conflict with the monastic utopia, but it is nevertheless necessary for the survival of the community. Four ideal-typical possible kinds of relationship between monastic utopia and economic activity are represented here (Figure 4.1). The first one is the negation of economic activity, which means that the monastics negate the reality of it or try to do so in order to avoid the conflict. The second one consists of keeping distance from economic activity in order to preserve the monastic utopia. The third one is the integration of economic activity into the monastic utopia. This requires a redefinition of economic activity so that it can be integrated into the monastic utopia without spoiling it. And finally, the last one is the alteration of the monastic utopia because of economic activity. This can happen when the economic activity is too prevalent in monastic life (in terms of time or preoccupation) or when it takes precedence over religious life. a Denying economic activity The first way to avoid the conflict between economic activity and the monastic way of life is the denial of the economic activity. On the individual level,

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-5

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  53

Figure 4.1 Models of relationships between monastic utopia and economic activity.

this can occur by denying the economic dimension of the work and by considering it only on a religious level. For instance, a nun in France, who was responsible for the shop, answered to the sister bursar who told her to try to make the products stand out: ‘I am not here to sell’, because the shop was also the reception. Another strategy consists in de-economising work, of removing its economic dimension and recognising only a spiritual dimension. For example, a sister says about the production of hosts: ‘It is really a service for the Church’, which makes it no longer a commercial activity. On the level of the monastery, this can occur by creating alternative spaces for gift and barter. For instance, in the Benedictine abbey of Plankstetten in Bavaria, the gardener sometimes exchanges seedlings with other farmers in the surrounding area. These para-economic practices do not involve money, just like barter in primitive societies. Some monasteries go even further and establish an economy of giving rather than bartering. The prior of Farfa Abbey in Italy explains that craftsmen sometimes render services to the monasteries, and at other times the monks give them surplus lemons or olive oil. The prior describes this arrangement as a ‘free collaboration’ which is not taught when studying economics. At first glance, it looks like a simple structure of exchange, but this is not so, because the first act is not temporally correlated to the second. It is therefore a gift, which immediately

54  Integration of economic activity into monastic life brings us back to Marcel Mauss’ system of give and take (1995). But for the prior, it is different, because it is important that the terms of the exchange do not correspond to value or equality, so it is not bartering, nor is it an increase in price; it is not a ritual gift-for-gift. This corroborates Godbout’s observation that ‘those who speak of giving today […] insist on distancing themselves from obligations, traditions, customs as obligations that oblige to give’ (Godbout 1995, p. 46). Quite simply, the craftsmen do the monastery a service, while the monks give gifts to the craftsmen. Therefore, ‘the return is also a gift’ (id., p. 50), which does not wait for a return. Thus, the prior of Farfa concludes: ‘The monastic economy also consists, and I would say, above all, in gratuity’. The framework of commercial thought makes gratuity impossible a priori, if it is considered as a sacrifice or loss, and in this case, it would be similar to a type of utopian economy based on values familiar to the religious framework. But for this monk, this term rather illustrates a type of exchange that does not involve money but is more as an act of giving without any thought of reaping a reward. In this sense, the gift appears as the inverted dream of the market by idealising itself, the ‘uncalculated’ gift functions in the imagination as the last refuge of a solidarity, of a generosity in sharing that would have characterised other periods of human evolution. (Godelier 1996, p. 291; Lévesque et al. 2001, p. 41) In this model of denying economic activity, monastics attempt to abolish all types of exchange of money and reciprocal concordance by carrying out these exchanges in this way. Giving ‘without calculation’ would be the ultimate form of the utopian economy, which would refer to an economy based on fraternity and solidarity as in the first Christian communities. However, this does not appear to be applicable in its entirety. In fact, this structure fits into the utopian system of economic negation, but alone it would not be enough to sustain the monastery. Rather, this donation system corresponds to a utopian attempt at an alternative economy, to what Henri Desroche calls a sector of alternation or quaternary ‘economy [which] supplants the classic primary, secondary or tertiary sectors: the economy of the potlatch, of giving and counter-giving, of consumption, the sacrificial economy, the oblative economy’ (Desroche 1973, p. 50). The ideal-typical utopian translation of the economy appears to be the gift, which is found in the monastic economy. However, the monks are aware that they cannot live solely on this model of giving, which is thus limited to certain sectors of their economy. b Distance from economic activity Distance from the economic activity occurs through a process of externalisation, which consists of withdrawing monastics from the economic

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  55 activities and replacing them with lay people or by extracting a factory from the enclosure. In other words, it means extracting monastics from economic activities or extracting economic activities from the monastery. The first degree of extraction consists in removing the monastics from the most explicitly economic functions. The office of bursar in particular puts the monks and nuns in almost continuous contact with the economic and financial world. This is emphasised in a French booklet for cellarers: ‘The danger of the ‘businessman’ always threatens him, and all the more so as he necessarily has many relations with the economic world’ (Cellérier… 1998, p. 5). Consequently, in some communities, the monastics offload this job to a layman. In Camaldoli in Italy, for example, Brother Luca says that it is very difficult to be a bursar and a monk, because this job requires keeping abreast of economic developments, whereas the monk would like to detach himself from them. Similarly, in the Benedictine monastery of Muri-Gries in Italy or in Kremsmünster in Austria, monks have entrusted the bursar’s office to a lay person. However, this entails the risk that, detached from the religious entity and unbridled by spiritual justifications, the economy unfolds to its fullest extent and becomes autonomous in its functioning. Thus, the abbot of Muri-Gries, who has practically no role in the economy, uses perfectly economic and pragmatic language, which is not at all charged with religious justifications since the economy is foreign to the sphere of religion. To a lesser degree, if it is not a layman from outside the religious utopia who carries out the non-utopian activities, it is usually a single individual from the utopia who takes on these dimensions to free the others. In this case, these activities are circumscribed around a single member of the utopia, which avoids total contamination. For instance, a French Carmelite, who is bursar for her community, explains: There is the money, all that. At the same time, for me it is the joy of serving the community, saying: the less the sisters have to worry about material things, the more they can devote themselves to other things. So, I try to make sure that the material life is sufficiently organised and complete so that the others don’t have this burden. For example, all the tax returns, all the administrative paperwork, supplies. They only have to sign their papers. Not because they don’t have the right, but because monastic life relieves them of all that. (France, 06.2008) Reducing the preoccupation with material matters to one person is therefore an expedient to the impossibility of being unburdened by them completely. But this can make the bursar’s status ambiguous, which is why it is important to regularly change office so as not to remain within the marginal limits of the utopia. In a monastery of Poor Clares in France, a sister who worked in the accounting department says, she would prefer to wash the

56  Integration of economic activity into monastic life dishes so as ‘not to have her mind elsewhere’. Some cloistered monasteries, for instance Carmelite nuns, have decided to have sisters in the monastery who are entirely dedicated to exchanges with the outside world and to material concerns. They are not fully part of the monastic community; they have a different status which allows them this contact with the outside world and its temporal dimensions, without altering the cloistered life of the nuns. The external sisters are liminal individuals who allow communication between the utopian world and the non-utopian world without the former being affected by the latter. Nevertheless, the gradual decline in numbers of these external sisters, due to the lack of recruitment, obliges the nuns to deal with the outside world themselves. In order to distance economic activity from religious life, monastics sometimes choose to withdraw from the economic activities altogether, leaving room for external employees, or they outsource the activity. This system of the external economy of monasteries is not recent, since its first applications date back to the Cistercian model, when the converses, under the direction of the monks, worked in the land for the community. Today, outsourcing consists of separating the monastery from certain activities from which the monastics have withdrawn, but nevertheless retaining control. Workshops or factories are still located in or near the monastery. Monks or nuns worked there, but have now given way to lay employees, while they continue to exercise control over the activity, either as directors or as members of the management board. This does not mean that the monastics no longer work, but they devote themselves to other activities, such as pastoral work, intellectual work or other manual work that is less economically profitable, as seen in the previous chapter. In the Trappist monastery of Westmalle in Belgium, monastics decided in the 1990s to hand over the management of the brewery to lay people. The brewery ­manager explains: They will always choose a job that allows them to stay close to nature. They prefer to work on the farm, or for example in the cheese factory here, rather than working in the brewery. Because for them, the work in the brewery feels much more like working in industry and takes too much time and attention. (Belgium, 01.2008) Thus, the monks entrusted the remunerative work to the laity in order to preserve the manual work, which met their spiritual requirements, but which had little or no economic dimension. Moreover, because the farm’s activity did not interfere in any way with their religious life, the monks employed lay people to milk the cows. Freed from the constraints imposed by the presence of the monks, these activities can be emancipated and become fully economic. Thus, we find that

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  57 the paradox of all rational asceticism, which in an identical manner has made monks in all ages stumble, is that rational asceticism itself has created the very wealth it rejected. Temples and monasteries have everywhere become the very loci of rational economies. (Weber 1948, p. 322) In the case of the outsourcing of activities, it is the act of attempting to push the economic danger away from the monastery, which actually allows the economy to become more economically successful and to grow more than in the restricted framework of the cloister. The constraints of religious life affecting the economy still exist in the case of an enterprise entrusted to the laity, but they are fewer and allow the economy to develop further. At the same time, the work of the monks becomes an unprofitable occupation because the income comes from elsewhere, as we have already seen. Withdrawing from economic activities also means leaving the field to others, with the risk of the business – which the monks still own – gradually becoming out of step with the values advocated by the monks. The consequences are fewer since the monastics no longer carry out the work themselves. However, the company belongs to them and their image in the eyes of society is at stake. For this reason, the communities often retain a place on the management board. When the brewery was handed over to the laity, Westmalle gave the employees a charter explaining the special features of the monastic enterprise. It explains the so-called special economy (bizondere economie) to which the brewery belongs as a monastic brewery. Thus, even though the monks no longer work there, the brewery, which remains in the monastery grounds, is in keeping with the spirit of the place. This separation is also physical and spatial, as we have seen with companies that are located at a distance from the monasteries. When spatial distancing is not possible, a physical separation can be constructed. For example, in 2012 the abbess of Marienkron in Austria wanted to make a concrete separation between the spa house and the monastery, which are actually in the same building and share the same entrance. To this end, she had constructed a wall to separate the entrance: ‘The wellness area is now partitioned off with a wall. The monastery is separate and I see this as progress. It is no longer possible to just wander into the wellness area. That is important’ (10.2012). In this way, both for the nuns and for the clients, the wellness area is a separate entity from that of the monastery, thereby separating the place of religious life from the area providing revenue for monastery. The final step before the sale of the production process is that of the total withdrawal of the monastics from production, except for the possession of the recipe. The monks continue to receive dividends for the use of the brand. The monks or nuns live off the royalties from the brand, without having to generate any income themselves. The economic activity is

58  Integration of economic activity into monastic life completely distanced since production no longer depends on them at all. This o ­ rganisation is c­ riticised by other communities, who see it as a ­non-ascetic facility, just like the one that led to the fall of Cluny, when the monks no longer needed to work to live. Some activities are outsourced from the outset, such as the production of beer and cheese at Maredsous Abbey in Belgium. This is also the case for wine production in some Austrian monasteries. For example, in Kremsmünster, the vines are leased, the wine is bottled by the winegrower and the bottles are stored and left to age in the abbey cellars. The question arises as to what degree this transformation within the production is necessary, as well as the amount of involvement by the monastics, in order to define a monastic product. This will be studied later. c  Integrating economic activity: Strategies of recomposition According to Weber, monasticism in its original form is an ‘anti-economic phenomenon’ (1996, p. 259), which means that economic activity cannot theoretically be integrated into the perfectly coherent system of monasticism. Integrating economic activity into the monastery, rather than denying it or side-lining it, therefore requires a number of strategies for recomposing the economy – or in some cases monastic life – so that it takes its place in the monastic system without altering it. Redefining economy The monastic economy is in what Laurent Thévenot calls a critical s­ ituation. To illustrate a critical situation, Thévenot uses an example from 1975 w ­ ritten by the economist Oliver Williamson, in which he describes the situation of a blood donor in the United States, who either ‘donates his blood as a gesture of humanitarian solidarity or [he] sells it on the market’ (Thévenot 1989, p. 150). In the same way, the monastic economy is confronted with ‘two incompatible principles of action’ (Thévenot 1989, p. 151): either the economy is justified by economic principles and is in contradiction to the religious identity of the monastery, or it is justified by religious reasons, which should lead to the exclusion of economic activity from the monastic sphere, as described above. Because of the primary contradictory characteristics between the economy and monastic life, the integration of economic activity into the monastic sphere must therefore be justified. A justifiable action is, according to Thévenot, an action ‘for which one can be accountable to others and to oneself’ (1989, p. 148). In the book he co-authored with Luc Boltanski, he adds: We are interested in justifiable acts, drawing all the consequences from the fact that people are confronted with the need to justify their actions, i.e. not to invent, after the fact, false reasons to disguise secret motives,

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  59 as one finds an alibi for oneself, but to carry them out in such a way that they can submit to a test of justification. (Boltanski & Thévenot 1991, p. 54) The methods of justifying economic activity in the monastic sphere are in fact aimed at the monastics themselves, in order for them to live their religious vocation in coherence with the perfect system of utopia. However, it is also aimed at society, which, as shown by the media, is on the lookout for the slightest inconsistency in the monastic economy. Finally, it is aimed at the consumers of monastic products and services, as will be seen in the chapter on products. It is therefore necessary for the monastics to have a religious justification for their work and economic activity in order for it not to be in opposition to their religious life. In this case, work and economy are integrated into the monastic utopia from the outset because the divorce between religion and the economy has not taken place. Reintegration of the ethic of fraternity in economics According to Max Weber, the disenchantment of the economy occurs when its development conflicts with the ethic of fraternity within the religions of salvation. A rational economy is a functional organization oriented to money-prices which originate in the interest-struggles of men in the market. Calculation is not possible without estimation in money prices and hence without market struggles. Money is the most abstract and ‘impersonal’ element that exists in human life. The more the world of the modern capitalist economy follows its own immanent laws, the less accessible it is to any imaginable relationship with a religious ethic of brotherliness. (Weber 1946, p. 331) If the monastic economy attempts to resolve the conflict between economic activity and the religion of salvation, it must first reintegrate the ethic of fraternity, as the conflict is a result of this no longer being integral to the process. In order to reintegrate the ethic of fraternity into the economy, monastics seek to overcome the impersonality of exchange. The capitalist economy is essentially impersonal in the sense that it involves a supplier and a customer, thereby reducing them to their economic function. Adam Smith’s famous story of the butcher perfectly illustrates the dehumanisation involved in economic relations: It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.

60  Integration of economic activity into monastic life We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. (Smith 1776, p. IX) The climax of impersonality is achieved when the supplier and the customer do not know who each other is. The Marché au Cadran in Fontaine-enSologne, studied by Marie-France Garcia-Parpet (1986), is an example of this, as impersonality is sought in order to facilitate exchange. The impersonality and absence of benevolence causes, according to Weber, the rejection of trade by the Catholic religion: ‘The typical antipathy of Catholic ethics, and following that the Lutheran, to every capitalistic tendency, rests essentially on the repugnance of the impersonality of relations within a capitalist economy’ (Weber 2021, 160). Therefore, the monastics try to reintroduce interpersonal relationships into economic exchanges in order to legitimise their trade. This is why monastics like to talk to the customers in the shop. Indeed, according to Weber, ‘the ‘silent’ trade dramatically represents the contrast between the market community and the fraternal community’ (Weber 1978, p. 637), and so economic activity ‘cannot fail to collide with the ethic of universal brotherhood preached by the religions of salvation’ (Tschannen 1992, p. 31). Mail order, where neither of the two people involved in the exchange sees each other, could be the most silent exchange there is. In order to remedy this and give a word to the mute transaction, monastics try to re-personalise the distance-selling relationship. For example, the monk in charge of the mail orders at La Pierre-qui-Vire in France takes every opportunity to phone the customer in order to personalise the contact: We try to avoid phoning but I admit that when we are not in peak season, I try… Sometimes I call on a pretext because I want to create a link and I have plenty of time to do this. This will complete the mercantile aspect of the transaction. (11.2005) Or a French Carmelite concerning the mail order of hosts: Often I put in a little note, something to do with the current liturgy because there is a feast, or I give news of the community. Finally, I think it is important that people who buy hosts from us realise that there are people behind them. (06.2008) Similarly, on the invoices of the Carmelite altar bread workshop, a small sentence gives a more personal – even spiritual – character to the exchange: ‘With our thanks and the assurance of our prayer’. Mail order is a case of almost total depersonalisation of the commercial act, which is then reduced solely

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  61 to its mercantile dimension. Creating a link with the economic actor makes it possible to reintroduce a fraternal dimension into the transaction, even if the people involved do not actually meet. In the same way, for those commercial transactions concerning the a priori a-economic object par excellence which is the ‘future body of Christ’, the nuns try to redefine them as a service and not as a mercantile act. In this spirit, they agree to adapt their offer to the client’s request, which amounts to personalising the object of the exchange. Hosts are usually sold in packs of 10,000, but, they say, if a customer asks for 253, they give him 253, which allows them to conclude: ‘See, there is a service, it is not a trade’. The personalisation of the exchange is therefore an important dimension of monastic trade, in order to reintroduce the ethic of fraternity. Poor Clare sisters I visited in France, who live according to the Franciscan tradition, even spoke of a ‘fraternal economy’, especially when they go on the road for a few days, living on donations and carrying out exchanges with delivery men, refuse collectors, etc. Fraternal exchange is at the heart of this economy, understood in the broadest sense of the term. In the economic order, the exclusion of the ethic of fraternity is also reflected in competition that defines the law of operation of a market. Indeed, ‘calculation is not possible without estimation in money prices and hence without market struggles’ (Weber 1946, p. 331). The reintegration of the ethic of fraternity into the economy must therefore involve the pacification of this struggle, in other words, a redefinition of the terms of competition. Monastics try to exclude competition where possible, i.e. at a local level, especially in the shop. The director of the shop in Maredsous in Belgium explains: ‘As a matter of principle, when I have one type of product, I avoid having the same one, because then it is competition’. This is the case whether it is a monastic product or not. But above all, beyond the competition that is difficult to deny, the shop is a privileged place for monastic mutual aid. For example, in a female monastery in France: In several monasteries, the cellarer, when you have a product in a department that does not sell, removes it. Now, I sometimes keep things that I have in the shop, which are not doing well, but I know that by keeping them, I am helping another monastery, which is also in the same mess as me, so I keep them. I say to myself, monastically speaking, for me, it makes sense. (Sr. Cécile, France, 02.2005) The utopian and plausible translation of competition is, for instance, mutual aid between monasteries, by selling products from other communities. For example, in the Czech Republic, the prior of Vyšší Brod considers it solidarity to sell mustard from the Czesh Trappist monastery of Nový Dvůr in his shop. Outside Europe, there may be situations of agreement on products. For example, the Trappist monasteries of Kokoubou and L’Étoile in Benin, both

62  Integration of economic activity into monastic life near Parakou, have agreed on the production of jam and syrup. These two monasteries were making both products, and an agreement was reached whereby the male monastery of Kokoubou is now the only one producing jam and the female monastery of L’Étoile the only one producing syrup. The bursar of the male monastery explains: For the jams, although they are still going on a bit, they have given us priority. Because they already do a lot of things, if not too much. So, during a regular visit, it was decided to give us certain activities. … And that benefits us! (03.2019) Each of the two monasteries also sells the other’s products in its shop. Moreover, the brother bursar says, with regard to the sisters of Toffo, a Benedictine monastery in Benin which also produces jam and with whom there is no explicit agreement: ‘Sometimes we find a client on the market and the sisters are already there. It is not worth competing with them’. Because communities are all faced with the challenge of generating income, mutual support is achieved by limiting competition. However, competition is not absent from the monastic world and arises when monasteries carry out production in similar sectors. Some monastics see it as an unavoidable element of trade which also validates the reality of monastic economic activity. If you want to accept trade, you have to accept competition, otherwise it is not good. That is what happened in the shop ‘Boutique de Théophile’, the rule was that when one monastery came with a product, another couldn’t come with the same product. The first one to arrive with apricot jam took the place of all the others. So, as president of Monastic, I went to complain. I went to tell them, this is completely anti-commercial. Anti-commercial. You go to every town in France, you have lots of supermarkets, they all sell the same products. (Bursar, La Pierre-qui-Vire, 11.2005) Despite some attempts, the total abolition of competition in a market does not work, and some even criticise the fact that it would lead to situations of monopoly, which is opposed to other monastic ideals. Thus, still referring to the same online sales site: I didn’t agree with the policy of one of the sisters who gave herself an exclusive… on the ‘Bonne Fée Nature’ products that we sell, capsules, which are made for monasteries, who gave herself an exclusive right to the ‘Boutique de Théophile’. Now, from the moment that she has taken exclusive rights, what happens to the association and what happens to the others? I already got her to remove part of her speech at the start,

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  63 but I said to myself, well, I am not going to enter into a… I am the daughter of shopkeepers and there are things that shock me. (Sr. Cécile, bursar, France, 02.2005) We can see here a conflict between utopia in theory and utopia in practice, as mentioned in Séguy’s definition. Although the ideal of fraternity calls for an end to competition, in practice this is difficult to adhere to, especially in a country with many monasteries, such as France, where there are more than 300. GIVING A RELIGIOUS SENSE TO ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Giving religious significance to the economy takes away the opposition between economic activity and religion. As Peter Berger observed, ‘the fundamental ‘recipe’ of religious legitimation is the transformation of human products into supra or non-human facticities. The humanly made world is explained in terms that deny its human production. The human nomos becomes a divine cosmos’ (Berger 1969, p. 89). This can be obvious for the production of religious objects but other kinds of work, for instance artistic ones, can also be seen as a continuation of divine creation. Production of religious items The form of work a priori best integrated into the monastic utopia would be the work of producing religious or liturgical objects. The production of religious objects minimises the tension between monastic life and the economy since the economic activity is itself integrated into religious life. Religious articles are essentially divided into two categories: those for the clergy and the performance of worship (liturgical vestments, Paschal candles, hosts, etc.) and general articles, including those for the laity (icons, rosaries, religious images, etc.). As will be shown later, articles for the clergy are mainly produced by women’s communities, while the others can also be produced by men’s communities (12% and 24% of women’s monasteries). Host-making is the ideal-typical form of religious work, as it forms an integral part of the principal Catholic ritual: it produces nothing less than the body of Christ, which is at the centre of every nun’s life. In addition, this activity answers to the specific requirements of monastic life. For nuns this represents revenue and manual work and is useful in the struggle against idleness. The production process could be mechanised but the nuns choose to keep part of the process manual, so as to maintain manual work as a physical balance to prayer. On a website for host-making machines, we find some that are entirely mechanised and others that need the intervention of the human hand. The latter are specifically intended for the monastic world. The production of the host is special because it remains, for the most part, in the strictly religious sphere and so the closed wall of the utopia

64  Integration of economic activity into monastic life is not breached. Even the selling of the host takes place within a religious framework, with the nuns making contact with priests or lay parishioners. Only the suppliers of the flour – the raw material – do not belong to this sphere. The commercialisation does not require any travelling or any lifting of the rule of enclosure. Indeed, the monasteries which make the host are often the ones with the strictest rules of enclosure: Carmel, Poor Clares, Visitation sisters for instance. In France, in 2021, 60% of Poor Clare monasteries which are listed by the association Monastic produced hosts and 50% of the Carmelite monasteries. In a Carmel I studied in France, the clients come and fetch the bags of hosts at the monastery door, where the extern sister meets them. When the monastery does not have an extern sister, a nun or a lay person does the task. The nuns have repositories in the parish and sometimes in individual shops for the customers who do not come to the monastery. This allows them to avoid open commerce. The religious network is then reinvented for commercial transactions, and furthermore, as the object is standardised, there are no options expect for the size and the two sorts of host (white or whole wheat). Customers do not need to see the product before buying it, which further reduces the necessity for communication with the producer. It is work one dreams of because we do not have to leave the monastery. The advantage with hosts is that we can do everything ourselves… The customers order either by telephone or by fax – not yet by email, but perhaps it will happen one day. As for us, we send parcels out, we have sisters at the reception, we have places where people can buy the hosts – so, there is no need to leave the enclosure. (Sr. Agathe, bursar, France, 06.2008) This economic activity is therefore truly in an enclosed economy which remains completely within the religious sphere. Even the market is closed because not everyone is entitled to buy this product. Nevertheless, by introducing the host into a process of production and commercialisation, that which should be purely religious is transferred to the economic sphere. Are we not taking away the sacred aura of the ‘future body of Christ’ by submitting it to the purchase, the sale and the profane decision of a price? The sacred value of the host can disappear for the nuns themselves when they become aware of these decisions, which are their responsibility to take. A nun in a convent shop in Paris dealing in monastic wares said: ‘People think that the sister is thinking about Jesus, but in fact she is thinking about the budget’. Therefore, during the act of consecration, the object is turned into a res sacra. However, making it part of an economic exchange risks taking away this religious dimension somewhat. If what is sacred belongs to the order of the extraordinary, then ‘what occurs daily is above all where the economy takes place’ (Colliot-Thélène 1995, p. 75). The nuns try to avoid this risk by weaving a religious web around the production

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  65 in a complete fusion of work and prayer; however, this is made virtually impossible by commercialisation. The process of the consecration of production begins, in a certain way, from the moment the raw material enters the monastery. Made by nuns, the host will have different value than if it had come from a lay manufacture. Symbolically and not religiously, ‘the operation of production’ is the equivalent of a ‘symbolic act of transubstantiation, which cannot be reduced to merely a material transformation’ (Bourdieu 1974, p. 21). The ultimate transubstantiation for which it is intended begins from the moment of production, in the silence and solitude of the cloister. In response to the demand to work in solitude, each unit of value-added within each step of production is divided up so as to correspond to a particular workshop. The mixing of the dough, the baking, the moistening and the cutting up into circles all take place in different rooms. Manufactured in prayer, the host acquires little by little its unique nature which will culminate in the ritual of the transubstantiation. The sisters insist on calling it ‘altar bread’ to emphasise that it is not yet the consecrated host. The consecration itself is absent. So, it remains just bread or… Even if it has the shape of the host, we don’t make host – we make altar bread. That is why we have to insist that it is altar bread when we are taking about it to people. It is not a host, you see. It is not easy because people know what a host is but not altar bread. So, it is true that it is important to speak of altar bread so as to avoid merging the two terms indiscriminately. (Sr. Louise, in charge of production of altar bread, France, 06.2008) And yet the process of sacralisation has already begun, as it is shown by the fact that the sisters do not use, or only very rarely, unleavened bread for anything except the Eucharistic ritual: Sometimes we give a little to families, but I don’t really like that and we have to explain what it is to them. But when we have requests from bakers or people like that, we are not comfortable with this. That’s not what it is for. It’s for Christian worship. (Sr. Agathe, bursar, 06.2008) And again Sister Louise: For example, we have requests from bakers who make nougat for unleavened bread which they use to line the underside of their product. So, we said, what are we going to do? Everyone is free to do as they like, but we would like to think about it together. And we thought, we mustn’t mix everything up. What we do is really and truly a work for the Church. (06.2008)

66  Integration of economic activity into monastic life This bread, made in prayer, to become the body of Christ, cannot be used for any other purpose. It is already an object set apart for implicit consecration. Although the host has not yet been consecrated by the canonical ritual, the nuns have ensured that it is not a ‘normal’ product. Even though there is no ritual consecration, it amounts to an implicit consecration. The only non-religious step in the process is the sale, which is the reason for the sisters naming the product ‘altar bread’, as it somehow removes the sanctity of the product they are selling. Unlike in normal market situations, the consumption of the host is in no way influenced by publicity or any other commercial strategy. It depends strictly on religious practice and can only be influenced by religious situations. This is why diminishing congregations in traditional Christian Churches today has a significant effect on the consumption of the host. Added to this is the fact that competition also exists in this sector, both in Europe and in Africa. The market for hosts is thus prey to competition, even if the dioceses – which are the main buyers through the parishes – try to regulate and limit it. A sister told me in 2004 during an interview at the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem shop in Paris: There are monasteries that compete with each other because in one diocese there are two Carmelites that make hosts, but nobody goes to mass anymore, so who sells the hosts? It is crazy, isn’t it, it is crazy! Or there are new communities that have an idea, we are going to make hosts, we make a great ad, we have friends, everyone buys. And the Carmelite next door can no longer sell its hosts because they simply haven’t been asked the question ‘Are we a competitor for you?’ Even for wafers, there’s tough competition (laughs), it is crazy! (Shop Monastica, France, 10.2005) The establishment of a new monastery can therefore introduce a situation of competition by entering an already existing market. However, mutual aid also exists, as shown by the help given in establishing the production of the host to the Benedictine sisters of L’Écoute in Benin, by the sisters of Kara in Togo. The competition also affects other religious items. In Toffo, Benin, the sister bursar explains about their workshop for weaving liturgical vestments: Before, the monastery had a monopoly on this, but today there are many religious communities that make liturgical vestments. Lots and lots and lots! With weird designs, all that stuff. That’s not our style. […] Otherwise, there are lots of things on the market, lots of religious communities that make chasubles and albs and this and that. This workshop doesn’t have much of a future. (Sr. Laura, Toffo, 03.2019)

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  67 The production of religious objects, especially the host, can therefore be seen mainly as types of productive work that make it possible to overcome the antagonism between economic activity and monastic life, since it is the economy itself that becomes religious. However, as we have seen with the host or situations of competition, the production of these religious objects actually becomes an economic activity. Artistic work to transcend the economy Artistic activity would be a way for monastics to give an extra-worldly meaning to an intramundane activity. The artist, ideally, creates because he wants to, because he has to from the core of his being, freely, not for a living. ‘In its own way, art initiates a phenomenon of deindustrialisation, because of its power of elevation, of quasi-transubstantiation of the object into a work, of the organic need into a higher aspiration’ (Assouly 2011, p.  71). Moreover, the artist’s work is apparently devoid of financial reference, as the monastic’s work ideally should be. Thus, the adoption of artistic production aims to give monastic work another dimension that transcends the pure necessity of subsistence. Many monasteries have an artistic workshop or one close by: at La Pierrequi-Vire there are pottery, silk-screen printing and stone moulding workshops; at Tamié, a brother works on making floral bouquets for the liturgy; at Seitenstetten Abbey in Austria, a monk is a painter; at the French Carmel, a sister makes candles decorated with flowers… Artistic work goes beyond the economy, because it does not respond to a need, and above all, it finds its end in itself; in the act of creation and its result, and not in its sale and earning an income. This work is therefore not a priori economic, because selling the product is less a search for income than the transmission of a value to the buyer. ‘Creativity is not a commercial product’ (Boltanski & Thévenot 1991, p. 285). In this sense, the artist’s work goes beyond the economy. As Michèle Descolonges writes, ‘there is a haughty character to the work, a resistance to work’ (1996, p. 158), haughty here in the sense that it brings one closer to God, that it seeks to rise above what is purely human. The monastic’s art is intrinsically linked to his spiritual life and, as a result, the object created will be able to transmit something of the monastic spirituality to the world. The potter of La Pierre-qui-Vire considers that his pieces of pottery have a full spiritual value: When I was the guestmaster, and people bought my pots, they said when they take a pot of La Pierre-qui-Vire, it is a bit of La Pierre-qui-Vire that they take with them. Having breakfast every day in a bowl that comes from La Pierre-qui-Vire, it is… For them it is something that makes them feel good, that connects them to our prayer community. (Br. Paul, France, 11.2005)

68  Integration of economic activity into monastic life This object is not primarily intended to support the community but to allow the retreatants to remain in communion with the abbey. This approach would make the object uneconomical for both the customer and the monks. The purchase of a product with defects – thus the mark of the manufacturer’s hand – would be the culmination of this process. Some of the monks’ products find their value in the fact that they have been made by monks who are not actually craftsmen; they are virtuosi of God with a particular and indefinable value. In addition to purifying work of its economic sin, by aiming at something other than an income, artistic work inscribes the monastics in the creative lineage of God. His work would then be in no way contrary to the religious utopia, since it would be nothing less than a matter of doing the same thing as God. It is no longer simply work, but the Work, that of God who creates the sky and the earth. For the potter of La Pierre-qui-Vire, his work of creation relates directly to the idea of divine creation, where the monk tries to be a worthy continuator of God’s work. This becomes all the more meaningful in the case of the potter, as the role of clay and potter is frequently referred to in the Bible as a divine metaphor: This is a beautiful monk’s work. The Bible speaks of the potter. It is true that when someone says, ‘I am the clay of God’, it touches me. When I take clay and make a bowl out of it, it is the spirit of God in me that passes into the clay. I think it is the spirituality of creation. (Br. Paul, 02.2006) And he adds further: ‘My path to God went through this’, assigning to work a constitutive role in the contemplative quest. Apart from the work that is properly creative, which produces a unique object resulting from prayer, other workshops come closer to this artistic illusion by working on beauty. For example, silk-screen printing is not strictly speaking an art form, since the objects are reproducible, but nevertheless, according to the brother in charge, it is also integral to this search for beauty which gives it a transcendent dimension. Finally, all work on matter, creative work, which brings the human being closer to his earthly condition, carries within it this sense of modelling, of creation. No doubt this conception is only possible in a post-modern view of the value given to artisanal work, freed from any technique. This work then carries something original in it; it is as much the work of the first man, Adam, as that of God himself, who shaped matter to create man. It is as if there were some fundamental truth in the four elements with which the silkscreen artist brother says he works: Whereas in manual work there is a concrete contact with the material that shows the limits I have. And then, I find it amusing because it’s

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  69 water, fire, earth and air, we always end up with the four elements, eh? With porcelain, there’s the firing, it’s always a surprise, you don’t know, well, there you go. The pigment is earth, it is coloured earth, well, there you go, maybe it allows you to meditate on the material. (Fr. Christian, France, 11.2005) It is something concrete, in opposition to the virtual world, and brings human beings back to their primary condition. Art, even non-religious art, carries a sacred dimension that fits particularly well with the status of the monk himself. Just like the monk, finally, ‘the artist, a charismatic being, nimbed with an almost sacred aura, emerges from the regime of gift and vocation’ (Chiapello 1998, p. 32). In this sense, artistic activity, which makes it possible to transcend the ideas of the necessity of economic work, can overcome the antagonism between monastic life and economy. d Ex-post legitimation: Managing the money The models of integration presented so far are models of ex ante integration, to justify the activity being carried out. But there are also models of ex-post integration or justification after the economic act, through the purification of money. Even if the monastic economy aims at subsistence and not profit, the latter is present in the operating accounts. Contrary to the strategies described above, it is not a question of denying or removing the economy from the religious sphere, but of adding a form of purificatory ritual to it once it has been carried out. One of these strategies is to set up a system of donations – or tithes – proportional to income, generally 10%, or depending on the community, 3% of the gross operating surplus, which can be found in various European countries. At Saint-Wandrille in France, the monks have introduced a progressive donation system which, according to the bursar, allows them to ‘relax about money’: In our community, we have defined a stable value, that in an income, if we need 100 to live, we will give 10% of all our income, if we earn 110%, we will give 10%, if we earn more than 110, if we earn 111, we will give 11%, if we earn 120, we will give 20%. This means that we will no longer have any qualms about money, because if we receive more or too much money for our own needs, we will give it away. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004) Then he adds: ‘If too much money came in, it was actually used, so I was completely relaxed about money’. This idea of ‘relaxing’ or ‘décomplexer’ in French proves that there can be a discomfort for monks in relation to the income from their economic activities, which they must free themselves

70  Integration of economic activity into monastic life from. The donations go to religious associations or, more broadly, cultural and social associations. According to the brother guestmaster in Westmalle, Belgium, it is a question of helping those who do not receive help through the usual channels: We try above all to reach people who do not receive aid from the state, for example. And these are mainly small initiatives, because the state mainly gives subsidies to large initiatives. An example of an initiative to which we give: for the disabled, a house that is specialised for young ­p eople with a disability. […] We want to help initiatives that show a ­c ertain nobility, and also, obviously, that show a certain evangelical life. (Br. Bazile, Belgium, 01.2008) The religious dimension is not primary, but consistency is sought with the monastic message of the utopia. Similarly, in the charter of the Trappist beer association, one of the articles stipulates that a part of the income must be allocated to various donations. This case corresponds more acutely to a process of the purification of money, as this income comes from the sale of alcohol. Some monastic breweries even make donations to associations for the fight against alcoholism, thereby financing organisations that curb the consumption of their product. Another channel of giving that justifies profit is sending aid to developing countries. Many monasteries have a foundation or a twinning arrangement in a country in Africa, Asia or South America. For example, in 1970, in order to celebrate its 1200th anniversary, the Austrian Abbey of Kremsmünster founded a mission in Brazil. The monastery was just preparing for its 1200-year anniversary and did not want to build another jubilee church (like the parish church in Bad Hall about 100 years before). Rather, they wanted to help build a young church as ‘living stones’ (1 Peter 2:5).1 The monastics’ participation in this effort gives them plausibility in a social sense since their economic effort benefits disadvantaged populations. As Séguy notes it: The examination of religious attitudes towards money (capital) and po­ verty (workers) is done against the backdrop of the relationship between the Church and the working class; a relationship that is quickly extended to the relationship between Western development and the Third World, and then between the wealthy (North) and the poor (South) peoples and groups. In all this, it is a question of the plausibility of the Christian message today. (1992, p. 41)

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  71 Their socially useful donations free the monastics from having to compromise regarding money. The Italian monastery of Camaldoli has thus developed several activities which the monks insist they do not do ‘as an economic activity, but it is to do charity’. These activities are developed around three poles: sponsoring disadvantaged children, the sale of products from a cooperative that employs socially disadvantaged people and the sale of objects from developing countries as part of solidarity trade. This way, the monastic economy is legitimised thanks to the external goals of solidarity that it pursues. Through its donations and its involvement in humanitarian and social development actions, the monastic economy is similar to the solidarity economy for which ‘profit is not the goal of the action, it is its means’ (Chopart et al. 2006, p. 94) to enable acts of solidarity. The monastics, like the participants of the solidarity economy, agree that the pursuit of profit is not the main objective of their action. This does not mean that they are not looking for economic viability in their activity, nor that they are unconcerned about the criteria of its efficiency and profitability. (id., p. 94) However, in the case of the monastic economy, profit is intended primarily for the survival of the monastics rather than for solidarity actions. The latter is only a secondary goal of legitimisation that is added to that of the sustainability of monastic life. The surplus of the monastic income is not entirely converted into donations but is also subject to financial management. Monastics most often say that they have a ‘good father’s management’ – for this is the appropriate expression in the religious constitutions – which is defined by a thoughtful and efficient management of money and which usually includes some financial investments. For instance, a monk in Camaldoli maintains: ‘The economy must maintain an input and output line …, put aside for the moments when we will need it. There are the normal expenses’ (03.2007). But more and more communities are also owning investments in the stock market. However, the question arises as to which companies monasteries can finance without compromising their values. They try, therefore, to favour ethical investments. The term ethical finance is used to define a way of financial intermediation, which ‘is oriented toward the pursuit of some variously defined common goods and not toward the unique goal of profit maximization’ (Becchetti 2013, p. 134). The monks are attentive to the ethics of the product and of the company, so as not to finance activities that would be in contradiction to their values. The bursar of Saint-Wandrille explains: We share a number of values from the outset. The only thing is that we want to make sure that when the company grows, people don’t change

72  Integration of economic activity into monastic life their ethical outlook to one of dollar signs! (laughs) And if they do, there is a clause in our shareholder agreement that allows us to withdraw if we no longer share these values. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004) Inversely, a French abbey had the unpleasant surprise of seeing in its financial income a ‘performing line’ which turned out to be a ‘pornography company listed in Germany which had exploded’. Investments therefore require skills and time to ensure that they are consistent with monastic values. Ethical investments are also one of the levers through which the monasteries hope to change the economy because they will constitute a bridge between the monastic economy and the world economy. Sister Nicole Reille writes that, in this field, ‘for a long time, women religious congregations were alone in developing this intuition, under the astonished and sceptical gaze of the banks, but firmly supported by one or other financial professional or company director who had grasped the stakes’ (Reille 1994, p. 388). Thus, this sister speaks of ‘prophetic economy’ to describe the economy of religious congregations. However, the decisions regarding financial investments are not unanimous in the construction of the utopia. While some communities have relatively large investments, the majority only have a few safe investments. The sister bursar of a French Benedictine monastery explains that she is against financial investments ‘at the point where they are’: Because we are really in the…in the whirlpool of this whole world of money, which we don’t have control over and we are very dependent, we are sometimes obliged to do things we wouldn’t want to do because of it. Well…. that’s everyone’s conscience. (02.2005) We see here an example of a community, which only has few investments, to defend the independence of the monastic economy from stock market fluctuations, rather than expound the contradictions of their values.

2 Between negation and affirmation of economics a To speak about the econony in monastic life How do monastics assimilate their economic and religious roles into their discourse? In other words, how is the tension between the economic and the religious present in the discourse of monks and nuns? A first recognisable pattern is that of the affirmation of the rationality of the monastic economy, which aims to distinguish them from amateurs in the economic field. This affirmation comes in response to an implicit or explicit consideration that monastics, being religious people, do not know how to

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  73 speak the language of the economic world. The brother bursar of SaintWandrille in France often experienced this preconception with his clients: People have an idea of the monk which is completely out of step with the monastic world, which means that when they arrive, they are lost! Because 1) we speak the same language as them, 2) technically, we have machines which are at the top, from a technological point of view, so they don’t understand, because they still see us with a quill pen writing a manuscript, or with our heads in the stars, and 3) they realise that in fact the way of managing people can be both very human, which is not easy, and which can also make an economic success. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004) The discrepancy between the reality of the monastic economy and the preconceptions abounding in society requires the monastics to affirm their economic rationality. At the same time, however, what Albert Piette calls a ‘double negation’ can be observed in the monastics’ discourse. He observed that Catholic priests deny their role as priests as much as their role as prophets (Piette 1999). As Bourdieu noted in an investigation of the Catholic Church: ‘The truth of the religious enterprise is to have two truths: the economic truth and the religious truth that denies it’ (1994, p. 204). In the monastery, the religious denies the economic, and the economic denies the religious. The potter brother of La Pierre-qui-Vire provides an example of this double negation. When asked how he sets the price of his wares, his first answer is in line with  what Boltanski and Thévenot call the artist’s critique, for he claims to set it ‘as he feels it’. Indeed, ‘money will never be the right way to measure a work: it reduces it to a closed, impersonal figure, which erases singularity and the multiple and inexhaustible character’ (Chiapello 1998, p.  61). However, when asked whether he puts them at random, he replies: No, not at random, I put the prices according to my mood (laughs)! It is also, when I open my oven, I have an impression of the whole, but well, it is not very rational! (Laughs) I wouldn’t sign it! But sometimes, for example, the whole thing disappoints me, it is less beautiful than I expected. So often, in these cases, I put low prices, because I want it to go. I am not going to break everything. So, I set low prices because it is cheap. Sometimes it is superb, and then there is not much pottery in the shop, so my prices go up a bit! (Laughs) It is the law of the market. That’s it, that is the law of the market. On the other hand, I did some baking, I defrosted… Superb! But it is winter, there aren’t many people and in January it is going to be closed, so I realised that my prices were low. And it is not very rational and sometimes when I arrive at the shop,

74  Integration of economic activity into monastic life I see that there are two objects that are similar that have big differences in price (laughs)! (Br. Paul, France, 02.2006) The negation of rationality appears explicitly twice, as if to overcome the economic character of the transaction which will allow a family to ‘remain in communion of prayer with the community’. But, at the same time, when asked if he sets the price according to the beauty of the object, he replies: ‘I do have some price categories. I have a number of price categories’. And he gives the indicative price of his main products, which refutes any irrationality in pricing. And indeed, on the shop shelves, articles in the same series vary by a maximum of one euro, depending on any imperfections. This contradictory configuration of the discourse aims as much to remove economic references as to disavow a tendency to mysticism devoid of realism. b Balancing performance: Between economic and religious determinants The monastic economy stands on the crest of a fine balance between maximising what in economic terms can be called religious utility and maximising economic utility (Figure 4.2). In economic terms, it is a question of maintaining a balance between these two variables, which are either side of a fine line. Too much maximisation of the religious dimension can have negative effects on economic performance. For example, a sister in a monastic products shop in Paris said: Sometimes, you think because it is done in prayer it is better. But I am sorry, it is not necessarily better. It is admirable to do things in prayer and I am here for that, but if the strawberry jam is burnt, it is

Figure 4.2 Balance between the quality of religious life and economic performance.

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  75 not worth it! The sister can pray for me, but I prefer not to eat the jam! (laughs) (10.2005) Work done solely for religious purposes, without taking into consideration the end result, would in this sense be non-performing work that does not achieve the monastic goal of sustenance for the community. An anecdote about work done only in majorem Dei gloriam is related to St. Vincent de Paul: Vincent de Paul asked a nun who was sweeping a corridor: ‘Is it for the love of God that you do this, my child? – Oh yes, Father! – It shows! For if it was to keep the hallway clean, you would do it differently…’ (Molinié 1994, p. 93) Monastic work only fulfils its mission, and therefore finds its meaning, if it also allows the community to survive or helps to maintain it, unless other activities in which the monastics do not work can do this. Economic performance must therefore be sufficient to allow the community to produce enough for its own subsistence without taking time away from prayer. Living in too much poverty does not allow for the optimal quality of monastic life, because the community is preoccupied with its material survival. Furthermore, poor food, lack of heating or unsuitable premises will not allow the best quality of prayer life to be achieved. The optimal level of religious performance depends on economic performance. Indeed, as we shall see later, in reaction to the excessive poverty of women’s monasteries, the Pope wrote an apostolic constitution in 1950 to encourage nuns’ monasteries to engage in productive work that would provide them with an income. Too much poverty does not allow for a sufficient quality of prayer life. Conversely, too much economic activity presents the danger of taking up too much space in the life of the community and the personal life of the monks and nuns, which can also lead to a decline in the quality of religious life. The last configuration represented in Figure 4.1 shows where the economy alters monastic life. As the lay manager of the Westmalle brewery in Belgium sums it up, ‘it must remain an abbey with a brewery and not a brewery with an abbey’. It is for this reason that the majority of monastic communities choose to voluntarily limit their production. This limitation corresponds to a framework defined by the available workforce and its profile, by the meaning given to work and by the place taken by the economy in a given community without altering its religious life. A founder of the Divine Box company in France, which sells monastic products online, is facing production limitations, which depends on each abbey: Indeed, when we order 1000 at once, we know that there are some abbeys that will never achieve this. … And there are others, like the Sept-Fons

76  Integration of economic activity into monastic life abbey for example, who make jam, and we know that unless there is a crisis, they will manage it. But indeed, the production constraint is one of the brakes. (France, 09.2021) This limit therefore depends on the capacity of each community to integrate the economy within its boundaries. For example, a community of Dominican nuns in France has chosen not to meet all the demand for its biscuits, as this would mean turning the monastery into a factory. Even production that appears to be important and is present in channels of mass distribution is limited. Brother Bazile from Westmalle in Belgium says: One of the particularities of the Trappist productions is that the production is limited. For us it is 120 hl per year. And the community decided that. And I think Chimay has about the same, but for example in Achel it’s just maybe 1000 hl per year. (01.2008) When the production is not limited and economic success becomes too great, and thus jeopardising the quality of monastic life, the monastics deal with this situation as a crisis. The vocabulary used by the bursar of SaintWandrille Abbey attests to this: This company [of microcopy] was a winner of the French quality prize, and we became a victim of our own success because we grew too fast, too quickly. We grew 250% between 1993 and 2000, and so it became too much for the monastery, so the objective is eventually to sell this activity. (11.2004) ‘Victim’, ‘too fast’, ‘too much’, economic success is a real crisis in the monastic enterprise because it can call religious life into question. The danger is not only due to the temptation of the lure of making more money, which can become more pressing, but, above all, due to the greater preoccupation which it will engender and the greater time which it will require. To solve this crisis, the monks can either sell or close the business. The accountant of this abbey talks about the possible attitudes towards such a situation: As soon as there is an overload of work, if the activity develops well, in a controlled way, the monk who is in charge of the activity either calls on another monk or hires one, and if the activity really develops exponentially or is poorly controlled, they can go so far as to close. (02.2005) So Saint-Wandrille Abbey, being too successful, regularly sells its activities:

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  77 We can’t manage a structure without making it grow. When we make it grow, it is too much for us. So, we have to diversify in order to be able to sell the activity, apart from the shop which will never be sold. We must not be sentimental about the rest, at some point, we will know that we have to sell them and then do something else. (Fr. Denis, bursar, 11.2004) Success appears to be an involuntary consequence of the monks’ management (‘we can’t manage without making people grow’), which shows that success is not the primary aim of the monks. Other communities face the tension between profitability and productivity while trying to find the right balance for their monastic life. In 2005, the sister bursar of a French monastery said: Afterwards, if it becomes relatively important, it will have to become very, very important in order to be profitable, and there I go beyond the monastic domain. You see, there is a difficulty, an ambiguity today in the monastic economy. Either you remain a craftsman and sometimes you don’t earn enough because the cost price of the product is too high compared to the price at which you can sell it, or you want to become big, in which case you can’t afford it anymore, so either you have to sell your recipe, or you have to have it made outside. I have been offered this for fertilisers, for example, I sell the formula and I get royalties on what is sold. But you are no longer in control of your product and you no longer know what is being done with it. You have no means of control. The monastic economy is something VERY delicate, we are on the edge, you see. (Bursar, France, 02.2005) The perfect balance that maximises both religious and economic benefits is  therefore extremely difficult to find. This balance is as much about the community as it is about each individual monk and nun in their life of prayer and work. A monk who is too preoccupied with the profitability of his work and who comes to the office while still thinking about his work will lose the quality of his prayer life, for example. Moreover, this balance is always having to be redefined according to the constant changing of much of the criteria. It can never be reached once and for all. As the abbot of Tamié (France) summarises it: ‘If the economy is shaky, monastic life suffers. There is too much work, we are stressed’ (10.2008). c Is the monastic economy a performant economy? As seen above, the monastic economy aims to be sufficiently efficient to allow for the quality of religious life, without aiming for excessive growth, as this could lead to a reduction in the quality of monastic life. However, as the

78  Integration of economic activity into monastic life example of Saint-Wandrille shows, performance can be part of the monastic economy. How is this possible in an environment that is not a priori conducive to economic performance? Indeed, Weber notes that monasticism ‘almost always achieves unbelievable things in economic terms’ (1996, p. 259). He identifies the success of the monastic economy paradoxically in asceticism and the rationality that follows from it. ‘The very fact that the monks were a community of ascetics accounts for the astonishing achievements that transcend those attainable through routine economic activities’ (Weber 1978, p. 1170). It is this same asceticism which, from a religious point of view, aims at poverty and detachment from material goods. Here is the paradox of rational asceticism; it refuses property and wealth and produces it precisely by the same rational refusal: The ascetic monk has fled from the world by denying himself individual property; his existence has rested entirely upon his own work; and, above all, his needs have been correspondingly restricted to what was absolutely indispensable. The paradox of all rational asceticism, which in an identical manner has made all ages stumble, is that rational asceticism itself has created the very wealth it rejected. Temples and monasteries have everywhere become the very loci of rational economies. (Weber 1946, p. 334) Monastic asceticism can be defined as a ‘religious rationalisation of everyday life’ (Jonveaux 2018a, p. 25). This rationalisation of religious life is also applied to work and the economy. Monastic asceticism demands – in economic terms – to maximise everything for God, including a priori materially oriented activities. As we have seen, the productivity of work is intended to maximise prayer time and its quality accordingly. The prior of Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic says: ‘You have to work so that the community has time to pray’ (04.2017). One of the sources of economic performance through ascetic rationality is, according to Max Weber, the organisation of time. Every minute offered by God must be used efficiently and fruitfully. The exhaustive use of time is indeed, according to Michel Foucault, a characteristic of ascetic discipline and refers to the ‘principle of non-idleness: it is forbidden to waste time that is counted by God and paid for by men’ (Foucault 1975, p. 180). In European society, monasteries were indeed the first to have a rational management of time, to the point that the emerging factories of the 19th century were inspired by it and called upon religious people to supervise the workers (id., p. 176). Since the monks’ main activity was not work but prayer, rationality dictated that they should spend as little time as possible on it, but with the greatest efficiency. Working hours in the monastery are relatively short and are interspersed with the services. There are rarely any working periods of more than three hours. However, this division of time can also lead to greater efficiency because the efficiency of short shifts is greater than that of longer ones. The guestmaster monk

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  79 in Camaldoli explains that he has to carry out his work as efficiently as possible in order to preserve as much time as possible for prayer: In my opinion, we must try to manage the economic activities professionally. Today, a structure like this cannot only be managed by amateurs. It has to be managed professionally. If I want to keep some time for myself, for my prayer, for my life, I must manage things professionally. […] This management may seem to be a rather unmonastic. However, today, this is the only way to manage a structure like this. And time is going faster all the time. If you don’t know how to organise yourself, you lose a lot of time. That’s why I have to manage it in a professional way. (Italy, 03.2007) Parallel to the imperative of rational and efficient time management, the monastic way of life also includes spending as little money as possible.2 Thus, we observe ‘the constitution of a capital by ascetic constraint’ (Weber 2003, p. 287) not of saving, as Weber observed for the Protestants, but of limiting consumption. This limitation of consumption is coupled with the rejection of personal property. The individual economic logic is based on the circular process of production–consumption–possession–accumulation. The individual produces with the aim of consuming and possessing more and more, thus accumulating. The monastics reject this economic logic by removing possession from the system. Production is certainly indispensable for consumption, which is itself necessary for the monastics’ survival. Accumulation – this time on a community level – will be all the greater as individual possession has been removed from the circuit. The system can thus continually amplify itself since it limits its losses by refusing to own property. The determinants that make the monastic economy are therefore exactly those that aim to establish distance between the monastery and the material world. However, not every monastic economy is necessarily efficient and depends on its initial financial or patrimonial capacities and the profile of the community regarding demography, formation and openness to the world.

3 Integrating lay employees in monastic activities As discussed above, the employment of salaried workers allows monastics to put the economy at a distance by entrusting them with tasks that are not compatible with monastic life. But how can lay employees be integrated into the monastic utopia? The models of the relationship between economic activity and monastic life are similarly applicable to the issue of employees. At first, there may be a refusal to integrate outside employees into the monastery and its economic activities as they are a priori foreign to the

80  Integration of economic activity into monastic life monastic utopia. In fact, there are few communities that do not have any employees, to carry out either economic activities or services within the community. But some refuse, for example, to hire outside personnel for the community’s domestic services, which, however, with the ageing of the communities is becoming increasingly difficult. An intermediate solution outlined by this nun from Jouarre is to hire without totally entrusting the activities to lay people: We decided a few years ago to have a cook. A layman who does the work in the kitchen. It was the community of sisters who decided this. We could no longer carry out all the chores in the kitchen. The question arose as to whether it would be financially feasible and also if we wanted a layperson within our community. However, we still have a sister who is responsible for the kitchen. The menus are also reviewed by the sister, that is important. (Sr. Jeanne, France, 08.2012) In this way, the sisters ensure that the preparation of meals – an important part of monastic asceticism (Jonveaux 2018a) – remains in the sense and direction intended by monastic life. Linked to the previous point is a second position, that is keeping employees at a distance from the monastic utopia, whether by entrusting them with tasks linked only to the economic companies or by getting them to work in places further away from the community’s private life. The same sister from Jouarre explains, when I ask her what arguments she uses when choosing whether to have a lay person or a sister work on an activity, that it is important for the community to retain their own space. She gives the example of working the land, which is a team effort by the monastics and she finds it important to keep this work within the community. Or a Trappist sister from L’Étoile in Benin: It depends on each job. Because those who make juice, they already work with workers, so it goes without saying. Where there are no workers, it is the sisters who do it. For example, the question of toilets, we are not going to ask a worker to come and clean our toilets, no, we do that. The scriptorium, it is ourselves who go in there, we cannot ask… (Sr. Marie-Faustine, Benin, 03.2019) In this community, the places that are in the enclosure are not open to salaried workers and the sex of the employees – men in a women’s community – seems to play a role in keeping them out of the enclosure. Enclosure has long been a response in the Catholic world to the idea of the danger posed to monastics by the outside world. The monastics have vowed to withdraw from the world, and the fear of this danger is illustrated by Pope Boniface

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  81 VIII’s bull of 1298, when he legislated for the first time on the monastic enclosure with the evocative name of ‘Periculoso’ (dangerous). Women in particular, recognised by the Church as temptresses who have tempted men since Eve and are continually being tempted (Jonveaux 2015, p. 122), are not to be seen by men. Thus, a sister waving a bell accompanied the doctor when he entered the enclosure so that the sisters would withdraw from his path. Nowadays, the enclosure is desacralised and essentially serves to delimit the community’s private life. Nevertheless, it constitutes a boundary that some communities refuse to allow employees to cross. The third dimension concerns the integration of employees into the monastic utopia even though they are strangers to it and have not experienced the rites of entry into monastic life or the associated training. Choosing employees in such a way that they can easily integrate into the utopia according to religious criteria, even if they are not religious virtuosi, could be a possible solution. This would be the option of a primarily religious matching. However, this is not what seems to happen: in none of the monasteries studied is the baptismal certificate required of employees, and in Westmalle, the brewery manager states: ‘We cannot force people to go to mass’. However, if religious adherence is not required, the monastics demand that their staff adapt to the utopian environment so that they do not alter it. This corresponds to domestic matching, according to Guillemette de Larquier: ‘When the boss wishes to hire an employee, he looks for the individual with the ‘empirical’ qualities necessary for his successful integration into the productive and traditional network of the company’ (de Larquier 1997, p. 78). The employee is part of the traditional lineage, initiated by the monastics, who expect that they pursue and work within the same spirit as that developed by the community. The brother who runs the guesthouse at Mondaye Abbey (Premonstratensian3) explains: If we have to employ someone, we don’t ask for their baptismal certificate, but simply ask them to respect the spirit of the community. For example, the cook does not have a radio in the kitchen. We were forced to dismiss a person who looked after the garden because he lacked respect for the brothers. (France, 11.2004) The integration of employees into the monastic utopia is also achieved by applying monastic values to management. As mentioned above, the Rule of St. Benedict is used as a management tool, but this also involves giving priority to non-economic dimensions when managing employees. In Westmalle, for example, employee management is part of what the monks call the ‘special economy’ of the brewery, where the relationship between workers and management should be humanised, personal (see Jonveaux 2011c).

82  Integration of economic activity into monastic life The brewery director thus maintains that the monks ‘want to know everyone working here by their first name, want everything to remain on a human scale for them’ (01.2008), and the marketing director recalls the monks’ kindness to him when he was ill for a year: ‘I was off work for two hundred days, and every week a monk would telephone me to ask, ‘How are you? Don’t worry, we have time.’ This is an experience which you don’t find in commercial companies’. In addition, a day of reflection, named ‘quality day’, is organised for staff once a year while the monks have a community retreat. On this day, production is halted, demonstrating the great importance accorded to the human dimension. The company’s management thus pays for elements which do not fall under the headings of efficiency or profitability. The factory runs during the day only, favouring worker’s hours over the productivity of machines. This daily switching off of the machines is detrimental to the machine itself and causes it to deteriorate. Monastic management thus integrates employees into the utopian system by redefining itself around monastic values. The question of employees concerns both the balance of the economy, to allow the survival of activities or to develop them, and the community, especially when it comes to domestic services. The auditor of the Benedictine communities I met considers that ‘the monasteries that work best are those that do not employ any outside personnel at all – there are some, thank God – or very few, a minimum’. This may be true as regards domestic jobs, as it is important to preserve the community’s living space and the internal dynamics. However, economic activities need the help of external employees in order to achieve a higher level of efficiency. There is no doubt that a balance has to be found here as well, especially, as the auditor points out, in West Africa, where in some monasteries there are too many day labourers and some of this work could be done by the monks. The ratio of monastics to employees is indeed very different from one monastery to another. This can be seen when comparing the monasteries studied in this book, with figures ranging from zero employees per monastic in Wisques, France, to 20.8 employees per monastic in Admont, Austria, which employs 500 people. When looking at the averages per country (Table 4.1), it is clear that where the model is essentially that of an internal production economy, the ratio is relatively low (0.14 in France, 1.1 in Benin, 1 for the monastery in Guinea and 2.05 in Italy). Those with an outsourced or heritage economy, also with outsourced companies, have higher ratios: 3.45 in Belgium and 8.5 in Austria. The more employees there are, the more time is required for management activities, which is often delegated to an employee. The ratio of employees reflects not only the form of the economy but also the degree to which the communities are present in the world: the more they are in contact with the world, the more likely they are to employ a large number of employees, and conversely, the more strictly they are closed off or separated from the world, the fewer employees they will have.

Integration of economic activity into monastic life  83 Table 4.1 Ratio of monks to employees in monastic communities. (The figures are from a point in time in the monastery at the time of the study and therefore vary regularly.) Country

Community

No. monastics No. employees

Ratio employees/ monastics

French Benedictines nuns La Pierre-qui-Vire Tamié Wisques

20

1

0.05

55 30 20

6 8 0

0.11 0.26 0

Bolzano Praglia Camaldoli Farfa

13 37 42 8

45 6 18 to 50

3.5 0.16 1 to 2.5

Plankstetten

17

30

1.6

Westmalle Maredsous

25 35

60 170

2.3 4.6

Sankt Paul Kremsmünster Admont

15 52 24

40 100 500

2.7 1.9 20.8

Toffo Peporyakou

15 11

30 11

2 1

Séguéya

10

29

2.9

France

Italy

Germany

Belgium

Austria

Benin Guinea

Notes

5

Daily life economy What does monastic poverty mean today?

As seen above, poverty and the refusal of owning possessions, which characterise the relationship to goods in monastic life, can have a positive impact on the economy. This chapter will explore the economy at the individual level of monks and nuns as well as the role of poverty in monastic life and its economy. At the beginning of their monastic life, monastics take vows, including the vow of poverty, which means that in theory, they should have nothing of their own. In monastic communities, there is indeed ‘possession and enjoyment of common goods’, as Ferdinand Tönnies (2010, p. 26) defines the community type of possession. Poverty, however, exists on two levels: the community and the individual. That the individual personally renounces property does not necessarily imply that the community does the same. Indeed, a difference between monastic orders (e.g. Benedictine, Cistercian and Trappist) and mendicant orders (Franciscan and Dominican) founded later, from the 12th century onwards, lies in the fact that for the latter, poverty concerns both the individual and the community. Giorgio Agamben, referring to the Franciscans, speaks of the ‘very high poverty’, which separates the notions of use and ownership, because the Franciscans use goods of which they are not the owners (2011, pp. 162–163). Poverty on the community level, however, is found among the Poor Clares, whose rule, written by St. Clare, is inspired by Franciscan spirituality. Responding to St. Francis’ vows for the women’s form of life, she writes in Chapter 6 of her rule: Just as I, together with my sisters, have ever been solicitous to safeguard the holy poverty which we have promised the Lord God and Blessed Francis, so, too, the Abbesses who shall succeed me in office and all the sisters are bound to observe it inviolably to the end: that is to say, by not receiving or having possession or ownership either of themselves or through an intermediary, or even anything that might reasonably be called property, except as much land as necessity requires for the integrity and proper seclusion of the monastery, and this land may not be cultivated except as a garden for the needs of the sisters.1

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-6

What does monastic poverty mean today?  85 In the monastic orders that follow the rule of St. Benedict, the individual must not himself possess anything, but the community is not subject to poverty. Personal property is even considered a vice by Benedict as he writes in the Chapter 33 of his rule: Above all, this evil practice must be uprooted and removed from the monastery. We mean that without an order from the abbot, no one may presume to give, receive or retain anything as his own, nothing at all not a book, writing tablets or stylus - in short, not a single item, especially since monks may not have the free disposal even of their own bodies and wills. For their needs, they are to look to the father of the monastery, and are not allowed anything which the abbot has not given or permitted. All things should be the common possession of all, as it is written, so that no one presumes to call anything his own (Acts 4:32). (RB 33, 1–7) Poverty is an essential subject in monastic life. In fact, the article ‘poverty’ in the Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione is no less than 160 columns long! But poverty is also highly social and can only be defined with a reference point. For instance, in current society, the poverty line is an indicator that is regularly reviewed and that, according to its definition, allows the percentage of a population living above this line to be reduced. How does monastic poverty manifest itself and how is it defined according to the societies in which the communities are located? Or is it a spiritual interpretation of poverty that does not relate to objective criteria?

1 Objective poverty in monastic life a Criteria of objective poverty in monastic communities When talking about poverty in society, ‘the monetary dimension alone (lack of income) is not enough to [represent it]’ (Martin 2012, online). Indeed, ‘the signs of poverty of individuals are multiple: poor health, low or no income, insufficient education, precarious housing, difficult work, political disempowerment, undernourishment, a degraded environment, physical insecurity, etc.’ (id.). Do these indicators apply to monastic poverty? To speak of objective poverty also means investigating a type of poverty that can be quantified, which relates to a lack of essentials or a material inferiority. It is also associated with forms of social stigmatisation. Objectively, the level of poverty or conversely of wealth of monastic communities can be measured in absolute values (value of assets, operating surplus) or relative values, in relation to the society that surrounds them or in terms of dependence on external aid (presence or absence of financial autonomy). These criteria do not exclude the possibility of economic

86  What does monastic poverty mean today? mismanagement in some communities. In the monastic world, however, a distinction must be made between poverty that is desired, in response to  spiritual values, and poverty which is undesired, due to economic difficulties, which is generally quantifiable. Objective poverty, in the fact of not being able to meet all the needs of the community, is a dimension which is rarely found in monasticism and which in any case is not sought after. One can find this type of poverty – which corresponds to a standard of living below the poverty line according to official indicators – in extreme cases of ascetic virtuosity or at the origins of certain communities of the mendicant orders. However, it disappears in institutionalised communities. In fact, poverty, which can be qualified as real in the sense of lacking the essential means of existence, is considered excessive. It is detrimental to monastic communities as it takes away their ability to fulfil their other purposes, especially the search for God. Thus, in the 19th century, the Vicar General of the Trappists ‘devotes a long argumentation to the work and the means of fighting against a poverty which he considers excessive as soon as it becomes an obstacle to the regular life’ (Delpal 1994, p. 225). As already mentioned, it was also the aim of the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi in 1950 to denounce the excessive poverty of nuns’ communities. Some communities, however, find themselves in economic difficulties and are forced to cut back on expenses that would otherwise be essential. For example, the Cistercian community of Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic cannot, for financial reasons, heat its buildings sufficiently, where it is 12 to 13 degrees in winter, even if the prior gives an ascetic interpretation of this fact. Not all communities, whether in Europe or in Africa, are in economic equilibrium. As presented in the typology of sources of income, some monasteries – often founded recently – are dependent on external donations or grants. This does not include the Poor Clares, whose dependence on donations is part of their spirituality but includes communities of the Benedictine family for example, where financial autonomy is ne cessary for the conversion of a monastery into an abbey or to enable a newly founded monastery to be autonomous from its mother abbey. Monastic poverty, apart from some exceptions, is therefore not defined by the objective criterion of the lack of basic needs. Owing to their differing situations and history, communities do not have the same resources. Recently founded monasteries generally have fewer assets and are looking for the activity that will sustain them. The construction phase of a monastery can be associated with a simpler way of life, even poverty, until all the necessary comforts can be installed. An Argentinian monk who lived through the foundation of the Benedictine monastery in Siambón, Argentina, explains: Before I arrived at the old house, there was nothing at all. Nothing at all. So, I remember, even when I entered, three years after the foundation, that many young people came, because it was very attractive. So,

What does monastic poverty mean today?  87 we brought water. There was no running water. We did all this. Then the fireplaces, the electricity came much later…. We managed to bring electricity from the nearest town. But this work, we did it ourselves. … First the electricity, then we brought the telephone, then the Internet. (Br. Camilo, Argentina, 02.2018) As Brother Camilo’s words show, the destitution of the foundation phase can also be attractive to young recruits due to the radicality or ‘prophetic rupture’ (Hervieu-Léger 1986, p. 95) that it offers. This is what the monastery of Agbang in Togo also experienced in the early days, when the monks had only a small hut and slept on the floor; snakes came to visit them. These early days of deprivation, driven by radical conviction, serve as a founding myth for the cohesion of the community and as a basis for the history of the monastery. Monasteries that are being refounded after years of interruption caused by the political situation, such as the communities studied in the Czech Republic, face a difficult economic situation because on the one hand they have to rebuild an economy for the subsistence of the community, but on the other hand significant costs have to be incurred for the restoration of the buildings (Jonveaux & Spalová 2021). The prior of the Benedictine monastery of Břevnov in Prague explains that they need to generate a lot of income for the restoration of the buildings and that the grants allocated for this purpose are not enough. He adds: ‘We go back to the Benedictine tradition of producing what we need. Not to have golden doors but to be able to live’ (10.2016). As is the case of Vyšší Brod, the outbuildings linked to the economic activities (the brewery) were not restored at all during the entire communist period. The cost of the work and the investment to re-establish the economic activities are very high, and it is therefore difficult for these monasteries to be financially secure. The older monasteries, however, have an objective richness in their heritage. For instance, the patrimony of French monasteries, despite the loss of much of the estate after the revolution, is estimated at 4,580,000 euros on average, according to the Monastic survey, with a minimum of 100,000 euros and a maximum of 48,000,000 euros. Because of their buildings, many French communities would have to pay wealth tax – which is an undeniable recognition of wealth and would be a paradox to poverty – but they are exempted by their association status. However, the upkeep of these buildings is a huge burden on the communities and weighs on the finances of the monasteries. The costs for the restoration of buildings are usually covered, at least in part, when they are protected as historical monuments by the state. However, the costs of heating or daily maintenance are the responsibility of communities whose size no longer justifies the scale of the buildings in most cases. For example, at the French Benedictine abbey of Rosans, energy expenditure accounts for 8% of the total and 17% for the male monastery of Wisques. For Camaldoli (Italy) in 2007, the bursar said that the heating costs

88  What does monastic poverty mean today? amounted to between 20,000 and 30,000 euro per year. Due to the continuity of the monastic heritage in Austria, the monasteries in this ­country have a real wealth of heritage. Apart from the costs involved, this also has a direct impact on the image of monastic life, as will be shown below. However, the buildings are not always owned by the monastic communities. For instance, Camaldoli in Italy, which is a historical monument, belongs to the state and is leased to the monks for 99 years. Monastic ­buildings may represent an objective wealth because of their size and historicity, but they are more often a source of cost than of income for the communities. Compared to the above criteria of poverty, monastic poverty is, in most cases, not objective poverty. However, it does aim at an alternative behaviour towards consumer goods in a limited and just way, and how it is expressed in monastic life will be discussed below. b  Expenditure of monasteries: Influence of asceticism? Non-voluntary poverty is mainly observed in the volume and distribution of income. The asceticism of voluntary poverty, on the other hand, is seen in the distribution of expenditure and in the ability of each individual to spend. Here, expenditure concerns the domestic economy of the monastery and not its economic activities. The example below shows the monastic allocation of resources, using the repartition of expenditure from the male Benedictine abbey in Wisques, France, as a case study (Figure 5.1). The main item of expenditure is housing (40%), followed by food (13%). For the same year in France, the national statistics institute (INSEE) identifies that almost 31% of household expenditure is spent on housing, including appliances and furniture. Food products represent about 13% (excluding alcoholic beverages), clothing 4%, transport 13% and leisure 8%. Housing expenses are therefore significantly higher for monasteries than for the average household; the auditor estimates an average of 40% for French monasteries. The size of the buildings leads to high heating costs, and their age leads to high maintenance and renovation costs, but subsidies also exist, especially for monasteries recognised as historical monuments. Concerning food, it is not possible to observe any correlation between the ascetic lifestyle and the percentage of expenditure spent on food. However, there is a lower share of the budget spent on clothing (0.5%) and transport (3%). The leisure item is not present in the distribution of the community’s expenses. The bursar of Saint-Wandrille abbey says: In fact, as the average cost of living is relatively low, if you take out all the work, the maintenance of the buildings. … But we eat very well. I think that the community aspect plus the absence of external solicitations for personal enrichment due to the fact that there is no… The rhythm of life in the community is not exorbitant. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004)

What does monastic poverty mean today?  89

Figure 5.1 Distribution of expenditure of the Monastery in Wisques (France 2014).

Most monasteries try to have a lifestyle that is not better than the average in society, as a sister from the Venio monastery in Prague explicitly told us. A larger number of people living under the same roof allows for  economies  of scale, and they are often able to rationalise their decisions: We have a vegetable garden which allows for salads, leeks, but, in fact, what is really significant is that we cook everything. We bake a lot more cakes than we used to because we have actually found that a pie cut into five or six is cheaper than a piece of fruit. It is stupid but… The old monks don’t understand that, they say, ‘It is luxury’, I tell them, ‘No, it costs less’. The main thing is to have time, but as we have it, it is the same for us. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004)

90  What does monastic poverty mean today? Below is an example of how the rationality of asceticism enters into the smallest details of daily life, a ‘religious rationalisation of daily life’ (Jonveaux 2018a). A male monastery in Senegal, Keur Moussa, can be used as a comparison to the monastery in Wisques. In 2016, food accounted for almost 21% of the community’s expenditure and housing for almost 28%. This was followed by expenditure on health (12.4%) and transport (11.8%). Culture, which includes education and libraries, accounts for 6.4% of expenditure, followed by communication (2.3%) and old age (1.1%). Compared to the French monastery, a much larger share is devoted to food, but conversely a smaller share is devoted to housing. We find here what André Ardouin observed in his various audits in France and Africa, namely Engel’s law (Ardouin 2021, p. 664). ‘Engel’s Law states that the proportion of income spent on food is inversely related to income level’ (Birne & Capps 1996, p. 22). In this sense, the overall structure of expenditure within monastic communities reflects the structure of expenditure of the society in which they find themselves. A common feature of all the countries studied is the increase in the level of essential expenditure, which refers to an increase in the necessary comfort of a community. Asceticism is indeed a practice that can be said to be indexed to the standard of living in the society in general. Not all asceticism is always plausible in all societies (Jonveaux 2018a). For example, the asceticism of refusing personal hygiene is no longer plausible in today’s monastic life, linked to the retreat of what Norbert Elias calls the ‘threshold of drudgery’ (Elias 2010). The last few decades have seen the emergence of new needs in the communities, notably linked to communication technologies with internet connections. Most monasteries have W-lan connections and the tools linked to them: computers, mobile phones or smartphones, tablets, etc. The increase in these needs is also linked to a growing individualisation in monastic life, where the integrative force of the community loses its importance (Jonveaux 2018a). Individualisation increases costs by the multiplication of goods that were previously common goods, for instance communication tools, as more and more monastics have personal mobile phones and computers. However, the multiplication of personal cars, as in Austria, is also linked to the monks’ activities outside the monastery. An Italian monk already recognised this trend in 2007, when he said: I think that the monasteries today are facing the enormous challenge of how to respond to all the demands from the community itself, which necessarily is much greater than 15 years ago. In the sense of the subjective demands of some monks. … For example, the means of communication, the monastery is not totally free of them. And today the sensitivity of those who enter the monastery, the new generation, is not the same as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. In the monastery there were no telephones, there was nothing. (Camaldoli, 03.2007)

What does monastic poverty mean today?  91 The evolution of the average levels of comfort in the life of the monastic is not just about new media but also about more basic needs. A former abbot of La Pierre-qui-Vire, who entered in 1945 just after the war, observes a clear evolution in the level of comfort in monastic life: ‘The heating, the double glazing, it is incredible. It was always cold at La Pierre-qui-Vire! And now we have running water in the cells, each brother has running water. Hot or cold’ (04.2011). In addition to this, the renovation of monasteries normally includes providing the monastics with their own private bathroom, as the abbot of Jędrzejów in Poland points out. Newly founded monasteries in Africa, like Agbang in Togo, already are built with private bathrooms. Between the beginning of my investigations in 2004, where the communities repeatedly asked me to send a letter by post to explain my approach, and today, I have been able to observe the progressive arrival of digital means of communication in the monasteries. At present, I can contact all the monasteries I visit in the world by e-mail and I have also seen the arrival of W-lan in monastic guesthouses, especially from 2013 to 2014. Monastic asceticism is only established in relation to how plausible it is in each society and at a specific time in history. When we ask the question as to whether they have access to the internet, some monks reply that it goes without saying; otherwise, as an Austrian Cistercian monk says, ‘we could not use the car to go to Vienna, either, but would have to use horses instead’ (11.2011). In addition, society, especially in Europe, defines what could be called ‘imposed’ needs, represented by the system of standards. These safety or sanitary norms prescribe specific obligatory facilities that must be provided by the monasteries, both for the daily life of the community and for its economic activities. For example, the cells of elderly monastics and the infirmary must be equipped with a personal shower, which is not always the case in other cells. The cost of bringing the buildings up to standard is sometimes very high for the communities, so they call on outside help to carry out this work. In France, for example, the Fondation des Monastères helps with this.

2 Perception of poverty by society Monastic poverty is theoretically part of the testimony given to society of the utopian way of life. Because it touches on materiality, it is a tangible expression of utopia that is more difficult to grasp in its subjective dimensions. Aviad Kleinberg, speaking about the asceticism of the first monks of the desert, writes: ‘The systematic denial of the pleasures that society allows its members is – if it is publicly known – a statement that no society can ignore’ (Kleinberg 2005, p. 115). Asceticism, of which poverty is a part, is in itself a transgression which in a sense represents a challenge to society. Asceticism, however, is also by nature transgressive, because the new always emerges from the discounting of the common or accepted, or

92  What does monastic poverty mean today? from the rejection of the socialized acceptable, in order to move toward something which at once rejects that priority to construct a novelty. (Valantasis 1995, p. 800) How does society perceive monastic poverty? And how does this perception vary according to the social context in which the monastery is located? a Poverty in European monasteries: Perception of society At first sight, monasteries in Europe are often considered to be rich, although this varies from country to country. One reason is the size of the buildings, inherited from the past, and the lack of public knowledge regarding the financing of monastic communities. Beliefs about the direct financing of monasteries by the Vatican are still very much alive. A Trappist monk in Tamié, France, tells this anecdote: ‘When the facade was renovated, one of the workers there said: ‘Anyway, the Vatican is paying for all of this!’ Well, no, the Vatican didn’t pay for anything, and sometimes it is us who pay the Vatican’ (10.2008). Similarly, Didier Long, a former monk of La Pierre-qui-Vire, writes in his book these words from some tourists who were amazed by the monastery’s gutters: ‘It’s copper, it costs the skin of your ass! These monks are extremely rich! […] Anyway, these guys don’t do anything, it’s well known: they get a lot of money from the Vatican’ (Long 2005, p. 151). The same can also be observed in the Czech Republic: A German Benedictine sister from the Venio monastery in Prague told us in an interview that ‘Czech people donate less because they think it is paid for by the pope’ (10.2016). In countries where there is a Church tax (e.g. Germany) or a Church contribution (e.g. Austria), believers often think that monasteries are financed by this, which is not the case. A monk from Plankstetten in Germany says: It is important that people know that we don’t get anything from the Church tax. […] We get no support from the state. We have to produce everything we need. We have to pay for everything. Many people don’t understand this. There is a lack of information, people don’t know that we don’t get support. (12.2007) Therefore, there often exists the misconception that the institutional Church and the monasteries are assimilated as regards financing; the monasteries are seen as being a service which is subordinate to the Church. The second parameter that gives the impression of monasteries being wealthy are the buildings. Monastic communities have often been present in the same building for centuries. These are often imposing and, especially in Central Europe, were decorated with works of art during the baroque period. They play the role of ostentatious wealth, especially with the ceremonial

What does monastic poverty mean today?  93 halls (Kaisersaal for the emperor’s visits to the Austrian monasteries), which was desired at one time, but which no longer reflect the current position of the monasteries. A Cistercian nun in Austria said about monks: ‘They are founders, lords. But a monk is something else, in my opinion. We made a trip to Cîteaux with our community and witnessed the washing of the feet there; it was all very simple – that was very good’ (11.2011). Yet this prosperity of monasticism seems to be expected by part of society. Although being a monk does not mean social prestige in many European countries nowadays, it seems as though monks in Austria still enjoy a special social status. A Benedictine monk who was head of a monastic school told me in an interview: ‘For example, people say to me, you are a headmaster, why are you driving in a small car?’ And then further: ‘That is incomprehensible to me. But for people it was just that the monks were masters’ (06.2012). The ascetic level of monastic life can only be measured in the context of local society. In Austria, the asceticism expected of monks does not concern the external signs of wealth. A 27-year-old Benedictine monk from Sankt-Paul, Austria, says: On the one hand, I always say that I am a monk. The feeling is still there, this arrogance, that’s not us. Here this discipline, you feel like a monk, you want to use every advantage, live in luxury, so you don’t notice anything of asceticism anyway. (02.2015) However, as stated above, the maintenance of the buildings is also responsible for the high level of expenditure within the monastic communities. The acceptance of monastic wealth in Austria, which, as we have seen, is not possible in this form in France because of its history, is undoubtedly linked to the social role played by the monasteries; through the schools, the service in the parishes, and the employment within the community, all of which give them a presence in society. In this respect, the policy of Emperor Joseph II has achieved its aim of not leaving the religious communities socially ‘useless’. The social services they provide seem to legitimise their wealth since they are also used for social purposes. b Europe: The question of household The organisation of a monastery’s household is often revealing, with regard to the concrete simplicity of monastic life, in comparison to the respective standard of living of the society in which it is located. The everyday life of society provides the standard by which one can derive the socially acceptable asceticism of the virtuosi. This social yardstick makes it possible to define the plausible poverty or wealth or comfort of the monasteries. In the context of an evaluation of monastic comfort, the question of household is meaningful. In a study of Italian monasteries, Giovanni

94  What does monastic poverty mean today? Dalpiaz, Camaldolese monk and sociologist, has shown that the proportion of communities that can afford external employees for household activities is much higher than the average in society. He distinguishes between cleaning the premises, cooking, caring for the elderly, doing the laundry and gatekeeping. The kitchen and laundry are those household tasks for which most communities are entirely dependent on external staff (Dal Piaz 1991, p. 17). Lorenzo Saraceno, Camaldolese of the same community, claims: ‘The diffuse decline of personal responsibility is almost inevitable for practical or physically demanding tasks, so that external personnel are increasingly called upon for these: a luxury that normal families cannot afford’ (2004, p. 15). Here, however, a distinction must be made between tasks that concern the individual monastic and those concerning the whole community. It is also necessary to be aware of the responsibility towards groups that do not belong to the community. In many male monasteries in Austria, meals are offered to the employees and students of the monastic school. If the community were to do this itself, it would have to assign several monks to the task. In Kremsmünster, for example, six employees work in the kitchen. Since the monks often work outside the monastery, it is common in Austria for a cleaning lady to clean their rooms, do the laundry and carry out small sewing jobs on their clothes. In women’s monasteries, on the other hand, the question does not arise as to whether the sisters should have their cells cleaned by a cleaning lady. Also, the laundry is done by the nuns themselves; sometimes it is a service for the whole community. Sisters increasingly perceive this as inequality. In France, the majority of the monks also do the cleaning and laundry themselves, like in apostolic communities where friars often have an activity outside the convent. In an interview, a Dominican was a bit surprised when I asked him who does the laundry for him as it was so natural for him to do it himself. In the German-speaking world too, a change is emerging. The rector of the College of Saint Benedict in Salzburg – a house for Benedictine students, who are studying Theology in Salzburg – comes from a German monastery where it is normal to clean one’s own cell. Here in Salzburg, however, it is still different – foreign sisters clean for the Benedictine students. The rector sees this as problematic and would like to change it. This division of labour that still exists contributes to the differing perception that prevails in society of monks and nuns. Monks, for example, enjoy a higher social standing than the average person in society, but this cannot be said for nuns. Being able to afford personal services in our society entails a certain social prestige. A Benedictine monk in Lower Austria said in an interview that he actually lives very comfortably and is perhaps less ascetic in this respect than many lay people, who have to cook, clean and wash for themselves. However, he does not think this is right and questions the internal household organisation of his monastery:

What does monastic poverty mean today?  95 As far as food is concerned, we live in luxury. They certainly live more modestly and simply. They probably cook themselves. What is left over at our place is not eaten. […] There are points where I see a need for action. […] For example, how we deal with bread. What happens to the old bread - is it processed further? We pay little attention to whether it is thrown away. Others do that for us. There is always fresh bread on the table. […] What is important to me is what happens to the leftovers. At the moment, the kitchen doesn’t serve leftover food a second time for hygiene reasons. I think that is a pity. (Fr. Patrick, Austria, 06.2012) The question of providing provisions for the household is thus re-emerging today in a new form that is also linked to the perception of this work in society. It is increasingly becoming a question linked to the identity of monastic life. The way in which the monks regard the question of housework reveals at the same time a change in the social status of the monks who no longer wish or, due to their current plausibility or lack thereof, perhaps cannot even have a privileged status in society. c Africa: Which perception of poverty? What does monastic poverty mean in poor countries, where monastics have a greater quality of life than the majority of people in their society? As we can read in the entry ‘Poverty’ of the Dizionario degli istituti di perfezione: For monks, the fact that they own the resources of life places them in a high rank on the social ladder, and they cannot call themselves ‘poor’ unless they give a different meaning to the common language. This becomes a particularly acute social problem in monasteries owning large farms in Third World countries, where land grabbing by large landowners is the main source of poverty of the masses. (Darricau 1983, p. 361) The monks in most of the monasteries in Africa have a higher standard of living than the majority of the local population. Brother André Ardouin calculated for his audits in European and African monasteries that the cost of a monk or nun per day in Western Africa is about 7,000 to 8,000 Francs CFA, which is a third of the cost of that in European monasteries, but the local population lives on average 1,000 Francs CFA per day. Thus, the cost of a sister per day, which is on average 7,844 F (11.95 €) in Toffo, is about a third of that in a French female monastery but infinitely more than for the people living in the vicinity of the monastery. ‘This disproportion [between the monastics and the local population] varies from 1 to 3, and sometimes from 1 to 10, when the community arrives directly from Europe’ (Ardouin 2021, p. 675). The higher standard of living in the monasteries can be explained

96  What does monastic poverty mean today? by factors such as access to water and electricity but also by healthcare. In communities founded by Europeans, the latter brought with them lifestyle standards that explain the higher costs. Nevertheless, the reality of the monastery’s standard of living is not always in line with the image perceived from the outside world, especially in a context where little is still known about monastic life. More particularly, in Nairobi, Kenya, the superior of the Benedictine Study House told me that it is difficult to give an image of poverty when the monasteries and other religious communities were built in the European quarter, which has since become chic and expensive. Thus, the monastery of the Benedictine nuns of the Tutzing congregation is located in the Karen district, which Cherel describes as a ‘garden city’, ‘very well-to-do residential areas with very low densities’ (Cherel 1994, p. 200). The Benedictine Student House is located in the Langata neighbourhood, which Cherel also lists as one of Nairobi’s ‘garden cities’. Nairobi is in fact a city built from scratch as a result of colonisation, where Africans are long classified as non-residents in the city and every effort is made (using the South African model) to keep them out or control their influx. The ‘city’ is in fact designed for whites and whites only, with Africans having only a marginal place in this urban space. (Cherel 1994, p. 47) As a result, despite its social commitment, the Karen monastery has an image of wealth from the outside. One of the sisters explains: Of course, when they see a sister driving, they say ‘Sister, you are driving a big car’, but you know sometimes you explain to them that I drive the car for the community. I don’t have my own car and if they come and they say ‘Just drive me there’, they have to know that it is a process. I don’t just go get the key and go, I have to inform the superior, I have to inform the sister in charge of the cars to let me know if there is a car which is free and they have to give me permission, so that is really poverty, because I can’t just go. (Sr. Ludivine, Kenya, 02.2014) The perception of monastic wealth or poverty refers to the objective standard of living of the community but does not necessarily take into account the subjective level for each monastic. As in Europe, the monastic standard of living is seen through the prism of its material assets. The perception of poverty is distorted by real estate (buildings) and equipment but also by land ownership. It is not uncommon for conflicts to arise between the local population and the monastic communities over the distribution of land. Thierry Yameogo, for example, has

What does monastic poverty mean today?  97 studied the land conflicts around the women’s and men’s monasteries of Koubri in Burkina Faso, with the population reproaching the monks for having ‘acquired [the land] for free as private property’ (Yameogo 2021, p. 652). The monastery that claims to live in poverty is also the one that, in the eyes of the population, deprives them of access to land and natural resources. It should be pointed out here that since contemplative monasteries are often located in remote areas of the bush, their neighbours are generally poorer than the average population, or even semi-nomadic, as is the case with the Fulani people found near the monasteries of Agbang in Togo, Keur Moussa in Senegal or Kokoubou in Benin. The forest near the Agbang monastery was burnt down a few weeks before my visit in 2013, probably by neighbours who wanted to protest against the fact that the monastery did not give them access to it to fetch wood. From the outside, therefore, African monasteries do not immediately give testimony of poverty. On the contrary, they appear to be those who can provide for the population. The Agbang monastery, which defines itself as founded by an African for African people, is careful not to create too great a disparity in the standard of living between the monastery and the local population, even though it coexists with its Fulani neighbours. According to the founder Father Boniface Tiguila: ‘From the beginning these notions of ‘simpler’, ‘closer to the people’ and ‘more African’ were clear’. This focus on reducing inequalities is reflected in some of the dimensions of daily life, for example eating corn dough every night with sauce, which the monks see as an important marker of the fact that they do not live much better than the average local population. The asceticism of the food, in its simplicity and repetition, is a clear point of poverty. This regime is made possible by the fact that no Europeans have ever been part of this community, unlike, for example, the communities studied in Benin, where the sisters explained the adaptations made to the meals so that Europeans and Africans could get along. A monk who went to work in the chicken coop one morning with a T-shirt full of holes told me that it was important for him to show by his clothes that they are not much richer than the workers. One brother explains: If someone is lacking something, he comes. Otherwise, our standard of living is not very high compared to others. The gap does exist, if only in access to water and electricity or in medical care, but it is true that it is smaller than in other monasteries. (03.2013) Poverty is therefore not only an internal dimension of monastic life or an individual dimension at the level of each monk or nun, but it also plays a role in the perception of monasticism from outside. This perception can become a counter-testimony when the objective economic comfort of the monastics is clearly higher than the local standard.

98  What does monastic poverty mean today?

3 Lived poverty in daily monastic life: A subjective dimension? The traditional conception of monastic poverty, whatever the order, considers the renunciation of property on the personal level as a first and central step in this virtue. As already quoted, St. Benedict is vehement about property in his rule. In today’s reality, the situation of monastics in their relationship to goods and money is very different between communities, even within the same order. a Monastic poverty on the individual level Monastics theoretically possess nothing of their own but nevertheless need articles of consumption in their daily life. The mode of access to consumer goods and money is an important part of the definition of poverty at the individual level. Five ways can be identified. I do not distinguish between the different continents because each of these ways can be found in each of the different countries, sometimes with a greater weight given to one or other of the models. This can also depend on the sex of the community. The first configuration is that of monastics (less often for nuns than monks) who hold a salaried position (e.g. teacher or parish priest) and who receive their salary into a personal account. Depending on the community, this salary may or may not be transferred to the community’s account. In some Austrian monasteries, the monks keep most of their salary in their own account and therefore buy what they need with this money. In other communities, monastics pay back into the community account and therefore receive necessary personal goods in the same way as everyone else. In the Benedictine community of Venio in Prague, the sisters first pay the social security contributions before transferring the money to the community account. Not keeping a salary for oneself is, according to the novice master in Jędrzejów, an important symbol of dependence: It is also financial dependence in the sense that we may not keep what we earn here, whether we run a retreat or teach. … Therefore, we do not have the money like everyone else; we earn it, we give it away, we are dependent, half or not half, just for the monastery. We give everything we earned for the retreat, bring it, we don’t earn the money for ourselves. (Poland, 05.2019) In this configuration, the monks keep part of the salary which they use to buy what they personally need. But we can already see here that poverty is understood as dependence on the community, but not as lacking in anything. The second configuration is where the monastics have to ask the superior or cellarer for money to buy what they need. Depending on the situation, monastics may receive pocket money, for example 40 euros per month in Europe, and ask for more when they need to buy more expensive things

What does monastic poverty mean today?  99 such as a pair of shoes, or they may have no money of their own and ask for money for all their needs. This configuration and those that follow generally concern communities where the monastics do not have a personal bank account. An Austrian Cistercian sister explains: ‘When I make solemn profession, I no longer have the possibility of having an account. But it is also in our Rule of Order’. In European societies, not having an account is a clear sign of dependence, if not poverty, as only 8% of the population in OECD countries did not have access to an account in 2021 (Statista). There may be a room from which the monks and nuns can take the products and articles they need for their daily consumption, or they have to ask a brother or sister who is in charge of these items. In La Pierre-qui-Vire for instance: We have a brother who is in charge of all the clothes, all the sewing and he has a certain number of clothes in stock in his cupboards, so when we need something, we go and see him. It can happen that he says, well, I have got nothing, we will have to go and buy somewhere, so in that case, we give the brother a certain amount but…we have no personal money, we have no pocket money. (Abbot, France, 11.2005) Finally, the last configuration, which is more often found in women’s monasteries, is the one where everything is received as a donation or where everything must be requested, sometimes in writing. A sister from the Venio monastery in Prague who spent some years in a community in Poland says: ‘In Poland we had to write down every year the things we needed. It makes you realise that it doesn’t belong to you’. Asking for it marks a higher level of dependency than being able to choose consumer items oneself with money received in advance or even to choose goods freely in a dedicated room. Especially when it also concerns hygiene articles or even articles of intimate hygiene (Jonveaux 2015), a sister in Benin explains: ‘Everything is requested, shoes, toothpaste, soap, everything everything.’. A notable distinction arises when the person to whom the personal items are requested occupies a hierarchically superior position, for example the superior of the community. The hierarchical dimension induces a higher level of control and proves to be a control of intimacy in the case of intimate hygiene, which can lead in some cases to abuses of authority. An important aspect of poverty is therefore dependence, which is represented by the fact of not being able to buy anything of one’s own to not having personal money. A French Benedictine woman explained: ‘And for us, poverty is not the poverty of the Poor Clares, it is dependence. To depend on the community, for my food, accepting the menu of today, even if I don’t like it very much’ (08.2012). Financial dependence on the community means not having personal savings that would provide security in case of leaving religious life. A young Austrian Benedictine monk told in an interview:

100  What does monastic poverty mean today? I have an account, but this account is actually not… 300€ and what I need in money I get from Father X. And there I really get what I need. So, I get 160 euros a month first of all, and if that is too little, I can ask for more, I can have money. I do need more if I travel a lot, or need clothes, or go to the cinema, but I don’t have a savings account…. […] What I need, I need, but I don’t want to either have more money, or savings. (Austria, 02.2012) Not having direct access to money is a way of experiencing not having any possessions, but it is also a way of controlling poverty. This control used to mean – and still does in some communities – the impossibility of receiving gifts for oneself without informing the superior and possibly having to share them with the community. One dimension of monastic poverty is therefore the impossibility of having direct access to goods and money. Another way of experiencing poverty is through the sharing of common goods. In communities with only a few cars to share between monastics, this sharing is often seen as a sign of poverty. Fr. Steven, prior of Our Lady of Mount Kenya, explains: We are living monastic poverty in a manner that everything is common. We have the common understanding when one monk needs something he has to come and get it from the common supply, nobody owns something of his own, we share. Same dining hall, same sitting room, supply for the basic needs from the same supply, when one wants to travel to go to somewhere we use the same car. (Fr. Steven, Kenya, 02.2014) An Austrian Benedictine sister also quotes the example of the cars: ‘We have this lived poverty in the sense, with the car for example or, this really modest lifestyle!’ (Steinerkirchen, 11.2012). Among the shared goods, the monastics also often mention the case of the television; when the communities actually have one, it is shared between the whole community. However, computers and mobile phones are becoming more and more individually owned in most communities. Finally, in some communities, another aspect of poverty is the non-attachment to a place, including their cell. At Gaudium Mariae in Argentina, for example, the Benedictine sisters change cells every year at Easter. They are therefore unable to make this place their own. At L’Écoute in Benin, the change of rooms only concerns the novices, so they can learn how to take care of the place and the material goods which do not belong to them. Financial dependence and the sharing of common goods are therefore two main dimensions that define monastic poverty on the individual level today. Monastic poverty could therefore be defined in part by the absence of autonomy in financial matters and the disposal of material goods.

What does monastic poverty mean today?  101 b  Subjective poverty in Europe According to Jean Séguy, a monastery is a utopia of a ‘classless micro-­ society’ (1971, p. 331), theoretically therefore, without inequalities. A major step towards greater equality was taken in 1965 with the abolition of the different classes of monastics (choir and lay monastics). However, other inequalities still are present, depending on whether the monastics receive a sa­lary from outside world or not. In the monastery of Jędrzejów, the monks try to solve this form of inequality: We have a rule: If they have no source of income, they are not employed at school, they are not, for example… We have a chaplain in a hospital who is full-time in the hospital and gets paid for it. Those who have no official source of income get pocket money. (05.2019) This pocket money amounts to 100 Zloty per month (about 22 euros). Although communities did not report tensions over differences in income or access to money, it is likely that they exist in a latent state. Not using money and carrying out financial transactions lead to a loss of understanding of economic reality. Thus, the bursar of Saint-Wandrille declares: ‘A brother, apart from those who are in the economic field, no longer has the value of things, because he has no money, he earns no money, he spends no money’. The monks who live outside the economy only realise how out of touch they are with the world when they return to it. For example, those who go to study away from their abbey have to face economic autonomy again, thanks to a budget allocated by the community. The ­bursar of Saint-Wandrille mentions the case of a monk stu­ dying in Strasbourg: ‘He said to me, ‘I am discovering the price of things’. […] ‘A  baguette is expensive!’ (laughs)’. Similarly, Didier Long, after ten years at La Pierre-qui-Vire, finding himself back in a supermarket, wrote: ‘Everywhere there was a need for money. I hadn’t touched a bank note for ten years’ (2005, p. 248). This loss of economic reality responds on the one hand to the extramundane asceticism of extracting oneself from these transactions but on the other hand no longer relates to the term poverty as it is understood in society, where the allocation of available resources to meet needs is a central element. This is a poverty that is largely disconnected from the poverty as experienced in society: an extramundane poverty. Whatever the standard of living of their community, monastics live their vow of poverty at an individual level in different ways, according to their objective and subjective relationship to materialism. Conscious and vo­luntary renunciation in order to observe simplicity are also experienced on an individual level. A Benedictine sister from Steinerkirchen in Austria explains:

102  What does monastic poverty mean today? Of course, I have to make sure that I am integrated into society. I also go to Linz in civilian clothes, and I make sure that I dress modestly. Don’t buy the most expensive things, buy something that is not too expensive. I make sure that I don’t stand out, negatively, but I also make sure that I don’t spend too much money and that I appear modest. And for example, if there is something I don’t like to eat, I will not criticise, I think others are happy to have something to eat. There is already the possibility to live that in everyday life. E.g. also housing, and clothing, and grooming, little setting. Or I will refuse to drive in a car that costs 20,000 €. (Sr. Gerti, Austria, 11.2012) From this quotation, we learn that there must be a balance and this ­differs depending on the society in which the monastics live. Excessive poverty would not make them more plausible because it does not constitute the essence of the monastic message today. c  Africa: Living in monastic poverty in a poor country Monastic poverty experienced at the level of the individual takes on different meanings according to the context and, in particular, according to the individual’s original standard of living before entering monastic life. Monastic poverty can represent a challenge in the social context of material poverty, especially when the standard of living in the monastery is higher than the average standard of living in society. The relationship to poverty is indeed different depending on the social background of the monastics. A sister in Karen, Nairobi, explains that postulants come from very different milieus: They are mixed. Some are really from poor families, very poor, some are from wealthy families. When they come here and you have to make a balance for both of them you know, this one had everything, this one had nothing. Sometimes it is a challenge, but it is possible. (Sr. Luce, 02.2014) It is difficult at first for new recruits who come from poorer backgrounds, and whose standard of living was lower than that of the monastery, to learn about monastic poverty. Brother Ian, who I met in Nairobi, explains about his monastery in Uganda: But then for example the possession, this was a big problem at the beginning. Those who joined did not understand that this is a monastery, we have to live a simple life, it is kind of an environment where people are poor, to pay a witness - the best way I could say we pay a witness is through the services that we render. (Fr. Ian, Kenya, 02.2014)

What does monastic poverty mean today?  103 The dimension of poverty is difficult to grasp for those who, from the outside, see a higher standard of living in the monastery than their own. In the same vein, the mistress of novices of L’Écoute in Benin (a French women) explains: It is not easy. Because when we start talking about poverty, they will open their eyes, because they will have a cell all to themselves, which they never have at home. They will have the assurance of a meal, which is not always the case. Some of our aspirants do not have enough to eat every day. (03.2019) Understanding monastic poverty by using this term can indeed lead to misunderstandings on the part of postulants, who experienced a lower standard of living at home than in the monastery. Their poor background may make it more difficult for monastics to use the monastery’s goods in a manner consistent with the vow of poverty. For example, in 2014 the superior of the Benedictine Study House in Nairobi told me that young student monks have difficulty in limiting their use of the internet, because they do not have access to it at home and are confronted with something new. While poverty in African monastic life does not mean having access to fewer comforts or goods than at home, it does mean less freedom to dispose of these goods. An African sister in Benin makes the same point with female postulants: Sometimes there is a tendency for those who have lived more poorly to spend more than those who have lived in wealth. There are some who have lived in wealth but are moving into poverty. Others have always lived in poverty, but they use things in any way. Monastic poverty starts with small things. Be careful what you do. You have a bowl, be careful if it is breakable. Sometimes I have to tell them, if you were at home and you had to live, work, buy, would you waste things like that. It makes them think. […] When I came, I was alone, I was the one who bought this or that. I know how I did it. I am not going to waste. (L’Étoile, 03.2019) Conversely, sisters who come from more affluent backgrounds may experience poverty at an objective level, as this Trappist sister in Benin, who herself comes from Nigeria, points out. What touched me a lot, Mother Monique took me to the dormitory, I saw this poverty, she told me you only have your bed, your space and the shower next to it. You don’t even have a place to put your things. There is no wardrobe? No, you put under the mattress. You put it under the mat. You lie down. I cried tears of joy, I found what I was looking for for a long time. (Sr. Barbara, Benin, 02.2019)

104  What does monastic poverty mean today? She explains that on her first trip to Benin in 2005 to visit the monastery, she was shocked at how poor the countryside was compared to Nigeria. The fundamental difference between monastic poverty as a value and poverty in society lies in the free choice of renouncing goods that is made as part of monastic life. Again, it is not, in most cases, a matter of suffering through want. As we already quoted it from the entry ‘Poverty’ of the Dizionario delgi istituti di perfezione: For monastics, the fact that they own the resources of life places them in a high rank on the social ladder, and they cannot call themselves ‘poor’ unless they give a different meaning to the common language. This becomes a particularly acute social problem in monasteries owning large farms in Third World countries, where land grabbing by large landowners is the main source of poverty of the masses. (Darricau 1983, p. 361) Poverty needs to be redefined in terms that do not refer to an objective material lack. For example, a Trappist sister in Benin explains: I said, we have what we need, but we are careful not to waste too much. But poverty as such, personally, I feel it on other levels. For example, we experience poverty in… It is hot, very hot, we would like to have this or have that, to drink something, well, we can’t! …But if I were elsewhere, I could allow myself certain things, but here I can’t. So, I live it this way. (Sr. Marie-Faustine, Benin, 03.2019) In this example, poverty does not mean not having the necessary resources or the response to expressed needs, but the choice not to access to them. Sister Bernadette from Karen says: ‘In my daily life, it is just that what I need is the only thing I need. I don’t need any more than what I need and what is necessary’. Here we come back to Amarty Sen’s concept of capability, where poverty is not only defined by objective resources but by the possibility of producing well-being from these resources. In the monastic setting, the lack of freedom to use or obtain resources is a voluntary choice, unlike other situations of poverty in society (Bisiaux 2011). Monks and nuns choose not to have free access to goods, but this does not mean that they are in need. In this sense, monastic poverty, in comparison with objective poverty, means the voluntary choice to no longer have free access to consumer goods. This is illustrated in the following interview extract with the French novice mistress of L’Écoute in Benin: The cellarer sister prepares distributions every three months, we have a jar of washing powder which will suffice for three months. Soap, the same thing, etc. Of course, if there is anything, we will say so. This is very good for education, for the economy. And what I could have

What does monastic poverty mean today?  105 consumed in three months, to consume it in one month. To be aware, to be able to measure. That is part of the pedagogy to be taken into consideration. That is where our poverty really comes in. It is also very good in relation to culinary dishes. Poverty in this dimension. That is to say, if you have a fruit or a vegetable that is spoiled, learn to peel it, to cook it. Let it not be, oh the thing has something, so I eliminate. When they arrive, they all have this reflex. … Afterwards, they see the benefits. Then there is also this dimension, well, at the table I don’t choose. I take what I am given. That is part of being poor. (Sr. Calix, Benin, 03.2019) It is clear, then, that poverty, as a part of asceticism, has to be learned; the sister speaks about pedagogy. The same idea can be found by Sister Barbara from L’Étoile: Sometimes I send them back there because I know they don’t need it, that they have wasted too much. They go to see the cellarer and when they get there, she tells them, ‘Why did you waste it? Sometimes I even show them how to use the soap. If you put a quantity like that, your soap won’t lather. Put a little bit of water. Soap is enough. (laughs) Some people don’t understand. (Sr. Barbara, Benin, 03.2019) Both of these interview extracts show that consumer goods are available at the community level and are therefore not lacking; however, their economical use is the responsibility of the individual. This type of poverty is also about sharing a common condition and living this asceticism together in the community. This also means that poverty is not a goal in itself, like other dimensions of asceticism, but rather it is like a training that aims for the detachment from material goods – symbolically earthly goods – in order to concentrate on God and on the goods of salvation. The higher standard of living in the monastery can also attract people who do not have a solely religious purpose. For this reason, there is a longer training period before taking the formal vows. In most African communities, the novitiate lasts two years instead of one, as in Europe. Karen’s novice mistress, herself German, says of the postulants: Is it really an attraction to follow Christ on this path? It is a difficult situation, because it is not uncommon, or I would say, the majority grew up without running water at home and without electricity and that makes a big difference. (02.2014) Indeed, Sister Louise from the same community explains that at home she had only two meals a day (morning and evening) and at the monastery she

106  What does monastic poverty mean today? has five, counting the two tea breaks. When people from the outside ask her if she needs anything, she says that she can eat as much as she wants. In this sense, the monastery represents a place of economic security and abundance. The reality of the monastery’s standard of living does not always correspond to the image perceived from the outside, especially in a context where little is still known about monastic life. The surrounding social poverty does not, nevertheless, render monastic poverty obsolete but rather obliges the monastics to accentuate other aspects of their way of life which will be, according to the social context, less objective and more subjective. d Subjective poverty: Poverty as spirituality? Defining monastic poverty by using objective criteria is therefore difficult, especially given the fact that it is defined differently according to the local socio-economic context. In order to overcome this aporia and to retain a value that is applicable regardless of time or place, poverty is defined essentially in a subjective manner and according to its spiritual dimension. Poverty becomes, therefore, a spiritual rather than an objective value, which is similar to the Simple Life or alternative movements, where the reduction of consumption and property is a personal and justified choice made without financial constraints. The primary attributes of the simple life include: thoughtful frugality; a suspicion of luxuries; a reverence and respect for nature; a desire for self-sufficiency; a commitment to conscientious rather than conspicuous consumption; a privileging of creativity and contemplation over possessions; an esthetic preference for minimalism and functionality; and a sense of responsibility for the just uses of the world’s resources. (Alexander 2011, p. 135) Poverty as a spiritual option is actually experienced as much in countries where the standard of living within monastic life is lower or equal to that of society (e.g. Europe) as in those where monastic life has a higher standard of living than the average in society (e.g. Africa). Comparing the interviews between the European and African monastics, however, a difference becomes clear in the monasteries’ approach to material life. For those whose standard of living in the monastery is slightly lower than or equal to that of their original environment, poverty is lived out in small, conscious and justified acts of renunciation. For those whose original standard of living was lower than that, of the monastery, the relationship with the material goods and comfort offered by life in the monastery may present more difficulties – a sober relationship regarding consumption within monastic life presents more asceticism. It is not a renunciation per se but a moderate relationship with regard to consumption.

What does monastic poverty mean today?  107 The term sobriety, used when talking about alternative consumption, is also increasingly used in monastic life. For example, a 2018 document on the economy of congregations, written by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, states: ‘The simpli­city, sobriety and austerity of life of consecrated persons give them complete freedom in God’ (Congregazione 2018, p. 19). The fact that there is no real lack of the necessities, but that the choice is made voluntarily to limit consumption, shows that the aim of this sobriety goes beyond the use of goods. Poverty has been and continues to be a value of monastic life in all places and at all times, because its goal is not simply limiting the use of goods, but rather there is a global approach to materialism, dependence and an ascetic denial of impulse. As the interview excerpts show, limitation in consumption is not a given in monastic life but rather a constantly developing aspect of asceticism. The approach to poverty in monastic life therefore applies to materialism but finds its meaning essentially in the spirituality that supports it, rather than in an objective dimension that varies according to the context.

Note 1 https://ourladyofthepearlcom681.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/rule_st_clare.pdf.

6

Specificities of female monasteries

It is important to make a section dedicated to the specificities of women’s monasteries or, in other words, to the differences concerning the economy between men’s and women’s monasteries. Catholic monastic life is usually built around the sexual segregation of men and women as a condition for ascetic achievement. Some double monasteries have existed in history, just as the mixing of the sexes in communities at different levels appears to be a characteristic of the new monastic communities studied by Stefania Palmisano (2015). However, the so-called traditional communities studied here are communities built around gender homogeneity. Disparities between male and female monasteries, including in the economy, are apparent, even though many live by the same rule, for example the Benedictine rule. What are these disparities and how can they be explained? I will focus here only on the differences in work and economic activity, as I have studied the more general disparities in another article (Jonveaux 2015). It should be pointed out here that the economy of the monasteries of nuns, from both an historical and a sociological point of view, has been studied very little. Thus, Max Weber does not mention the case of nuns at all. As for Philibert Schmitz (1942–1949), a Belgian monk and author of the monumental History of the Order of St. Benedict, he devotes only the seventh volume, the last one, to the nuns, who are absent from the other six, as if they were only an ancillary and residual reality, on the fringes of this great history. However, statistics on monastic life show that in most countries today, the population of nuns is larger than that of monks. According to the statistics of the Catholic Church, in 2018, there were 186,466 male religious brothers and 659,445 female religious sisters in the world, including monastic and apostolic orders. The share of women is therefore significantly higher, which is partly explained by the possibility of men becoming diocesan priests. However, while women make up the majority of the monastic population, a minority of the studies are devoted to them.

1 Nuns in the economic history of the monastery, near and far In the same way as for men’s communities, knowing the economic history of women’s communities helps in understanding their current situation. DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-7

Specificities of female monasteries  109 Few texts attest to a debate concerning work in female monasteries. The most likely scenario is that they follow the path of the male monasteries, upon which they are in any case dependent. As early as the monastic period (400–700), a division of tasks was established that did not differ greatly from that of the laity. According to Adalbert de Vogüé, in the High Middle Ages around the monastery, monks and nuns are engaged in manual work. The women weave wool and make clothes. The men cultivate the garden, carry out handicrafts and, if necessary, go out to graze the herds or bring in the harvest. (Vogüe 1985, p. 50) In a society where the division of labour assigned women to domestic work, the nuns usually devoted themselves to needlework, which was useful not only for them, but also for the monks, for whom they made vestments and liturgical ornaments. ‘It should be noted here that the nuns often worked not only for the needs of their own house, but also for the men’s monasteries and for the churches’ (Schmitz 1956, p. 22). Thus, the gender division of labour in society is reflected in the monastic environment. Gradually, women’s communities became economically based on the dowries that the nuns brought with them when they entered the monastery. Work no longer had any productive significance for them, and even the dowry was tacitly intended to ensure that young girls of noble origin did not have to work for a living. The size of the dowry guaranteed that the girl, who had entered the convent for reasons that were often more patrimonial than religious, would retain the dignity of her position in society. Monasteries where manual work is practised have a wider net of recruitment, and consequently, the social divisions of society are reflected in the monasteries. According to Loysel, the dowry can be defined as ‘the sum which the parents of the novice, or the novice herself, bring as a dowry to the convent into which she wishes to enter, in order to cover, by means of this dowry, the personal expenses which she must incur for this convent’ (Loysel 1908, p.  5). Dowries were not specifically reserved for women’s monasteries, but according to Dinet they were a vital resource for them, unlike men’s monasteries which had other sources of income (Dinet 2011, p. 17). Carmelites, however, had an earlier tradition of remunerative work, with Teresa of Avila’s (1515–1582) desire that the sisters earn their own living. A French Carmelite sister explains: At that time women were not supposed to earn a living, the monasteries lived more from their income, from all… So, she [Teresa of Avila] really wanted to integrate the work dimension. I think because it allowed a certain autonomy of the monasteries with regard to the people of the cities and the countryside. (Sr. Charline, 06.2008)

110  Specificities of female monasteries Earning a living made women autonomous from men, something that has long been strictly controlled in Western societies. By the 1940s, the dowries had gradually disappeared from the rituals of entry into monastic life. With the disappearance of dowries and the loss of their patrimony during the Revolution, followed by the nationalisation of the congregations’ property, many women’s monasteries found themselves in a state of great poverty after World War II. This was denounced by Pope Pius XII in his apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi. ‘Actually, there are not a few Monasteries which, alas, are on the verge of extinction from hunger, misery and want; there are many which, because of domestic difficulties, are leading a hard and intolerable life’ (Pius XII 1950, p. 8). He encouraged nuns’ monasteries to find profitable work, which for most contemplative communities meant a real turning point in their economy. As a French sister said in an interview, talking about the time before this apostolic letter, ‘in those days, women were not expected to earn a living’. According to Sister Benoît Garret, who wrote a booklet about the economy of nuns’ monasteries, this constitution was an important change in the mentality regarding the productive and fully economic work of the nuns: ‘Minds had long since evolved and many steps had already been taken, but it was impossible to walk deliberately in that direction’ (Garret 2006, p. 9). The Pope’s constitution meant that the highest authority in the Church had legitimized economic activity and the earning of money by women’s monasteries. Economic activity, therefore, was no longer regarded as being sinful, and it was allowed to become part of the life of the monasteries. The economy of women’s monasteries in its present form is, therefore, a recent reality in Europe. The entry of female monasteries into the productive economy is a recent development and explains some of the differences observed between men’s and women’s monasteries. Furthermore, women’s communities, all over the world, have never had a large land and property portfolio like the monks. For the seven communities in West and Central Africa, the average is 58 hectares for women and 233 for men. The difference must be even more striking in countries where the activity of male monasteries is based on land ownership, as in Austria. For example, the Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz own 30 hectares of land and the Cistercian sisters of Marienkron, founded only in 1955, own only 20 hectares of arable land.

2 Inequalities between male and female monasteries concerning economic activities The differences between male and female communities concerning the economy are visible on several levels: the type of work, the type of economic activity, the relationship to the economy and the management of the economy. Some of these differences seem to be related to gender norms. For

Specificities of female monasteries  111 example, Mikaela Sundberg has studied the differences between monks and nuns in the relationship to the authority of the abbot or abbess (Sundberg 2020, p. 13). Monks recognize that relationships of dependency are problematic and can choose to avoid a relationship of guidance out of fear of this. Nuns’ dependency relationship with their abbess is assigned and nuns have to strike a balance between being sufficiently open while not too needy and/or gossipy. (id., p. 13) These disparities in the internal management of authority and governance have a direct impact on the management of the economy and the work of the monks and nuns. The structural disparities arise on the one hand from the different rules, for example in the case of exclusively female monastic congregations such as the Carmelites or the Poor Clares, and on the other hand from specific measures affecting women’s monasteries, even within the same order, like enclosure. The Carmelite nuns work in isolation and the silence of prayer. Work is carried out in separate rooms, which implies either that each task is a type of production in itself or that the optimal condition for production is for it to be divided into tasks that can be carried out separately. Much of the work is small-scale manual production with the entire production process in the hands of the same sister. A French Carmelite nun explains: The work in Carmel, I think, what is specific perhaps, compared to the Cistercians in particular, is that we work in solitude. We have both a solitary life and a community life and work is part of the solitary life. […] We prefer small rooms so that each one can be alone in her room. So, the work of the host is very good for that because it is precisely the stages that follow one another, fairly short stages that can be done by one person alone and so it allows this solitude in the work. (Sister in charge of the hosts production, France, 06.2008) This monastery even called on a consultant to divide the production of the hosts into units of added value that could be carried out separately. Similarly, a Polish nun explains this characteristic of working in solitude: The specifics are that we work separately. Of course, there are elements of collective work, for example, we make reserves for the winter, it is known that one sister is not able to do everything, only a certain element  of community must be, but basically these works such as manual work, are chosen so that each of them could individually perform them. (Poland, 05.2019)

112  Specificities of female monasteries They now produce devotional items, the ‘figure of the Infant Jesus’ as they call it. This configuration of production limits the type of work the sisters may carry out. A sister from the same community says: ‘We do not accept any work that just needs to give up silence or loneliness, and God’s weapon from the enclosure, we do not accept it’. The choice of work therefore depends firstly on how it can be integrated into the monastic environment. The financial aspect is a secondary consideration. In France, the main activity undertaken by the Carmelites is the production of host (60% of Carmelites’ communities), then art and ornaments (33%) and religious articles and stationery (30%), followed by embroidery, religious articles for the clergy and computer and reprographic services (Monastic 2021). Most of these are individually produced by one sister who works on a product from start to finish, as in the case of decorated candles. This individual way of working, favoured by the Carmelites, therefore reduces its economic potential. They will not employ outside labour to carry out the work. In addition, there is a fundamental difference with the nuns as the Church does not allow them access to the priesthood. This is in contrast to Tibetan monasticism (Schneider 2013), where there is no difference between the vows taken by men and those taken by women within the same order. However, the impossibility of ordination into the priesthood means that women cannot have access to the sources of income linked to the exercise of this function. As seen above, pastoral work in some male monasteries is an important source of income. A French Benedictine sister expressed her dissatisfaction with this economic situation in an interview, even though she did not advocate ordination for women. We have an abbey of monks next door. People think we are rich, and they are poor. People think they are giving us a gift by giving us a mass intention. But what do we do with it? We give it to the monks. We are just an intermediary, we don’t keep the intention. Very often the monks are better known than the nuns, so we give it to the monks more easily. You go to the city; abbey of X equals monks. They say the father abbot of X. But there is also a mother abbess. Sometimes this creates… Well, we remain very correct, but sometimes it scalds my ears as a bursar. Nevertheless, the monks are always given more help… And for spiritual guidance, the monks are paid because they are priests. When it happens to us, people don’t even think about it. So, is it a question of priesthood? […] For the moment, it is impossible to explain, but we live with it. (France, 02.2005) The income generated by ordination into the priesthood is not merely due to the offering of the sacraments, but also as a result of the numerous visitors to the monasteries. The nuns accept this situation of inequality, which also has economic consequences, out of loyalty to the Church – according to

Specificities of female monasteries  113 Hirschman’s typology (1970) –, but at the same time they make it clear that the inequality exists. The men’s monasteries are also often better known than the women’s ones and thus attract more visitors, which also has economic consequences. In Senegal, there is a male community in Keur Moussa and a female community in Keur Guilaye, four kilometres away, which belong to the same congregation. The male community is well-known for its liturgy and its manufacture of the kora, a traditional African instrument adapted for monastic liturgy. There is a significant difference in income between their shops. In 2013, the turnover of the Keur Moussa shop amounted to more than 17 million CFA francs, while that of the sisters of Keur Guilaye was only almost 2 million. One explanation for the difference could be the range of products offered for sale and the size of the shop, which is about three to four times bigger in Keur Moussa, but it is undeniable that the men’s monastery receives many more visitors than the women’s monastery. Pastoral activities, monastic properties, where they exist and a different tradition of access to productive or external work can lead to quite significant economic differences. A former superior of the Conference of Major Superiors in Italy explains: Women have little hospitality, they live little… They are very old, they have no profession. Compared to men, in Italy, they are two very different worlds. You have to distinguish between a monastery of Benedictine women… The monasteries of men, normally, they are the upper class of the church. They are rich, they are not up to the standard of the ancient monasteries, but they are not poor either. … They are in a situation roughly similar to the middle class…. The women’s monasteries have incomes that are, if the nuns are old, they have social pensions…. They are not very high, but if you have ten nuns, each one has 500 euros, 10 nuns, that is 5000 euros. With 5000 euros, ten nuns can live. […] Then, they do small activities… So, we have a monastery that was doing hospitality for ten elderly people, as guests. (Italy, 02.2007) The monks benefit from the patrimony which has accumulated over the centuries, when it has been returned to them, and also from a tradition of remunerative or productive activities. In Italy, the economy of the nuns is even more marked by ancient domestic economic activity, which did not aim at productivity. In 2007, sewing still represented 20% of the production of women’s monasteries in Italy. The differences in the application and experience of enclosure between female and male monasteries (see Jonveaux 2015), which is based on the characteristics of the so-called papal enclosure for nuns, also have a direct effect on the economy. The strict enclosure of the nuns meant that they did not have to go out at all, or as little as possible, even for their work. When the nuns started to develop products in Europe after the World War II, marketing them was a problem because of

114  Specificities of female monasteries the enclosure. How can they market their products without leaving their enclosure and without having, for certain orders, a shop within their monastery? In France, the association Aide au Travail du Cloître (Help for the Work of the Cloister) was founded in 1951, only one year after the Apostolic Constitution of Pius XII, to help the women’s monasteries acquire the tools and machines necessary for their work and also to help them with marketing, by opening a network of nine shops throughout France. The strict enclosure of female monasteries hinders the economic activity of the nuns. The production process has to take place within the monastic enclosure and is often smaller than in the male monasteries, and there is less outside help and it is difficult to market their products. A notable characteristic of the nuns’ work is also that it is often oriented towards care. Anne-Marie Daune-Richard considers that ‘the differences between men and women in terms of participation in activity and work are rooted in the modes of articulation between production and reproduction’ (Daune-Richard 1993, p. 126). In the monastic context, women have left all family roles. However, the division of labour between men’s and women’s monasteries seems to be organised according to this social model, in which the nuns are responsible for internal and domestic work, while the monks have more outward-looking jobs (pastoral, agricultural, etc.). It should be noted that nuns have much less recourse to external employees for the community’s domestic work than monks. Some communities are also explicitly oriented towards the service of priests. In 1928, Norbert Schachinger, a Benedictine monk from Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria, founded a community for women – initially oblates and later Benedictine nuns – for parish service and pastoral work, which he called ‘community of women servants’ (‘Dienstmädchenverein’) (Falkenrich 1997, p. 31). In the parishes, they were mainly in the service of the priests, as housekeepers or secretaries. Some of the sisters are still in this position and one of them is the secretary of the abbot of Kremsmünster. A sister describes all the jobs she has had: I entered the monastery in 1958. […] I was employed at the Schottenstift [Benedictine monastery] in Vienna to process invoices and at the same time I was attending business school. It was a good job, but it was not easy. Then I had a lot of activities with children and young people, and then the sacristy. I am still sacristan here. I also take care of the bouquets of flowers for the chapel. I was also active in a parish in Vorarlberg and at the Stephanhaus in Vienna for serving breakfast for the guests, serving the guests, but also some cleaning work in the house. (Austria, 11.2012) Several jobs thus involved being in the service of the monks or priests (e.g. at the Schottenstift Abbey in Vienna), and the others are to do with service, especially with children or cleaning. This is also noticeable in the Benedictine student house in Salzburg, where Salesian nuns (mostly foreigners, of an

Specificities of female monasteries  115 apostolic order) clean the rooms, including the guestrooms, while a sister from Steinerkirchen does the cooking. These nuns have the task of supporting the work of the priests or monks, whose work is thus considered as more important. This is also the same at Plankstetten Abbey in Germany. In 2007, a monk explained: We have four sisters. Sister N. who is in charge of the guesthouse, they have three maids. One sister also works in the infirmary, in the sacristy and for the laundry. The others do the service in the hall. We have a station of sisters in the monastery. And why sisters? It is a habit with us, there are many men’s monasteries where the sisters serve. And the sisters came from a station in Berching, but they didn’t want to go home all the time. (laughs) They wanted to stay here, and now the sisters live here. They have their own house here, it is a good situation for the sisters, because they have a priest who does the mass every day, their position is understandable. (Br. Matthias, Germany, 11.2007) This interview extract shows that the sisters depend on the monks for the Mass. Their main dependence on the monks is therefore based on their religious needs. In addition to this, the sisters are able to find work within the male monastic structure that they themselves cannot create in their own monastic system. The reason for the presumed inability of women’s communities to create income-generating activities on their own is twofold. On the one hand is the belief, until recently, that women’s communities are unable to develop a real economy, and on the other hand is the tradition of the sisters primarily serving other areas of the Church or doing the ‘care’ work in the Church. This configuration can be found in the case of apostolic communities. For example, a missionary congregation in Kenya and Tanzania I visited in 2021 always employs sisters from different communities in their schools. When I asked why sisters and not brothers from another congregation, two brothers replied that the sisters need a job. This implies that their own congregation is not in a position to create such gainful employment. This structure reproduces the gender characteristics of society and in particular ‘the perception of women as being endowed with an innate capacity for care’ (Löwy 2006, p. 43). The collective memory retains the image of the ‘nun’ at the service of the poorest, of children and of the sick (Langlois 2011), and in the same way, the nuns find themselves in charge of caring for the monks and priests. And even more so because they do not have families to care for. Nuns are regarded as being available for this care work within the Church and especially for men of the Church. But this essentially imperceptible work reinforces the invisibility of nuns in the monastic world. ‘Care combines the most humble, repetitive or unpleasant chores with all those

116  Specificities of female monasteries little things, that intangible work of looking. Invaluable, care is work that escapes market value insofar as its value merges with that of life’ (Molinier 2013, p. 11). These nuns are thus the invisible support of the monks’ religious life. In 2018, sisters – mainly apostolic ones – in the Vatican rebelled against the fact that they often do domestic work for priests with little or no pay.1 The situation does not seem to have changed much yet, but the issue has at least been highlighted in the media.

3 Characteristics of the female monastic economy The economy of women’s monasteries, because of its history and the position of the nuns in the Church, is not identical in every respect to that of men’s monasteries, but this does not mean that it is necessarily less efficient than that of male communities. a Rentability and innovation While some products are directly associated with monks in the popular imagination (Trappist beer, wine and cheese from French abbeys), few historically known products are associated with women’s monasteries, and with good reason, since their entry into the productive economy is still recent. Of the nuns, we often only know about ‘little cakes’, which are si milar to the female domestic work of producing ‘sweets’. The classic pattern of the sexual division of labour is taking place here, where men perform work that is openly economic, that is ‘worth’ more than that of the women, and whose qualification is socially constructed, while women’s work, less recognised and remaining essentially in the private sphere, relates to the so-called ‘natural’ qualities of gentleness, devotion, meticulousness, etc. (Kergoat 2010, p. 4). To gain more insight into the differences in production between men’s and women’s monasteries, it is interesting to look at the example of France, especially when looking at the products presented on the website of the Monastic brand, which includes products from each monastery. Firstly, it appears that products related to agricultural production or food processing are more common in men’s monasteries than in women’s. This is for two reasons: the first being that these products are derived from the ancient economy of self-consumption, where monks produced food for their own consumption, and the second being that men’s monasteries had a tradition of owning agricultural land, even if they have lost most of it, as in the case of France. It can be seen (Figure 6.1) that the most common foodstuffs produced in women’s monasteries are cakes and sweets (19%), followed by jams (13%), which is the only foodstuff where women’s monasteries are slightly more represented than men’s monasteries. As mentioned above, a clear separation in the activities of men’s and women’s monasteries concerns the work related to worship, more precisely

Specificities of female monasteries  117

Figure 6.1 Repartition of productions in male and female monasteries, France 2021.

to the celebration of the Eucharist. While the men’s communities, because of their theological capacity to receive orders, have sources of income linked to the exercise of the priesthood, the nuns have an almost total monopoly on the production of articles linked to worship: hosts, liturgical ornaments, Paschal candles, ciboria and chalices. The latter can also be produced by men’s monasteries, as in the case of the monastery of Agbang in Togo, which has a goldsmith’s workshop. Liturgical vestements (alb, chasuble, stole and altar cloth) are works of sewing and embroidery, which are also considered feminine tasks. According to the distribution of the products of the French monasteries affiliated to the Monastic association, women’s monasteries account for 100% of the production of the hosts and 95% of the articles used in worship. The making of monastic vestments for men’s abbeys today is the same process as mentioned by Schmitz when describing the Middle Ages. On the website monastic.com, which lists the products of the monasteries belonging to this association, one community of sisters writes in its description: ‘In addition, we also make the monastic habits of the brothers of Maylis’. This divide in the work related to worship can be found on the other continents studied: the Benedictine monasteries in Argentina, Parana, and Gaudium Mariae, both produce liturgical vestments in Africa, Toffo and L’Étoile in Benin produce liturgical vestments and the monasteries of Keur Guilaye in Senegal and l’Écoute in Benin produce hosts. Even when a nun’s monastery has just been founded, the making of the altar bread is entrusted to women. For example, in 1954, in the first Benedictine rule foundation in

118  Specificities of female monasteries sub-Saharan Africa: ‘The only African nun in the mission, Sister Thérèse, in charge of the sixa and the sacristy, took care of the community’s linen and made the altar breads’ (Gravrand 1990, p. 81). There is therefore an implicit separation of the work between those who make liturgical objects and hosts, that is the women, and those who perform the rite, that is the men (Jonveaux 2011b). The graph also shows a greater involvement of the nuns’ monasteries in printing and computer activities. This work is not only carried out independently, as an economic company of the monastery, but also for external employers where the sisters receive a salary. The decision to enter into this type of economic activity arose in the 1950s as the solution to the need to find remunerative work, as there wasn’t an economic structure present at this time in the monastery. Moreover, these activities involve less material, financial and human investment than other consumer goods production chains. However, as seen above, these activities no longer correspond to the type of work sought by the new generation of nuns (Figure 6.2).

Figure 6.2 Repartition of production of foods items in male and female monasteries, France 2021. Key: 75% of monasteries producing wine in France are male monasteries and 25 are female monasteries.

Specificities of female monasteries  119 A consequence of the nuns’ later entry into the productive and open monastic economy has resulted in a notable structural difference from that of the monks. Their structure is more resolutely commercial and more distant from traditional forms of economy. Indeed, only 30% of the activities of women’s monasteries in France are derived from former activities necessary for their own subsistence, as opposed to 49% for the men’s monasteries. Wine, beer, liqueur and cheese are directly related to the former economy of subsistence of the men’s monasteries. Even the food products of women’s monasteries have a more commercial orientation, for instance the cakes and confectionery which are not consumed by the community but which can easily be the object of an impulse purchase at the store. 63% of monasteries producing cakes and sweets are female monasteries. The paradox is, therefore, that the ‘little cake’ actually corresponds to a more advanced form of economy than wine, beer or cheese because it is detached from the economy of self-consumption. Self-consumption is less present in the communities of nuns, while their production generates a higher added value. This explains the results of the 2007 Monastic survey: 40% of women’s monasteries in the survey2 make a margin of a little more than 20% on their products, while only 30% of men’s monasteries make the same. At the same time, new branches of the monastic economy, which go beyond the traditional sphere of religious work, often originate from women’s monasteries: hygiene and cosmetic products from the abbey of Chantelle, health houses with qi gong, yoga and massages by the sisters of the abbeys of Marienkron in Austria and Arenberg in Germany or Celtic gymnastics by the Carmelites of Bad Mühllacken. It is a modern and a priori emancipated form of care. Their marginal character sometimes raises criticism from the traditional Catholic milieu, especially regarding the integration of techniques coming from Eastern spiritualities. The nun responsible for Qi Gong in Marienkron explains: ‘I notice that some people in the church tolerate it, but I am criticized’ (11.2012). However, it also shows that nuns have more of a scope for innovation in their activities than monks, because male monasteries already have an economic base. As the nuns do not have secular work within the productive economy, they are finally freer to innovate and offer activities more relevant to the current market. Depending on the region, the male monasteries are not necessarily the most economically successful. A French monk, who has been auditing many monasteries in West Africa, has found that the women’s monasteries are more efficient than the men’s monasteries in this region. The most successful example of economic activity in West Africa is the yoghurt production by the Benedictine nuns in Koubri, Burkina Faso, studied by Katrin Langewiesche (2017). This monastery manages to obtain 75% of its income from its income-generating activities, with the yoghurt production alone accounting for 54% of its income. Based on data from the auditor of monasteries, out of four men’s monasteries and four women’s monasteries in West Africa (2014–2015), the average income from income-generating activities

120  Specificities of female monasteries is 34.7% for women and 24.2% for men. Conversely, the average income from direct donations or subventions is 22.2% for nuns’ monasteries and 38% for monks’ monasteries. In the West African sub-region, women’s monasteries therefore rely much more on income-generating activities, which are also more successful than in the men’s monasteries. In absolute terms, the income from profit per person per day for the monastery of the nuns in Koubri amounts to 8,190 CFA francs. The monastery with the next highest income per person per day is the monastery of the Koubri monks, with 3,256 CFA francs. The monastery with the lowest income in this sample is the monastery in Kokoubou, with 999 CFA francs per person per day. The women’s monastery is therefore a model of economic performance in the sub-region, far ahead of the others. b A dependence on (male) laypeople? The dependence of communities of nuns on male communities concerns mainly the sacraments and the Eucharistic liturgy. For this reason, some congregations, such as the Benedictine congregation of Solesmes, have established a monastery of nuns alongside the monastery of monks. The foundations in the 20th century in Africa or Asia often show the dependence of the nuns in the communities on men, even for their construction. Thus, the sisters of the Trappist monastery in l’Étoile, Benin, affirm that it was the monks of Bellefontaine who allowed them to come and establish themselves by building a large part of their monastery before their arrival. Dreuille (1979) notes that in Africa, including Madagascar, European monks founded a monasteries and nuns arrived afterwards to found their communities there. Most women’s monasteries in the Catholic Church have statutes that do not guarantee them equal autonomy with men. They are often dependent on men’s monasteries or on male authority. To take an example from the Cistercian world, a monastery of men in this order is always accompanied by another monastery of men, while monasteries of women are always accompanied by a monastery of men. Veronika Peters, who was a nun for 12 years in a Benedictine monastery in Germany, also mentions that for the election of the abbess, an abbot – not an abbess – from another monastery is mandated to supervise the vote (Peters 2007). These structures, which will not be studied in depth here but which are the subject of another project in progress, also have an impact on the economy and decisions in this area. The fact that the sisters are more likely to live in a strong enclosure, as well as their lesser tradition of carrying out economic activity, means that they are often dependent upon men to maintain their economic activities. Benedictine Sister Benoît Garret’s study on the economy of the nuns’ monasteries in France in the 20th century shows the important role of priests or monks in supporting the sisters’ economy. She first points out that it was the abbots of male monasteries who drew attention to the great poverty of

Specificities of female monasteries  121 the nuns’ monasteries after the war, which contributed to the drafting of the apostolic constitution Sponsa Christi (Garret 2006, p. 37). In 1948, these abbots created an association among themselves, which became known as the Aide au Travail du Cloître. There was an apostolic visit by a priest to the Carmelite monasteries, and he took over Sponsa Christi in 1951 (id., p. 16). The monks helped the nuns who were in difficulty due to the enclosure. This dependence upon male monasteries is also reflected in the area of trading monastic products on the internet. As will be seen in the next chapter, more male monasteries offer products online than female monasteries, and it is noticeable that female monasteries often have their page hosted on the website of a male monastery, including for the sale of their products. For instance, 9.5% of the women’s communities in West Africa have a page hosted on another site. This is not something found within the men’s communities. The homepage of the nuns’ monastery is sometimes hosted by the homepage of the neighbouring male monastery. This hosting of the nuns’ site on the monks’ site also takes place within French monasteries, for example, the community of St. Eustase is hosted on the site of the monks of Maylis. In 2013 (Jonveaux 2013), I studied the reasons for the greater reluctance of women’s monasteries to have an online presence. Three reasons for this include the average age of the communities, their separation from the outside world and distrust of it and their limited access to training and studies. The result is a gap in the online presence between the women’s and men’s communities. Although this gap is narrowing, the nuns’ communities still rely on the monks for their webpages, never the other way round. Women’s communities often receive assistance regarding their economy by male lay advisors. A Benedictine sister from Prague explained in an interview that lay people help them to know what to do with the money and where to put it. The sisters living in cloistered communities, who only go out in cases of absolute necessity, are especially dependent on lay people. Nevertheless, this dependence on lay people who do not belong to the utopia and have a different vision of the economy can lead to disagreements. A French Carmelite nun explained: We are helped by a man who used to work in an American company that sold toothpaste. He explains the methods. I very often disagree with him. I tell him ‘Listen, sir, it is not Camembert that we are selling’. For example, something which shocked me enormously, the most profitable size of host to produce is 13 cm, so you have to create a need in the customer and sell 13 cm. I went to business school; I know how to create needs. I said to him, listen, I don’t agree, we don’t sell Camembert. (Sr. Agathe, France, 06.2008) The study of the organisation of monastic economies shows a greater dependence of women’s monasteries on lay structures to advise them in

122  Specificities of female monasteries their economic decisions. This greater dependence is also often due to the nuns’ lesser access to studies. The Carmelite nun mentioned above went to business school, but once nuns enter religious life, they have on average less access to studies and training than monks. In his report on a French monastery of nuns in 2016, an auditor wrote: ‘Training and studies account for an average of 2% of current expenses. This is little compared to what monks usually do’. The economy of women’s monasteries is caught in a paradox that reflects the history of female monastic life between emancipation and male submission (Jonveaux 2015): On the one hand, the economy of female monasteries is at a disadvantage due to its lack of economic tradition compared to male monasteries and the impossibility of access to remunerative pastoral activities. However, on the other hand, the relatively recent arrival of female monasteries in the productive economy also allows them to develop products unconnected to the economy of self-consumption and which have a greater added value.

Notes 1 For instance: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/02/vatican-magazinetells-catholic-church-to-stop-using-nuns-as-cheap-labour [consulted on 25.08.2021]. 2 36 females monasteries and 18 male monasteries.

7

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy

The monastic economy is not limited to the production of consumer goods, but this occupies an important place in countries where monasteries have a productive economy. The monasteries have an economic relationship with the world through their products and their necessary marketing. Monastic products also have an important social dimension through the image they convey. We will see here how the current success of monastic products can be explained and investigate the new tensions caused by its marketing in the monastic space.

1 The success of monastic products Many food products in Europe are associated with the monastic image and heritage. Beer, cheese and wine are known for their monastic roots, and some abbey names are known more for these products than for their community. a Quality, tradition and the economy of beauty Monastic products have become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly in Europe. The current success of monastic products comes from the relationship between the products offered by the monasteries and made according to their own constraints and the demand made by society. The first criterion expected by society is that of quality: The consumers choose monastic products because they are ‘good’. Examples of this can be found in all the countries studied. For example, a monk from Keur Moussa in Senegal – where the tradition of monastic products is not yet really established after 60 years of monasticism – says: People find that the monastic products are of good quality, they are sure of the quality of the product. So, they appreciate the monastic products of Keur Moussa very much. We are very well known. Sometimes in Dakar, when I walk, people stop me and say: ‘Your goat cheese, how can I get it?’ And not long ago a lady contacted me to sign an agreement

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-8

124  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy with  us for goat cheese. The person said: ‘Your cheeses are of good quality’. (Fr. Théodore, Senegal, 07.2016) Or, for example, when a Belgian Trappist monk is asked why monastic products are so successful, he answers: ‘I don’t know, I think it is always associated with a certain seriousness, because they are quality products, they are made with a lot of care, with good quality starting products, all that’ (Br. Bazile, Westmalle, 01.2008). The importance given to quality stems as much from a religious decision-making to take care of the article produced, to transmit beauty and goodness, thereby continuing the work of divine creation, as from objective economic decision-making based on the conditions of the monastic economy. Since their production capacity is indexed to the quality scale of religious life, the monastics cannot engage in an expansive economy. SaintWandrille Abbey had a bad experience in this respect in the past: We had an unfortunate experience just before I arrived. As there was only this wax activity, there was a bit of panic on board and a contract was signed with Castorama. We had to set up production lines here. What happened was that we were doing the same quality, but we were asked for quantities and prices. And as we were not able to provide quantities and prices, we were penalised. So, it was a disaster, a real disaster! (small laugh) And penalties are something. If it is not delivered at such and such a day and time… (Fr. Denis, bursar, 11.2004) As economy is not at the forefront of monastic life, monastics cannot develop an expansive economy that would compete with the products of the mass market. The only way to be competitive is to opt for differentiation, as quality allows them to produce in smaller volumes, but to make a higher margin on each product sold. Thus, in the booklet for bursars in France: ‘We are obliged to work not on quantity but on quality. Work that generates added value. But work with high added value means specialised or original work’ (Cellérier… 1998, p. 16). Quality appears as an economic niche which corresponds to the monastic values. ‘Quality is associated here with rarity and uniqueness, with small series and niche market, with market rent and high price’ (Valceschini & François 1995, p. 15). As institutes of perfection, ‘the monks want to give themselves an image of the environment they frequent, close to perfection’, as the head of the company Vassal Paris observed. Vassal Paris buys monastic products to sell to luxury restaurants. From the encounter between the perfection of life and the perfection of the product, the customer’s trust is born. The quality of monastic products is based on the know-how of the monastics, the quality of the raw materials and also the time given to the manufacturing process and the concern for quality

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  125 throughout the whole production process. Saint-Wandrille Abbey won the French Quality Prize for one of its companies. As a result, the bursar was invited as a consultant to the French Standardization Association (AFNOR) to participate in the revision of standards, which allows him to spread the monastic vision of quality in the economy. This does not mean, however, that monastic products cannot be found in supermarkets. Local contracts can be signed that respect the quantity produced by the communities. For example, at the Trappist monastery of Kokoubou in Benin, the bursar says that their jam is mainly sold in supermarkets in Cotonou, through wholesalers who buy it from the monastery. Other products are found on a larger scale, such as some Belgian Trappist beers (Chimay), but they still maintain their high quality. The supermarket chain Spar in Austria has a contract with the Benedictine monastery of Gut Aich for a range of natural herbal products, which emphasise the quality, naturalness and tradition of monastic products. A decisive criterion in the meeting of supply and demand within the European market for monastic products is that of tradition. It is primarily because monasteries are themselves places of tradition that their products enjoy this reputation. In particular, thanks to their physical location within secular society, symbolised by the historic buildings they inhabit, they are seen by society as a form of resistance against the onslaught of modernity, which seems reassuring even though ‘western culture has become a culture of change’ (Gauchet 1985, p. 270). While everything is in flux, modern society feels a need for continuity and, according to Maurice Halbwachs, religion ‘takes charge of society’s need for continuity’ (Hervieu-Léger &Willaime 2001, p. 213). Indeed, ‘since everything else in social life develops over time, religion must be removed from it. Hence the idea that it transports us to another world, that its object is eternal and unchanging’ (Halbwachs 1994, p. 192). The monastics appear to be the main bearers of this continuity, illustrated by the 6th-century rule, as far as the Benedictines are concerned, which they still follow. According to Hervieu-Léger, tradition is ‘the set of representations, images, theoretical and practical knowledge, behaviours, attitudes, etc. that a group or society accepts in the name of the necessary continuity between the past and the present’ (1993, p. 127). This continuity is therefore as necessary to the monastics for the maintenance of their institution as it is to modern society, which finds itself in need of this continuity even though it has turned away from it in order to develop. The society of change has therefore developed a demand for tradition as a continuator. ‘Here we are gripped by the passions of the heritage and the timeless, everywhere traditions, continuity and ‘places of memory’ are celebrated’ (Lipovesky & Roux 2003, p. 17). Consequently, there is a fascination for the monastic non-modernity, which is also found in the products. Monastic products, which sometimes carry a history dating back thousands of years, find their authenticity in their longevity. As Marie-Catherine Paquier and Sophie Morin-Delerm

126  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy have highlighted, ‘the relationship with time irrigates all the dimensions of the experience [of buying in a monastic shop], and is not a separate dimension’ (Husson-Paquier & Morin-Delerm 2015, p. 6). Buying and consuming a monastic product is also an experience of this history and tradition. The tradition of the products is based objectively on know-how passed down through several generations of monastics, meaning that the link between the product, or recipe, and the location goes back several decades or even centuries. It is also based subjectively on the usage of traditional packaging for the products and of the packaging itself, which uses a design considered to be ancient. The term ‘tradition’ and its derivatives are frequently found in the description of monastic products (Jonveaux 2011a, p. 527). Whether in the monastic catalogues studied during my PhD between 2006 and 2009 or those currently found on websites, the lexical field of tradition occupies an important place in the description of monastic products. For example, on the Artisanat Monastique website: ‘You will find here a selection of the best jams with the traditional good taste of fruit whose recipes, jealously guarded, come from the secrets of the monasteries’.1 However, the products do not come straight from the medieval era but are part of a continuity that makes the transition between the distant past and today. Expressions such as ‘since X years or X centuries’ or ‘from generation to generation’ are often used and mark this continuity without rupture between the time of origin of the product and today. For instance, for the products from Gut Aich monastery sold by the Spar supermarkets in Austria: ‘For the Benedictine monks have been cultivating medicinal plants in their gardens for about 1500 years. In selecting the herbs, Father Dr. Johannes Pausch has used his best knowledge and traditional monastic medicine as well as modern herbal medicine’.2 Founded in 2004, this monastery is one of the youngest in Austria, but it wants to show that it is directly in line with the 1000-year-old Benedictine tradition and is continuing it. This function of transmission can also be found in the consumers themselves: The results show that the buyer spontaneously perceives an intense degree of heritage authenticity, and inscribes his or her act of purchase in a process of transmission from the past to the future by wishing to share his or her experience of the present moment with others. (Husson-Paquier & Morin-Delerm 2015, p. 7) For when monastics display ancient recipes, they implicitly (or explicitly in the case of catalogues not produced by the monastics themselves) refer to their role of transmitting information by the copying of manuscripts. The attraction of the ‘antiche farmacie’ of Italian monasteries is part of this dynamic. More than food, these products boast that they derive from a 1000-year-old recipe. As explained in the Italian Ai Monasteri catalogue, some of the monks’ pharmaceutical products come from recipes that they

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  127 themselves took from the Greeks or other peoples, by copying manuscripts. Therefore, these products are a perfect transition between eras and allow modern society to access the best of each era. As it is written in Camaldoli’s brochure, the products offered at the ‘Antica farmacia’ ‘are the fruit of [their] work and represent the legacy of [their] secular experience’. Some of this demonstration of tradition is purely commercial, in response to an existing demand for traditional products. Thus, Brother Etienne of La Pierre-qui-Vire, when asked if they can explain the ancestral origin of the products, replied, ‘no, that is a commercial argument’. Or a monk from Camaldoli said, ‘We tried recipes from the Middle Ages, they are disgus­ ting’, which does not prevent them from writing ‘traditional recipe’ on the label. The monastics therefore use this demand for tradition for commercial purposes, even if they are aware of its reinvention. As Peter Berger points out, ‘religious traditions become consumer goods’ (1971, p. 219), not just for religious consumption. Although the monastics make very little use of their religious image for commercial purposes, the reference to tradition as a metonymy for the entire monastic world is widely used. In fact, they hold ‘an authority proper to what is original, first, founding from the very beginning; of what confers absolute value on the knowledge and words of the sages, poets and primordial philosophers’ (Balandier 1988, p. 91). Thus, the Benedictine abbey of Plankstetten has chosen as its motto for its ­products ‘Leben aus der Ursprung’, ‘Life from the origin’, which combines truth, authenticity and common references. The importance of tradition brings the economy of monastic products closer to what Thévenot calls the ‘domestic city’. ‘Domestic co-ordination takes place by reference to tradition, and domestic order can be characterised by a triple gradient, temporal (by custom and precedent), spatial (by local proximity) and hierarchical (through authority)’ (Thévenot 1989, p. 185). Monastic products benefit from these three dimensions through their secular tradition, their spatial stability and the authority that their religious charisma gives them. In addition to quality and tradition, monastic products also offer natu­ ralness. The manager of the Maredsous shop observes: ‘In other words, monastic consumer products have a good image because they are associated with an image of quality, natural products, etc. and so we have built up a loyal clientele around these products’ (01.2008). The natural dimension of monastic products and their membership of organic labels will be investigated in a later section. b  Charismatic economy The recognised quality of monastic products is not only based on objective and measurable criteria but is also closely linked to the identity of the producers. As an Austrian Benedictine explains with regard to the honey he produces and for which consumers are scrambling:

128  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy Meanwhile, I still believe that for people it is somehow something special, something different. A normal person can produce good or better honey, but it is general with monastery products, also monastery wine, it somehow still conveys something like exclusivity. […] There is also more trust somehow. (Sankt-Paul, 02.2015) The identity of the producer is therefore not a neutral factor in the quality of the products, nor in the process of the sacralisation of the production of the host by the nuns. The symbolic dimension of the goods is all the more important if the producer himself is consecrated to God. It is by creating a scarcity among the producers that the field of symbolic production induces the rarity of the product: the magical of the ‘creator’, which comes with the position of authority is a capital of authority which can only act if it is set in motion by an authorized person or better, if it is identified with a person or his charisma and guaranteed by a signature. (Bourdieu 1974, p. 21) Monks and nuns are rare in the sense that the scarcity of vocations in Europe is diminishing their number and also because their life, cut off as it is from the outside world, has made them virtually invisible within society – the more so, as these orders maintain strict rules of enclosure. As a consequence, the monastic product contains within itself the secret identity of the producer. For the buyer too, the monastic product has an added value which can be interpreted in different ways. As a nun said, ‘it is important to maintain a bond between the manufacturer of the product and the people concerned’ (France, 06.2008). As Mauss stated, during the transaction there remains in the object something of the person who made it. ‘The obligation attached to a gift itself is not inert. Even when abandoned by the giver, it still forms a part of him’ (Mauss 1995, p. 119), and this value is even greater when the identity of the producer has links with the function of the object – both being religious in the present case. In this case, the defects in the products are merely an added sign of the producer’s hand. In the finished product, all traces of the human-supported manufacturing process have disappeared, but where a defect remains, the hand of the maker is still present. If the value of the product is associated with the identity of the producer, these imperfect objects are all the more valuable. Indeed, Veblen notes that ‘visible imperfections in the products of manual labour are honourable and thus pass for proof of superior beauty or utility, or both’ (Veblen 1970, p. 106). It is indeed possible to observe at La Pierre-qui-Vire in France that the slightly twisted terracotta crosses are sold at the same price as the straight ones, which reflects this concept perfectly.

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  129 The quality of monastic products, for instance Trappist beer (Jonveaux 2011b), is to a large extent dependent on the life choices and extraordinary vocation of these men, which existed prior to the production process. In  other words, it deals with the charisma associated with the producers. According to Max Weber, charisma is the extraordinary quality […] of an individual who is, so to speak, endowed with strength or characteristics which are supernatural, superhuman, or at the very least outside of everyday life, inaccessible to the average person, or alternatively who is considered to be sent by God or as an example, and consequently a ‘chief’. (Weber 1995, p. 320) But are the monastics of today truly considered as having an ‘extraordinary quality’ by society? For charisma can only exist if it is recognised within society: ‘Sociologically speaking, holders of charisma can only be so described if their ‘gift’ or ‘gifts’ are recognized as such by a group of disciples or followers’ (Séguy 2006, p. 141). In secular society, purely religious charisma seems to have been devalued. However, as vocations are becoming increasingly rare, items produced by monastics are gaining value. In effect, ‘as soon as the ecstatic or contemplative union with God ceases to be a state which can only be attained by certain individuals with charismatic gifts or touched by grace, and becomes the goal of many people’ (Weber 1996, p. 260), we are leaving the sphere of charismatic monasticism to enter a phase of charisma ‘routinization’. However, are we not now witnessing the exact opposite of this process? The monastic vocation has once again become a state reserved for a small number of people meeting extremely specific criteria. Monastics’ economic charisma thus creates two elements: the extraordinary identity of the producers and a reputation for quality, linked to the particular conditions of production in unworldly locations and thanks to centuries-old recipes. Under a system of secularisation, monastics no longer have a purely religious role, enabling them to build an extraordinary identity while remaining a guarantee of sustainability that promotes trust. Society thus views this charisma as more broadly human, reflecting its disaffection with religious charisma. The products made by these charismatic individuals reflect their singular grace. An economy based on the charisma of the producer, their rarity, the product’s peculiarity and a specific organisation thus corresponds to what we call a charismatic economy. Like the field of haute couture described by Bourdieu (1974), their rarity makes the monastics more charismatic in the eyes of society, and this charisma is transferred to what they produce. As early as the Middle Ages, some monasteries were using their holy reputation to increase the price of their products (see Cabrol & Leclerq 1951). In other words, they were using their charisma for commercial ends, confirming the existence of this charismatic economy. Unlike art, a charismatic economy is not based on a specific

130  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy person, on a signature, but instead on a specific characteristic linked to the producers. Monastic products are sought out because they are monastic, produced by monks or nuns in a monastery, and, at its limits, quality is less important than the producer’s social identity. For instance, the abbess of a Cistercian monastery in Austria says that monastic products in her shop are more attractive for people than the other, non-monastic ones. As I ask why, she answers: ‘People always think it is better if it is from a sister’. There is therefore no objective argument apart from the identity of the producer. However, this charisma is connected to the reputation for quality, which is a secular attachment to these products. Thanks to the divine nature granted to the elect, this charisma cannot be purchased. It is not enough to simply adapt the recipe; virtuoso intervention is required. Nevertheless, this charismatic economy is created by the dual influences of both the monasteries and the economy of the world, as the widespread use of monastic imagery results in a strengthening of the reputation of truly monastic producers. The monastic protection designation is helping to build this charismatic economy by highlighting the specificity of the product and its producers. The charismatic economy of monastics is particularly relevant in areas where specific knowledge is required, especially knowledge that has been built up over a long period of time. Not only beer and wine are examples of this, but also health-related fields such as the antica farmacia of Italian monasteries or the phytotherapy of West African monasteries, which use ancient local knowledge. The therapeutic products of the monasteries have the double quality of ancestral knowledge and the particular identity of the producer – closer to God – which gives them a particular guarantee. A brother from Camaldoli explains: The perspective of this type of work, especially in this laboratory, is to follow the historical lines of the ancient farmacia of Camaldoli. Also proposing some recipes or at least the use of plants that were used in the ancient pharmacy. This discourse of historical continuity is very much listened to. Also, properly in the community of Camaldoli. This is an important aspect. Coming to the antica farmacia of the Camaldolese monks is like a message of trust. Of guarantee in the product. (Italy, 03.2007) And when I ask him why it is a guarantee, he answers: ‘Because, because they are monks. Simply! (Laugh)’, which is the same answer as the one given above by the Austrian sister. The monastic productive economy can thus be defined as a charismatic economy where a major part of the reputation for quality of the products and their attractiveness is based on the particular identity of the producers who have dedicated themselves to God.

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  131 c Use of monastic image by lay firms and protection of monastic brands Lay companies sometimes use the monastic image to profit from their ­reputation of producing high-quality goods. Indeed, products that are not of monastic origin, especially in the cheese, beer or charcuterie ­sectors  – mostly food products – sometimes use the monastic image. However, when studying the marketing of monastic products, it becomes clear that they make scant reference to the monastic world. A Belgian Trappist from Westmalle explains concerning Trappist products: The rule is that you cannot use religious values, you cannot use that as a sales argument for example. We do not want to convince consumers with religious symbols. It is a theme that has diminished now, for some years it was very present in advertising with priests drinking wine or beer or eating cheese with nuns and all that. But that is something we do not do; we just want the product to speak for itself. (Br. Bazile, Belgium, 01.2008) Monastic economies do not want to use the religious argument for economic purposes but using their religion for economic gain. However, it is possible to use the economy for pastoral purposes. The packaging of monastic pro­ ducts relies on simplicity or tradition, to reflect the values of the economy that carries them. The label is the first evidence of this strategy, as ‘only the packaging enables distinction between products, dividing a homogenous entity into two distinct parts, splitting a continuous variable into a discrete variable’ (Cochoy 2002, p. 43). This requires the development of an easily understandable semiology – hence the abundance of monastic references and, in particular, the positioning of these references in the past: the Gothic habits, vaults and stained-glass windows, as well as the image of the convi­ vial monk, making reference to medieval monasticism. Given that modern monks without habits or tonsure are not the image which attract consumers, it becomes necessary to draw on thousands of years of tradition and offer a glimpse into the secret ancestral recipes. ‘By displaying monks and members of the clergy […], advertising also plays on the almost nostalgic evocation of their past silhouettes, as well as the symbolic thread of the stereotypical values associated with their position in the collective imagination’ (FressinetDominjon 2000, p. 56). Whether on the beer or cheese products, the monk present (mostly a monk, not a nun) is usually tonsured, in a brown habit that is more in keeping with Franciscans today, and fat, which suggests that he himself enjoys the product he is presenting. On the Belgian beer market, the association with the monastic world is even present in the names of the beers, since ‘the system of authenticity is composed of names’ (Karpik 2007, p. 163). Serving as the product’s marketing gateway, the name represents a guarantee of quality or tradition

132  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy (Jonveaux 2011b). A large portion of the high-quality Belgian beer market thus revolves around monastic references. The name taken by Trappist beers is that of the monastery where they are produced, like Westmalle, Chimay or Westvleteren. On the other hand, the names of abbey beers, which used to be produced by an abbey, but are no longer so, make more explicit reference to an existing monastery. The smaller a beer’s direct link with an actual monastic tradition is, the more this reference is visible and asserted to the world. Leffe, for example, is an abbey beer that was once brewed by the Premonstratensians of the eponymous abbey, who still receive dividends for the use of their name. Petrus (i.e. St. Peter) or Tripel Moine have no links with the religious world but make explicit use of references to it. Despite being distant from monastic tradition, these beers confirm the usefulness of the monastic image in the beer market. Unwary consumers may mistake imitation monastic products for genuine monastery products, which are comparatively unobtrusive in their packaging and therefore less recognisable. In order to distinguish their dairy products from other dairy products on the market, monastic networks have founded brands or quality labels that certify the monastic origin of the product. The Monastic brand, which originated in France but is now present in several European countries, was created in 1989 following an advertising campaign for a cheese using monastic references. ‘Chaussée-aux-Moines’ (Road of monks) has no monastic origins and in fact takes its name from the street in which the factory was located. The packaging shows a portrait of a monk, and the advertisements depict monks tasting the cheese in a monastery. The Chaussée-aux-Moines cheese was accepted by customers as the nuns’ cheese, while the actual nun’s cheese was not identified as such. This is due to the conspicuous use of the monastic image by the secular cheese maker and the unobtrusiveness of the monastic packaging. Apart from the name of the monastery, the nuns’ cheese had no visible sign of its origin, so customers not familiar with the monastic world could easily make this mistake. In response, the network of monastic bursars in France registered the Monastic trademark to protect products actually produced by monks or nuns in a monastery. The criteria of the brand state that it is necessary that ‘the object be made by or under the control of monks or nuns and within the monastery, and that there be substantial workmanship’. The brand criteria evolved in 2018/2019, including a balanced partnership with the laity who work in the monastic enterprise, the originality of the recipe and the ecological aspects, which will be discussed later. This process of protecting monastic products can also be found in Belgium. The Authentic Trappist Product label was originally created to distinguish Trappist beers, but since then, various other products, such as bread and cheese, have also benefitted from it in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, the United States and the United Kingdom. The three criteria of eligibility for the label are:

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  133 All products must be made within the immediate surroundings of the abbey; Production must be carried out under the supervision of the monks or nuns; Profits should be intended for the needs of the monastic community, for purposes of solidarity within the Trappist Order, or for development projects and charitable works.3 Here, as in the case of Monastic, the certification is based not only on criteria regarding the location or identity of the producers but also on values linked to this economy, making it a form of alternative economy. In other countries, however, such as Austria, where monastic products are less present and more rarely produced directly by monks, monastic communities consider that they do not need to certify their products. In Western Africa, where monasteries have a productive economy, communities are now thinking about protecting their products as, for instance, the bursar of Keur Moussa in Senegal explained to me. When monastic products are found in the classic circuits of the economy, they must therefore be identifiable both in order to distinguish themselves from other products and to assert their specificity, which is constitutive of their value.

2 The shop: How can mercantile activity be justified? Few monasteries do not have a shop, including those that do not directly produce consumer goods. But if economy in itself is difficult to integrate into the monastic framework, what about mercantile activity? a Trade: A forbidden activity for monastics? Canon law does not really legislate on the economic activities of monasteries. Only the Article 634 states: ‘As juridic persons by the law itself, institutes, provinces, and houses are capable of acquiring, possessing, administering, and alienating temporal goods unless this capacity is excluded or restricted in the constitutions’. However, one article prohibits a specific activity for monastics: ‘Clerics are prohibited from conducting business or trade personally or through others, for their own advantage or that of others, except with the permission of legitimate ecclesiastical authority’ (Can. 286).4 Nevertheless, the legitimate authority, i.e. the major superiors, gives this authorisation visibly, without exception, because more than 95% of the monasteries in France with a productive activity have a shop. One may therefore wonder about the relevance of maintaining this prohibition from the 1983 Canon Law. Indeed, trade is subject to an age-old religious ban. As Weber points out: The ethos of the classical economic morality is summed up in the old judgment passed on the merchant, which was probably taken from

134  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy primitive Arianism: homo Mercator vix aut numquam potest Deo ­placere;  he may conduct himself without sin but cannot be pleasing to God. (Weber 1927, p. 357) This taboo on trade is directly linked to the taboo on money, which was not founded on religious grounds but was built up over the centuries to reach its peak in the Middle Ages, with the unprecedented condemnation of usury and usurers (see Le Goff 1977). This prohibition weighs doubly when it comes to the monk, who should not be concerned with material realities. In his 1714 work entitled Le moine marchand ou traité contre le commerce des religieux (The merchant monk or treatise against the religious trade), Théophile Raynaud wrote: ‘Trade cannot be suitable for the religious because they are committed to the militia of God, they no longer live, they are dead, and consequently, they should no longer be embarrassed by the cares and worries of the living’ (1714, p. 69). It is therefore because monks are no longer part of society that they must renounce their social functions and the project of amassing a fortune. The danger would be that the monk is no longer solely preoccupied with the quest for God but is engulfed in financial worries. Indeed, in this treatise, we read: ‘This is why Trade is contrary to the religious state, for as I have said, the Merchant cannot, only with common grace avoid the distraction of the mind which is incompatible with the religious state’ (id., p. 70). But what about three centuries later? Behind the apparent acceptance of monastic trade within society, and although practically all monasteries have a shop, the activity is still suspected of being sinful, due to the prohibition attached to the presence of money. This is illustrated in a booklet by the ethics commission of the Monastic Association in France: ‘Question d’éthique à propos du ‘commerce’ monastique’ (Ethical issues about monastic ‘trade’). These scruples regarding commerce are illustrated by the inverted commas around the term, as if to show that it is inappropriate for monastics. However, in the absence of other terms for selling with a margin, the monks use it while showing that if there were another less mercantile term, they would use that. Above all, they are trying to distinguish themselves from what the term ‘trade’ means today, namely capitalism and globalisation. The purpose of the booklet is not only to relieve monastics of their mercantile activity but also to remind them of the ethical precautions that must be taken to give this activity religious justifications. This justification has already been mentioned while describing the model of Boltanski and Thévenot. In today’s monastic trade, a vision of prohibition is still present and is sometimes found among the monastics in charge of the cash register, especially when the shop also serves as a reception area; I have already cited the example of the sister of a French monastery who said she was not there to sell. In a survey on the place of apostolic nuns in French society, Julien Potel reveals that 70% of respondents find sisters ill-suited to the role of shopkeeper and 66% find them ill-suited to the

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  135 role of salesperson (Potel 1999). An evolution in monastic trade concerns the sale of products which do not come from monasteries and do not have a religious purpose. In some countries where monasteries have little productive activity, monastic shops display very few monastic products. This is the case of the monastery shops in Kremsmünster, Austria, or in Farfa, Italy, for example, where monastic products only represent a minority share of all items offered for sale. These shops are intended more as souvenir shops for visitors, possibly also selling gifts, cards and books for the milestones of Christian life (baptism, communion, marriage…) rather than serving as an outlet for monastic products. In Kremsmünster, the monastery only produces wine and honey as consumer goods. A wine sales shelf is present in the shop, but the wine is mainly sold in the cellar, which is separate from the shop and is located opposite it. Honey is sold in the garden centre. It appears, therefore, that the shop is not seen as an outlet for monastic products, but rather as a response to visitor demand to buy something during their visit. The shop is therefore part of the tourism economy rather than the productive economy of the monastery. The existence of a shop in the monastery or in its vicinity does not follow necessary economic logic. In fact, monasteries that have productive economic activities often need to find other channels in order to sell their products. It is arising from the need of the very cloistered monasteries of nuns in France that the Aide au Travail du Cloître shops were born. These are currently present in nine large French cities. To avoid any direct mercantile act, it would seem logical that the monastics should try to keep trade as far away as possible from the sacred enclave of the monastery, using external sales networks. Thus, in the Middle Ages, the monks chose a businessman of recognised probity, a ‘negociator ecclesiae’, to sell at the fairs on their behalf (Cabrol & Leclerq 1951). It has been observed that most monasteries, less so for certain very cloistered orders such as the Carmelite nuns, opt for a shop. Sister Garret justifies this option with a single question: ‘What could be simpler, and more profitable, when it is possible, to sell on the spot?’ (Garret 2006, p. 49). The primary reason for opening a shop in the monastery would therefore be based on practicality. A second type of choice is that relating to the person who actually performs the activity of selling, i.e. who stands at the cash desk. In relation to the idea of commerce as a sin, it would make sense for the monastics to offload this role as much as possible onto a layperson. Thus, in the same booklet on monastic commerce, we read at first: ‘Some recommend, as a matter of principle, the use of lay staff, especially at the cash desk, to avoid any commercial aspect and to reduce the contact of monks or nuns with the clientele’ (Questions d’éthique 1998, p. 6). Later, this statement is qualified firstly by the argument of profitability (a salaried layperson costs more than a monastic) and secondly by the argument that customers expect to be served by a monastic. This means, however, that in absolute terms, apart from the question of necessity and the response to external expectations, it

136  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy would be better for the monastics not to engage directly in trade. In fact, it is noticeable that the more trade-oriented the shops are, with many non-monastic products, the more secular the staff will be. b A place for meetings and pastoral care Monastic utopia, even if it is militant, does not go out to conquer the world, rather it remains in identifiable places outside of the world. The monastics diffuse their utopia, where they are: within the monastery and in the frontier places between the religious world and the secular world. In addition to the shop, the church and the guesthouse are border places where the consecrated and the non-consecrated rub shoulders. Of these three places, the shop is the most crowded and, above all, the most diverse. One does not have to be a practising Catholic to buy cheese from Tamié or soap from Camaldoli. If the products carry something of the utopia, it can easily be spread through the economy. The shop is a secular relay of the guesthouse; as it is not very religiously determined, it acquires a greater plausibility and accessibility and can thus incorporate the utopia more widely. To legitimise the practice of commerce in a sacred place, intended to announce the Kingdom of God, the simplest way is to integrate it into this utopia. The shop is then fully justified, due to its declared aim of evangelisation. It is no longer a mercantile place but an apostolic one, and the monastics are no longer traders but missionaries or spiritual advisers. The culmination of the recomposition of monastics between their religious and commercial roles lies in the pastoral purpose associated with monastic trade. In fact, the monastic at the cash desk practises a form of pastoral care, helped by the fact that the clients demand this religious role. Monastic shops, like fair trade shops, are relational places because each sale is accompanied by a communication on the origin, the techniques or conditions of manufacture, the producers, etc. Thus, the relationship created between the seller and the buyer also makes it possible to establish a link between the producer and the consumer. (Bécheur & Toulouse 2008, p. 104) The monks and nuns affirm the importance of their presence in the shop because the customer does not come only to buy a product but also to seek contact with the monastery. Customers come to find someone who can listen to their confidences, solve their problems and answer the ‘fundamental’ questions of life that they would not dare to ask elsewhere. The lay manager of the bookshop in Maredsous confirms: ‘One of the important points of the work, I would say, is the aspect of listening to the customer, some people come to talk too’ (01.2008). The abbey shop becomes a meeting place, a place of social and spiritual listening par excellence. Thus, the brother in charge of the shop at Saint-Wandrille Abbey states:

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  137 I am sure that if I retire from selling at the cash desk and the other father does it too, it will have a big repercussion on the sale, on the turnover because people, while we are selling coffee, Aiguebelle liqueur, well, people explain to us the problems they have with their children, or with their cat (laughs), or even with the car, or that they are having trouble selling their house, or whatever, but they come to have contact. (Fr. Luc, France, 11.2004) Similarly, the monk in charge of the shop at Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria explains: ‘When I am in the monastery shop and see people in the courtyard, I try to speak to them directly. […] The contact is thus established and people then often start talking themselves – also about personal things’ (02.2012). Also, in Benin, in the Trappist nuns’ monastery: There are some, you can see that they are really looking for something. And others, they have questions, it is not just to buy. Some come to the monastery because they have problems to share. We have to listen to them. (Sr. Yvonne, L’Étoile, 03.2019) The cash desk becomes therefore a privileged place of meeting between the visitors and the monastics: an opportunity for lay people to confide to each other, as the bursar of a French Benedictine monastery testifies: The people who come to the shop, it is the confidence, the prayer intention, the family worries. […] The experience we have is really the place, either for comfort, or I tell you, the prayer intention, the thing that is not going well… And sometimes, it is difficult because we cannot listen, if there aren’t many people, we can give time, if there are many people, uh… we cannot give much time. So, in these cases, either we warn the abbess and then we ask the person to go to the visiting room if they really have… something to say. (France, 02.2005) In this case, the shop is the first step towards a more extensive exchange and fulfils a pastoral function within the monastery. As we see in these examples, by virtue of its pastoral function, the monastic shop, although a place of trade that could represent the ultimate point of conflict with the religious sphere, is fully justified. c The choice of products and organisation of the shop The decision as to the choice of products to be sold is an essential parameter that determines the pastoral or commercial dimension of the shop. The selection of the products depends on the weight given to one or other of these variables. The products which a priori present the highest degree

138  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy of integration in the monastic utopia and which respond to the pastoral requirement are the religious items. The manager of the shop in Maredsous says, ‘it is mainly based on religious articles because we are an abbey, so a lot of religious objects’. For this respondent, there is a logical link between the religious identity of the place and the religious articles sold. However, the departments selling religious items are rarely profitable, especially the bookshop, where margins on books are low, not to mention the fact that their religious nature restricts demand. Religious books play a full pastoral role and link monasteries to the medieval tradition of copyist monks and monastic libraries. A French monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire said: ‘Stores like religious bookshops have a role to play in the life of the Church’. The religious bookshop is present in the majority of the monastic shops visited on the three continents, and some monasteries, such as Bellefontaine in France, Saint-Ottilien in Germany or Heiligenkreuz in Austria, also have their own publishing house. However, to increase profitability or to widen the sphere of the utopia, diversification is necessary. In order to spread the religious utopia to non-Christians or non-believers, the monastics offer books on spirituality, psychology or self-development that can satisfy a wider public. Also, that whoever does not want the religious, and whoever wants a book that does not speak of the good God or of the little Jesus or of what one should believe, he finds something. (Br. Florent La Pierre-qui-Vire, 11.2005) We try that even if they are not believers, they can find something that interests them, for example, what is religion. We hope that when they come to us, they will find something, even about that, or even about other phenomena. (Br. Fernand, La Pierre-qui-Vire, 11.2005) But these books are not enough to meet the goal of profitability, which requires the monastics to extend the bookshop to non-religious books, which have a faster turnover. Economically speaking, if you want to present a religious book, which has a low turnover, it is practically unprofitable, you have to sell 25 cookery books alongside it. Or else, as was the case 20 years ago, the bookshop was losing the equivalent of €50,000 a year, but this is not viable. In order to be in balance, we have items with a very low turnover. There are religious books, we may sell one every three years, but we have to have it, because that is the role of the religious bookshop. That is why we have to sell other things that allow us to manage. (Layman in charge of the bookshop in Maredsous, 01.2008)

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  139 Among these other things, the person in charge explains that they sell plastic figurines for children, whose shelf space of 50 square centimetres brings in as much profit as the religious bookshop. As a result, according to the same manager, ‘before, it was 70% religious bookshop and 30% the rest, now it’s the other way round’. The decline of Catholicism in modern society has led to a change in demand for religious shops. The manager of the bookshop in Maredsous acknowledges that ‘it is a very old clientele, the problem is the renewal of customers’. Hence, they need to follow the evolution of demand, which follows the decline in religious practice. The sales strategies in monastic shops can thus be established on four levels. The first level corresponds to the lowest level of commitment of the consumer and utopian communication by the monastics, coupled with the maximum level of profitability. Whether books on the region or cookery books, these products have no connection with the monastery other than being sold in its shop. But they play the role of ‘bait’, as one monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey puts it, because they allow non-believers to go to the monastic shop, a frontier place that borders the Kingdom of God-to-be, which is the monastery. Once the customer has entered the shop, even for soap or cheese, the door is open to a discussion with the monastic cashier, which may lead to spiritual reflection. Among these ‘bait’ products, some respond more particularly to the specific demand of a large part of the clientele who, at the end of the visit, wish to buy something in the shop as a souvenir. These are the so-called impulse purchases or unplanned purchases, which do not involve any form of commitment on the part of the consumer. The monastic image is simply received by the consumer as proof of the link between the product and the past day. A second type of commercial strategy is oriented towards a relationship between the community and the consumer, in which case it is a ‘link product’. Without carrying any religious references, the product is explicitly linked to the monastery by the producer. It is a craft that links the consumer to the producer through what I call the sentimental value. The example of the bowl from La Pierre-qui-Vire, which customers say enables them to feel in ‘communion’ with the abbey, falls into this category. Like the local product, it links the consumer to the origin of its production. It is a symbolic product that represents the community in its human or spiritual dimension. A higher level of commitment by the consumer to religion corresponds to products through which the monastics explicitly convey a message, which, without necessarily being religious, amounts to a plausible translation of the monastic values. These ‘prophetic products’ try to give another sense to the economy, like alternative consumption products or therapeutic products. Finally, monastics may opt for an explicit transcendent relationship with the consumer, through a product which, from the moment of its manufacture, has been connected to the consumer in a spiritual way. This object, produced by hand on demand, is prayerfully designed for the consumer

140  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy from its earliest stages, such as the candles or baptismal robes mentioned above. The  degree of explicitly religious consumer engagement is then at its  highest, as is the religious management of their image by the monks or nuns. It is the combination of these different levels that allows the shop to achieve its pastoral as well as its profitability goals. Not limiting the items sold in the shop to those with a religious connotation allows for a wider demand as it does not assume a religious prerequisite for the purchase. The tension appears, however, in the products which, as non-bearers of religious references, could carry a message contrary to that of the monastic utopia. Monastics, as well as some lay managers of monastic shops, affirm the importance of keeping the items sold consistent with monastic values. Indeed, the shop manager in Maredsous explains: ‘We have to be careful that the cards do not devalue babies, for example. In the Maredsous cards there is also an image to convey’. Similarly, the bursar of La Pierre-qui-Vire explains that they have to sell ‘what corresponds to their vocation’ and later: There are people who say oh my, if the monks do that, where are we going? Even trade, I heard it twice. People coming into the shop, turning their heads, they are even doing business! These are people who perhaps idealise the monastic life, who imagine us praying all day or whatever. That is why we should not sell anything. On the other hand, I am not against selling herbal teas, especially if it is done by the monasteries. (Bursar, La Pierre-qui-Vire, 11.2005) The image of monastic life is therefore at stake in the products offered in the shop, especially with regard to a public that is not familiar with it. Some products cause real tensions about whether or not they can be integrated into the framework of the monastery and therefore their legitimacy in the monastic shops. A good example for this are cosmetic products. 5.3% of the French monasteries affiliated to the Monastic association in 2021 manufacture cosmetic products. However, it is notable that these products are called cosmetics in Italy and Belgium but hygiene products in France. These products, for example from the Chantelle Benedictine monastery, are not only shampoos or soaps but also creams that can be used as a make-up base, perfumes and make-up remover discs. Their designation as hygiene products and not cosmetics is intended to justify them as monastic products oriented towards care or even therapy rather than futility and vanity. In particular, the Bonne Fée Nature brand products, produced by a dairy company for monastery shops, introduced a debate on what was and was not acceptable in the field of cosmetics in a monastery shop. La Pierre-quiVire Abbey sold items from this range and recognised that they may not be entirely in line with their values. Products in the ‘beauty’ section were

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  141 judged to be too far from the monastic ideal by their name: suncare and anti-ageing; the monks therefore asked that the name be changed: The laboratories, they were the ones who proposed the titles to us, we told them, no, anti-ageing doesn’t work, solar either, we had it replaced by antioxidant, that is it, it is summer antioxidants, (small laugh), and winter antioxidants (small laugh), to tell you the truth. No, but these are questions that we ask ourselves! (Br. Etienne, France, 11.2005) The term ‘antioxidant’, by its scientific consonance, raises to a medical level what, in the case of the second product, is simply described in the catalogue as something that prepares, accelerates and prolongs tanning, which would be of the order of the futile, the ephemeral and the seductive. In fact, this product explicitly refers to the beauty of the body, a profane beauty that denies the order of nature (preventing oneself from aging, tanning without the help of the sun). Another example was experienced in 2019 in a monastery in Benin. A  Benedictine monk visiting from the Dzogbegan monastery in Togo brought with him a product from his monastery called ‘multi-floral water’, which is supposed to help cure different kinds of ailments. During dinner, a debate ensued between the monk and an apostolic sister, also visiting the guesthouse, about whether the label should mention that this water also helps against ‘sexual weakness’. The monk says that at religious meetings, this has been highly criticised by other communities. However, he says that this water is not produced for monks but for the laity in the world and therefore to meet their needs. The sister sided with the monk, insisting that this is a problem for many couples and listing it in the midst of other ailments makes it possible to buy the product without saying why one needs it. This debate highlights the tension within the monastic economy, which seeks on the one hand to correspond to the utopian image of the monastery and on the other to generate an income. The nuance underlined here is that monastic products seek to respond to the needs of its customers, who are for the most part lay people and not consecrated persons. The products sold in monastic shops, whether or not they are of monastic manufacture, are therefore subject to redefinition or justification in order to match both the economic aim and that of transmitting the monastic image as faithfully as possible. d Integration of the shop into monastic time and space The monastic shop, as a mercantile place in the monastic utopia, also needs to be spatially and temporally integrated into the monastic framework. The spatial organisation of the shop reveals the trade-off between economy and religion. Its location in relation to the monastery is the first step in the decision. Many communities have opened their shop within the

142  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy monastery, although it often has its own entrance. The practical issue of the availability of buildings is a determining factor in this choice. However, even if the shop is on the monastery premises, some communities try to deny its economic dimension or simply make it inconspicuous because it should not be there. For example, the sisters of a Benedictine Monastery in France, no doubt because of space constraints, have the shop within the reception area, in the monastery building itself. However, because the economic dimension of this place does not taint the entire monastery, they do not make it visible. I noticed that you didn’t indicate the shop when we arrived at the abbey. • • •

No. That is on purpose. (Laugh) And why is that? Because… Maybe we will do it. A lot of people tell us that we should do it by putting ‘diet products ta ta ta…’. We tell ourselves that when people come to an abbey, that is not the first thing they look for. We have asked ourselves the question several times, but so far, we have said no. (France, 02.2005)

According to this sister, the reason for entering a monastery should be religious, not economic. This strategy is negative from an economic point of view, but the invisibility of the shop somehow preserves the religious integrity of the monastery, not only by the relative negation of this activity but also by the guarantee that the people who come will not be totally alien to the religious utopia because they are motivated by religious reasons. Owing to the difficulties of integrating a shop into the monastic environment, some communities choose to move it away from the monastery. In reality, this move is often made at a later stage, once it has been proven that it is impossible to integrate it in an area close to the monastery. This is the case in Tamié, where the shop was rebuilt far enough away that the abbey is not visible from it. At the entrance to the road, it is nevertheless an obligatory passage on the way to the abbey. It used to stand next to the gatehouse, but it was deemed to be a disturbance to the monastic tranquillity. Not only because of its economic dimension but also because of the public it attracted. Before […], we had a small shop at the porter’s house, and around it, it had become Tamié-beach. In summer, there were all the chicks sunbathing on the grass and everything. And the monks used to pass by,… God rest their souls! (laughs) and so we built there, that was the goal, but I can see that it worked, 50% of the public never comes to the monastery. So that means that’s not what they come for. They come for a walk, in a tourist setting, they find a welcome shop which shows them the life of the monks, they are happy, they leave. (Bursar, France, 10.2008)

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  143 Similarly, in Maredsous, Belgium, the monks have moved the shop and the reception centre that were previously located opposite the abbey. ‘We are trying to organise things properly, to clean up the place. Tourism was becoming very noisy, the monks were complaining, so we tried to move it back, to give it another style. The shop was transferred in 1996’ (Bursar, 01.2008). Several thousand tourists come to Maredsous every weekend and not necessarily for the religious offerings of the monastery but mainly for the cafeteria and to walk around the area. This public can then alienate the silence sought by the monastic communities. The shop is thus the object of an inside/outside dialectic, as well as, in the case of the inside, a visible/invisible dialectic. Whatever its position in relation to the monastery, it is not only the place where the monastery and the outside world meet but also the place where the economic activity of the monasteries is visible, and not only religious activities, such as in the church, where this question is asked: ‘What image of monastic life, and therefore of life according to the Gospel, do the economies of our monasteries give?’ (Cellérier… 1998, p. 6). To this, question is added that of knowing to what extent the monastics wish to carry out a successful business by applying the principles of the world economy. During the refurbishment of their shop, the monks of La Pierre-qui-Vire in France had a debate with the architect, which illustrates this tension between the religious and the economic in monastic shops. Not wanting their shop to be a purely mercantile place, the community chose to use a house architect rather than a shop architect. This was a case of trying to remove the economic from the religious. The result is a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere that resonates with the monastery. However, the monks finally reproached the architect for not having given enough importance to the economic dimension of some departments of the shop, particularly those for monastic products. The emphasis placed on the bookshop corresponds to the desire to give priority to the apostolic dimension, but the other departments have suffered, even though they bring in proportionally more than the books. As we have given priority to the bookshop, the whole of the food part, monastic products, let’s say, has been sacrificed a little. In particular, our cheese area is a complete failure, even though we sell a lot of cheese. On Sundays after mass, people come in to get their cheese, and there is a lot of clutter in that area. Because we said cheeses are unclean, we are moving the books back! (Small laugh). But it is a bit of nonsense, well, it is not good from one point of view… (Br. Florent, France, 02.2006) The architect favoured fixity, the immutability that is found in the display tables and lighting, among other things. This fixity is combined with a concept of monastic life as being stable, in contrast to the constant change of

144  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy society. However, the brothers in charge of the shop reproach this principle of fixity. The monks are aware that ‘when consumers are in a shop, they are not just reacting to a product or service offered. The sales space or the immediate environment surrounding the potential buyer is never neutral’ (Gaulin et al. 1993, p. 459). The monks are therefore looking for plausibility not only regarding the apostolate, but also regarding economic performance. They would like economic and religious rationality to be combined, without being mutually exclusive. This example perfectly illustrates the tension defined by a brother from La Pierre-qui-Vire in his article ‘between its commercial (and therefore lucrative) dimension and its pastoral dimension linked to hospitality (and therefore in a certain sense more gratuitous)’ (MB 2005, p. 20). An eloquent example of the mixed use of space can be found in the shop at La Coudre monastery, which was inaugurated in 2003. As a monastic exhibition-sales gallery, this space enables the discovery of the entirety of monastic life, beginning with a ‘space devoted to a major question: the meaning of life’ and ending with the presentation of their products. The consumer then has the opportunity not only to buy the products but also to get ahead in his quest for meaning. Many monastic shops combine information about monastic life with the sale of products, either in the same space or in a related space. For example, in Kremsmünster, Austria, an information area called ‘Erlebnis Kloster’ (Monastic experience) was opened in 2017 in rooms directly adjoining the shop. Through multimedia installations, the visitor can learn about monastic life through the testimonies of monks. In other monasteries, the shop is ostensibly an entity that is not subject to economic investment. For example, the shop in the Cistercian monastery in Jędrzejów, Poland, is in a very small (circa 12 m 2) and dark room, which is only opened by a monk when visitors or pilgrims are there. The products are displayed on wooden shelves without any aesthetic or marketing emphasis. There are only religious articles like icons, medals, statues or religious books on offer, but no monastic products from another monastery. For pilgrims, religious products represent continuity between the spiritual experience of the pilgrimage and their daily life, in which the product reminds them of their religious experience. In this sense, the monastic shop of Jędrzejów is a part of the economy of religious goods but not of the economy of production (Jonveaux 2021a, p. 84). In addition to its spatial integration, the shop must also be integrated into the monastic temporality. This concerns the opening hours and their potential conflict with the times of services on the one hand and Sunday on the other. Some monastic shops are not a continuous activity for the community in the sense that they are only opened on request or after a group visit, as we saw in Jędrzejów, Poland. This is also the case at the Kokoubou monastery in Benin or the Agbang monastery in Togo. In these cases – where there is no display of products – the shop appears more as an activity that responds to a demand from the customers than a real offer from the community.

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  145 Other monastic shops are closed during the community prayers in order to establish a clear separation between the religious and the economic time. A Benedictine sister from Jouarre in France explains: ‘We decided to close the store in the morning for the sisters, if not, it will be on the prayer time’ (08.2012). Monastic time is marked by alternating not only times of prayer and work but also times of celebration and times of penance. Sunday is a special day of religious celebration that marks each week. Some communities are keen to keep the rhythm by not opening their shops on Sundays, thus becoming part of an alternative economy whose aim is not only profit. The community in Camaldoli, Italy, expresses this opinion: The accentuation of the consumerist character that tends to be conferred ever more markedly also on Sunday in the countries of the West […] makes it all the more urgent and significant for a monastic community like ours to recover for itself and re-propose the spiritual and prophetic tension of a Sunday lived in the sign of gratuitousness and of the feast generated by the faith of the Risen Lord. (Communità di Camaldoli 2002, p. 39) However, this day happens to be the most profitable and busiest day for the monastic shops, due to the public who wish to visit the shop after attending mass in the monastery. A monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire explains: We open on Sundays after mass, and also in the afternoon on Sundays. Some people reproach us for it, well, no, but there is currently a reflection on Sunday trading. Should the monastery shops open on Sundays? For the moment I think that the vast majority of the monastery shops are open on Sundays after Mass. For us it is a time of great affluence, yes, on Sunday afternoon, the regional clientele rushes in. (Br. Etienne, France, 02.2006) The closing of the shop would therefore considerably reduce the monastery’s income, as the manager of the shop in Saint-Wandrille testified: ‘We should never close on Sundays, or else we should never have opened on Sundays. Now that the habit is established, closing is a complete break in sales’. This Sunday opening at a time when Catholic associations are protesting against the opening of more and more supermarkets may seem paradoxical. However, ‘Sunday work has always existed in commerce, even at the height of the sanctification of the Lord’s Day – think of the time between the two masses, a welcome opportunity for the trade in useful commodities’ (Beck 1997, p. 118). It should be noted that all other work in the monastery ceases on Sundays, with the exception of trade. Some communities are continuing to reflect on this subject without having yet found the right answer, as the abbot of Tamié testifies:

146  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy We say that it is incomplete and that we would like to go further, that there is not only the legal aspect, but also the ethical aspect, is it normal for a monk to be in the store during vespers, or during Sunday hours? (France, 10.2008) The shop alone reflects the tensions caused by the monastic economy, both in terms of temporal and spatial integration and in the trade-off between maximising economic profitability with the quality of religious life.

3 High prices and luxury: Paradoxes of monastic products As we have seen, the religious stigma attached to trade is essentially linked to the use of money. The price of the item determines the amount of the monetary transaction and pays for the materials and labour. From an economic point of view, the price reflects the balance between supply and demand. The rarer an item, the more expensive it will be. Yet, the monastic economy is embedded in a religious environment that adds or modifies parameters to the pure law of the market. One of the monastic variables which is not economic, but which influences the economy, is the poverty which the monks and nuns want to live in their daily life and to be as a witness to the world. A visit to a monastic shop shows a priori high prices. How are the prices of monastic goods determined? And do they conflict with other values of monastic life? a Determining a fair price The determination of the price of monastic products involves various contradictory parameters, some of which cause tension with the monastic values or even the monastic rules. Here again, the problem is dual, involving both the economic and the religious determinants. Pricing is particularly problematic for items that are, ideally, produced in a non-economic environment. The most characteristic example is the one of the hosts. It seems indeed a contradiction to put a price on the ‘future Body of Christ’ who, according to Catholic theology, gives himself freely as a sacrifice during the communion. According to the classical theory of economics, demand depends on the price and the revenue from the consumers, whereas, in the present case, the absolute necessity of the product for the rite prevents its acquisition depending on the price. The price is the disturbing element because it reduces what will become the object of divine transubstantiation to something of mere commercial value. The price would be less upsetting if there were no pre-sacralisation by the makers. In the case of a manufacture, which is already religious, it interrupts the sacralisation. And yet if we examine this process closely, we notice that the nuns, while making attempts at sacralisation, are at the same time applying methods of desacralisation to get around the conflict between an object already sacred

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  147 and the economic market. The distinction they make between altar bread and the host enables them to assert that it is not the body of Christ and they sell it as unleavened bread. The separation, highlighted by the vocabulary, is intended to make a distinction between what still belongs to the commercial order and what is to become purely religious and consequently outside the economic field. The sisters, therefore, tend to set up a barrier between the sacred and the profane, so as to legitimise what would otherwise be utter profanation. As the price is a delicate question concerning this product, the nuns making the hosts decided to decide on a ‘fair price’: It was in the group of producers of altar bread that we tried to work out what the fair selling price should be. It should be fair, we thought, in the sense that we wouldn’t lose on it, but that we wouldn’t make an excessive profit from it either. Two methods were suggested by two different people. The first was a very classical method of analysis of the cost of production […]. Then there was a method of added-value which can be interesting. A certain number of monasteries worked it out. The main idea is to examine the production very closely with great precision… to establish a sort of yardstick by which the production could be measured. The yardstick was worked out by one of the monasteries and then it was used in other monasteries willing to apply the method to the production figures. […] I used both methods to make sure the price was fair. (Sr. Cécile, France, 06.2008) This insistence on defining a fair price with the help of scientific methods comes close to wanting to deny there is a price. To deny the differences in price is almost the same as saying that the price itself is not an element in the transaction. Deciding on a fair price by a rational method gives the nuns a clear conscience. Added to this, the price of the raw materials (flour and water) are unlikely to vary much and will have very little effect on the fixed price on the market. This situation is similar to oligopoly, which is when firms agree on the price, but here the quasi-uniformity on the market is more the result of the inevitable similarities of the product. Moreover, the insistence of the sisters that this work is both a service and a mission means that there is a change in how they perceive the revenue, which is no longer the result of a mercantile act but the just reward for a religious service enabling them to live. What is more, it is the Church, through the parishes, that buys the host and consequently pays the nuns. This payment is not intended to make the nuns rich but rather to provide for their keep. Money, then, is no longer a means of capitalisation. It reassumes its primitive function as an instrument of exchange, which will allow the nuns to buy what is essential. If this is still economics, it is, at any rate, religious economics.

148  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy The idea of determining a fair price was also the goal of the abbey in Plankstetten, Germany, but here it was more to justify the high price of the products for the consumers. To explain the high price of their food products, the monks of Plankstetten have published a brochure entitled ‘Quality has its price, how prices are determined in the monastery of Plankstetten’. The monks directly involve the consumer by pointing out that, through their purchase, they are participating in the monastic effort to protect the environment. In this way, the monks create a fair price (‘faire Preis’) which is characterised by six criteria: commitment to an ecological economy; refusal of extreme rationalisation in order to be able to offer interesting jobs; high quality, thanks to the maturation time of the products (time costs); preservation of the monastic heritage for future generations; investment in modern means of production which allow the taste of the products to be preserved and finally, the development of a regional economy. These criteria define both the alternative path chosen by the monks for their economy and what the consumer will support when buying the product. ‘Plankstetten Monastery takes a different approach: we want to offer traditionally the best quality from organic cultivation. This has its price’. The customer is thus making a committed purchase, symbolised by the high price he is prepared to pay. The monastic prices are therefore justified by the different commitments of the monasteries to an alternative economy that advocates quality, social and ecological aspects. A monk from the Trappist monastery in Westmalle, Belgium, justifies the high price of beer by explaining the social commitment of the monastery regarding its production: ‘Today, we can legitimise that we sell it for more! (Laughs) For several reasons, for example for the quality but also for the social purpose we are looking for’ (Br. Bazile, 01.2008). Adherence to an alternative type of economy requires the acceptance of the price to be paid. b Does quality mean luxury products? As stated above, the monastics opt for quality because it is a niche that corresponds as much to their capacity for economic production as to their values. In this framework, the cost of raw materials and the low volume of production necessarily imply a high price for these products, even if, according to the monastics, quality monastic products are cheaper than others of a similar high quality. A monk from St Wandrille Abbey in France explains: Yes, sometimes they [customers] say it is quite expensive, but that is exactly what I say. For example, the sisters of the Guardes Abbey, so that their jam keeps the taste, the good taste of the fruit, instead of using like the Y company that makes jams by the ton in huge pots, they do it in small pots so as not to overheat the product and keep the flavor of the fruit. And the quality is there (small laugh), isn’t it? You have to

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  149 call a spade a spade! Everything is of at least equal, if not superior quality to what Fauchon sells. And our prices are much lower. (Fr. Luc, France, 11.2004) But if monastic products are part of a strategy to spread monastic values to the world, then they must be accessible regardless of the customers’ budget. In his rule, St. Benedict recommends that ‘one should always sell for less than elsewhere’ (57, 8). The present monastics do not think that this article is applicable given the conditions of the present day and especially due to the high value of their products. Thus, although Brother Pierre, a monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire, recognises this contradiction, he considers that the monks do not have the means to sell at a lower price in order to reach more people, and above all, this would not be the most relevant way of bearing testimony to this different economy: I don’t believe in what Saint Benedict says. I don’t think that today charging less is relevant to make people understand that we are monks. But if you want to bring something to the world with your products and they are expensive, then they are not accessible to everyone? No. Because we can’t afford it. […] You have to sell products that show respect for creation, and for people at the right price, not necessarily that the market. It is understandable that Benedict, in a completely different economic context, played on this to say the thing. If monks were to speculate […] well, that would be scandalous. But I have no problem with the monks charging normal prices for the products they make, depending on their quality. In general, the quality-price ratio of monastic products is rather excellent. (Br. Pierre, France, 04.2006) The present testimony of monastic products would therefore not be in the price but in the ethics of their production and the values they carry. The monks are aware that some of their prices are high and therefore constitute a barrier for customers of more modest means, who are unable to afford to purchase them. ‘It is a bit of a drawback, really, that in general, these are luxury products. Or semi-luxury, because there are no monasteries that make very luxurious products. In fact, in general, it is people with money who buy’ (Bursar, La Pierre-qui-Vire 02.2006). According to the person in charge of the shop in the same abbey, the products that can be bought by customers of lesser financial capacity are those that are less conducive to the religious utopia, cheese rather than books on abbeys: I would say that we don’t reach many people of modest means, although some of our neighbours do come by. But then maybe they only buy cheese, they buy cheese and then the cardboard, the prices are quite

150  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy standard. They won’t buy Zodiaque [books about French abbeys], that is for sure, Zodiaque are almost luxury products. (11.2005) However, they are aware of the religious implications of their prices and try to find a solution. Thus, the screen printer of La Pierre-qui-Vire wanted to be able to offer an object accessible almost universally, and which would bring something to the consumers: It is how to allow this small object to circulate among people, almost everyone. But having said that, people who come to the monastery and who don’t have an infinitely expandable wallet, they are happy to go into the store and take a small object with them, so… For example, in one of my reflections at the moment, it is to see what is the cheapest object in the store at the moment and to see if I, with the cards, could make a cheaper object. It would be to make bookmarks that are really, I don’t know, at €0.30, €0.40 euros but that really, you have some coins in your pocket you can still take a bookmark that was made by the Pierre-qui-Vire. (Br. Christian, France, 02.2006) These bookmarks were indeed made and sold at a price of 0.60 euros. The idea here is not to sell monastic products cheaper, which would not be economically possible, but to offer a product that is accessible to all. However, it can also be observed that monastic products are sold at higher prices outside the monastic networks to match market prices. A monk from Camaldoli explains: We have production costs. However, the prices that we make to the outside, clearly, who sells our products, we cannot impoverish our prices because the market is free. So, a cream that in Camaldoli is sold to €11, which is a small low for the national market, they will be sold much more expensive to experts. I give you an example, we have a product similar to the oil 31 that in the productive branch is sold to €26, we sell it to €11. So, when you look at our levels and our ways of doing things, we hold this course of action of keeping the prices down. However, we cannot exclude to those who sell. (Italy, 03.2007) The lower price of products sold directly from the monastery also rewards customers who take the trouble to come to the monastery. However, the  monastics cannot control all the prices of their products sold outside their sales network. The quality of monastic products combined with their relative scarcity – one must otherwise go to the monastery’s store, which may be far away – encourages some retailers to raise prices significantly.

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  151 The Trappist brothers of Kokoubou have had the same experience with their honey, which is sold at a premium in Cotonou. Speculation is therefore organised around certain monastic products, although the communities do not benefit from this. A French founder of this monastery explains: The problem is that there are people who want to buy in bulk and they sell at exorbitant prices. So, we only sell in small quantities. Because it is sold anyway. But we don’t want them to deal with us. Sometimes we have problems at this level. Because honey, in Benin, we can say that it is only here that it is produced, that it is pure. So, we can raise the prices a little. … I heard that there is a lady in the south, we sell at 7000 Francs CFA or 8000, she sold it at 16000. That is ridiculous. (Br. Jacques, Benin, 02.2019) This situation can also be described as a monopoly situation, as the honey made by the monks is almost the only pure honey in Benin. However, while the monks have a monopoly on production, they do not have a monopoly on sales, which encourages lay dealers to raise prices. c Monastic products in Africa: A hiatus with customers Monastic products in Africa are largely confronted with two obstacles that prevent them from reaching the largest number of customers: their price compared to the local standard of living and their non-adaptation to local demand. The high price of products in relation to the standard of living of the local population is both a brake on the monasteries’ economy and an aporia in the dissemination of their values of poverty. A sister in Parakou explains that sales of yoghurt are falling due to the loss of local purchasing power. A yoghurt costs 300 CFA francs (0.46 Euro), which is comparable to supermarket prices in Austria for instance and which is expensive compared to the average local salary of 40,000 CFA francs (€61) per month. The community’s auditor says that ‘three-quarters of Beninese live on €2 a day’. Almost all monastic products in Africa are, because of their production costs and the local standard of living, aimed at a wealthy clientele. Going where the money is was an explicit aim of the first monastic economies brought by the founders. In Toffo, for example, as a German Jesuit who spent a month there in 1986 told me, the sisters sold their high-quality jam to embassies, first to the French embassy and then to a network of embassies. This aim does not seem to be as explicit 30 years later, but much of the monastic production in West Africa has remained modelled on the founding communities from France. Jam is a telling example which – without mentioning the price – is not part of the local cuisine. A Beninese sister from L’Étoile asks with humour: ‘We don’t even have bread, what do you want to do with jam?’ A monk from Kokoubou near L’Étoile points out the same problem with syrup: ‘Our products are reserved for a certain class. In the

152  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy village, I didn’t know what syrup was’. A Frenchman from the Kokoubou foundation team also makes this remark about the fromage blanc they produce: ‘The clientele is not… It is mainly civil servants or Europeans. We don’t sell that much’. The installation of a police station at the entrance to the track leading to the monastery, where families of civil servants have moved, allows them to sell a little more of their products. The type and the cost of the products are therefore destined for a well-to-do or even European clientele located in the big or main cities. However, monasteries are rarely located close to large cities. On the contrary, when the abbot of the French monastery of Aiguebelle made a reconnaissance trip to find a favourable location for the first Cistercian monastery in sub-Saharan Africa in 1951, the abbot left five criteria for his assistant, including: ‘Not too close to a city to limit movements’ and also ‘in a fertile and irrigated area, viability being less important than religious regularity’ (Gravrand 1990, p. 40). It should be emphasised that these were Trappists, Cistercians of the Strict Observance, whose tradition was indeed more oriented towards internal work in the monastery, like Kokoubou and L’Étoile. In this context, the delivery of products to potential customers, taking the local realities into account, poses various transportation difficulties, and these difficulties are partly responsible for the high prices. High prices and lack of adaptation to the local market can lead to difficulties or even an end to production. This is the case of the sisters’ weaving workshop in Toffo, which currently costs more than it earns and whose products are sold only in small quantities. The thrifty sister considers that the table linen they produce in their weaving workshop has become ‘a luxury item’ that is only bought once in a lifetime. Some products may appear to have been adapted to the needs of the local population, but they cannot reach the intended clientele because the prices are too high. This is the case of the enriched flour made by the Benedictine Sisters of L’Écoute in Benin, which is inaccessible to the majority of the population because the cost is too high, even though this product is directly aimed at fighting malnutrition. One sister explains: It reaches a clientele with a certain standard of living. The sisters therefore sell their flour mainly to institutions, for example, a school for the deaf and dumb run by an apostolic congregation near their monastery. This school would not have the means to pay for the flour if an international solidarity project did not finance it. (03.3019) However, this type of product is part of the development economy that will be studied in the last chapter. Through their products, the monks and nuns try to contribute to the development of the countries in which they are located, in this case to fight against malnutrition. This is also the aim of the monks in Kokoubou, with their cultivation of moringa to fight against child malnutrition.

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  153 Poorly adapted to the direct local market, the African monastic economy is not primarily an economy of proximity. Low local purchasing power directs communities to markets in the cities or abroad. However, as will be seen later, this economy nevertheless contributes to regional development.

4 E-commerce: Selling without leaving the enclosure? Monastic communities use digital media (websites and sometimes social networks) for their spiritual presence. Between my 2012 survey on the use of the internet by monastic communities (Jonveaux 2013) and 2022, I have observed an evolution concerning Benedictine communities. In 2012, 57% of French Benedictine communities had a website for the monastery and this has risen to 77% in 2022. In contrast, in 2022, 26% of West African communities5 have a personal website: 62% of male communities, but only 4.8% of female communities. In view of the distance of some monasteries from the large cities where the outlets for their products are located, the difficulties of delivery in some countries or a voluntary distancing from the world, e-commerce may a priori prove to be particularly suitable for monastic trade. Mail order is not new to the monastic economy, which has already been using it for a long time to boost monastic trade while continuing to protect the religious sphere. In this sense, online sales can be seen as a logical continuation of the mail order sales already present in monastic networks. a Timid beginnings In 2013, I highlighted a correlation in France between the economic activities of a monastery and the opening of a website. Thus, the six French monasteries that went online with their website the earliest, between 1996 and 1998, all have particularly dynamic economic activities. At the female Abbey of Chambarrand, for example, whose site went online in 1997, the Trappistines had already developed a mail order system for monastic products called the Panier de Chambarrand a few years earlier. At Saint-Wandrille Abbey, whose website went live in 1997, the monks are also well-known for their economic activities. Finally, Solesmes Abbey, renowned for its Gregorian music which it sells internationally, went online with its website in 1997, despite its rather strict concept of enclosure. The same can be observed in Austria, where the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, famous for its Gregorian records, went online with its first website in 1999, in response to tourist demand. However, I have also shown that the communities least likely to have a website are those that produce hosts or religious articles for the clergy: products that have, for the most part, their own sales networks without the need to find other outlets. In 2009, I was also able to identify a correlation between the online presence and the size of guesthouse (number of places). This proves both that visibility is important for communities that focus more on hospitality and

154  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy that these communities are also willing to have an online presence. At this time – which is less verifiable today because few current communities do not have a website – in France there is a correlation between having an online presence and economic production. Thus, communities producing religious articles for the clergy were least likely to have a website or email address (32%). On the other hand, those producing food (13.30%) and hygiene articles (12.50%) were the least likely not to have them. The more the field of production is linked to a broad clientele and does not require religious determinants, the more the communities were present on the internet. The internet is used by monasteries for different economic purposes, first of all for purchases of all kinds, which allows monastics to limit their outings from the enclosure. In this sense, the internet helps to protect the enclosure, even if it can also challenge it by bringing the whole world into the monastic’s cell (Jonveaux 2013). When communities have a personal website, it is not just for trade; it also allows them to advertise their guesthouse, albeit passively, even if this is forbidden by the legislation on non-profit activities. In addition, the monasteries provide a great deal of tourist information on their websites, both on the history of the buildings or works of art and on the timetables for visits. Finally, the internet is also used by communities to make appeals for donations. Some communities publish them on their website, others use social networks which allow information to be spread almost without limit. For instance, in March 2022, the Benedictine nuns of Rosheim in France had a ‘make a donation’ tab on their website, offering online payment. The visibility of calls for donations on monastery websites, especially when they concern the life of the community and not only renovation projects, gives an image of a monastic economy unable to cover all the needs of its communities. This type of appeal for donations concerns communities with less developed economic activities. A new form of appeal for donations made possible by the internet is that of crowdfunding, of which a Christian version exists in France under the name of credofunding. Since 2022, some monasteries, such as the one in Keur Moussa, Senegal, have started using it. The monks from this monastery have launched a €30,000 fund for a new drilling project costing a total of €166,000. In a video presentation of the project, a monk presents all the economic activities of the monastery, as well as the agro-ecology training project. The monks therefore present the monastery as not being dependent upon donations for their daily needs, but rather for an exceptional expenditure that will benefit more than just their community. Among the donors is a French Benedictine monastery, which has donated several times. This shows that inter-monastery donations are currently also made on public online platforms. Some of the donors’ messages entrust the community with prayer intentions, which refers to the ancient economy of religious giving in exchange for spiritual service. It is noticeable that it is the abbot himself who responds to the messages, thus giving added credibility to this appeal. This is a combination of marketing,

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  155 by giving a presentation of the monastery (YouTube video, use of online crowdfunding) and the application of brotherhood ethics, exemplified in the abbot’s personal responses to messages. The economic use of the internet by the monks is therefore as diverse as the use of the internet in society, as much for buying themselves consumption goods and service as for generating income for the community. b International sales networks without leaving the monastery Let us now turn to monastic e-commerce. Most communities use their online presence to present their products to potential consumers and retailers. A monk from Kokoubou, Benin, explains that they have developed their site for this purpose: It is possible to sell on the internet. Because it is an economic system that we have to enter. We developed our website a little bit for that, to give information on the site like, here are our products and so on. But it is a site that is not updated regularly…. But at the moment we might have other things to worry about. (laughs) (Fr. Léonis, Benin, 03.2019) A visit to their renovated website in 2022 shows a presentation of products by category but no possibility to buy them online. Many monastic communities have shown reluctance to move to e-commerce. E-commerce is defined here as a commercial transaction that takes place online, including payment. A French Carmelite nun responsible for the production of hosts in her monastery, interviewed in 2008, explained that impersonality is one of the reasons they are reluctant to develop online sales, because ‘it is writing and at the same time, it is not the same thing to take your pen and write a little note on paper’. She puts a personal note about the community or the liturgical season in with the orders. In 2004, a monk from Saint-Wandrille explained that they were not, in his opinion, ready to switch to e-commerce, because ‘we lose the contact’, which he considers essential and therefore he prefers selling in the shop (Jonveaux 2013). However, since then, they have opened a website dedicated to selling their products online. The surveys I have carried out in Africa since 2013 show that the main reasons for the difficulties in switching to e-commerce are mainly technical, especially with the issue of online payment. During my field inquiries in Senegal in 2016 and 2017, the monks of Keur Moussa were thinking about selling their food products (juice, liqueur) on their own homepage, but they were experiencing difficulties with the online payment system. The monk in charge of the monastery website said: Now the other thing that poses a problem in this sense, people ask, is the request on the internet, purchase or other. But for the moment we

156  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy cannot…. And the other thing about the difficulty is that the site is managed in France, we only have the domain. So, it is difficult. I proposed that we could create a site that would be managed in Dakar…. The site obviously cannot be managed for the moment because it will be difficult in our countries. How many people use bank cards in the shops? For that reason, we cannot afford to sell online. The system is not yet very well set up for that. (Br. Maxent, Senegal, 03.2017) The crisis of COVID 19 in 2020, which put the community into financial difficulties due to a drastic drop in sales, encouraged the monks to take the plunge and start e-commerce of their food products. Other communities all over the world have overcome their reluctance to sell online due to the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic. Two female French communities I spoke with in 2020 told me that they started e-commerce during the pandemic. Both estimate a 5% share of e-commerce in their overall sales during the first year. E-commerce of monastic products by the communities is therefore in the development process. In 2022, 10% of French Benedictine communities offered online sales of their products directly on their website and almost 9% had a website dedicated to this purpose. This means that in total, one fifth of the monasteries offered their products by e-commerce: 31% of men’s communities and only 9% of women’s communities. But more women’s communities (9% versus 3%) offer the possibility of ordering by e-mail, sometimes with an order form to be downloaded from the site. Once again there is a clear difference between the men’s and women’s communities, with an obvious reluctance within the nuns’ communities to use new technologies, as observed for websites ten years ago. In Austria, 15% of Benedictine monasteries have a separate online shop and 15% sell on the same website, but this only applies to the male monasteries, as no female Benedictine monasteries offer online sales. In Africa, only 3% of monasteries have a separate website and 3% sell on the same website. Once again, these are only the male monasteries, i.e. in total about 10% of the male monasteries. The proportion of male monasteries practising e-commerce is around 30% in both France and Austria, while the Austrian economy relies significantly less on the trade of consumer goods produced within this framework. The openness of the Austrian monasteries’ activities to the world, though their involvement in education and pastoral care, as well as through subcontracted activities such as wine production, clearly leads to a greater willingness to use wider communication tools to sell their products. E-commerce also gives the communities the opportunity to distribute their products more widely, especially because monastic homepages are accessible on the internet to everyone, even those who are not necessarily looking for a monastic product. The main activity of the monastery of Keur Moussa in Senegal is to produce a traditional musical instrument, the kora,

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  157 which they use for the liturgy. This community undertook the special work of adapting the Gregorian liturgy to West African culture, and the introduction of the kora in the monastic liturgy was part of this process. Thanks to their online presence, the monks sell more koras to other African countries, and even outside Africa, than they do within Senegal. As of October 2014, the monks had sold 340 koras in Senegal and 740 in France, which is the largest client. In total, 899 koras were sold in Africa, 942 in Europe and 80 in North America. Online sales of their CD through the websites of general retailers (e.g., Amazon, Fnac) have helped to spread their liturgy, which has now been adopted in a large number of monasteries in West Africa. For the monastery of Keur Moussa, online sales of their CDs are important because the local population is highly impoverished and therefore does not represent a potential market. In this sense, the monastery’s online presence supports its economy by allowing it to find new outlets. As many monastic communities are still reluctant to engage in ­e-commerce,  secular companies are taking over from the monasteries by offering monastic products online. La Boutique de Théophile and Eole Agapé in France are companies which, 15 years ago, offered catalogue sales and which have now evolved towards internet sales. The most recent website offering e-commerce monastic products in France is the start-up company Divine Box, founded in 2017, by two young people. The aim is to offer ‘boxes’ of monastic products to customers, which they receive once a month for six months. The enterprise is based on the model of organic food boxes. The original idea was just to offer the products in a box. The online shop was born a year and a half later to satisfy the demand of customers who wanted to buy the products individually. The aim of this company is to make monastic products more widely known, especially, according to one of the founders, with younger generations and outside the Catholic public or those who visit the monasteries. The products are selected for their quality and for the capacity of the community to produce them in sufficient quantity. According to one of the founders, the packaging is irrelevant. This type of company is positioning itself on the market in response to the combined demand of the monastic communities to sell more widely on the internet without doing it themselves and of society for products that match the quality of monastic products. The monasteries can then delegate the e-commerce of their products to companies more competent to do so, which allows them to put this economic dimension at a distance. At the same time, however, this increases the commercial dimension of monastic products, when they are no longer sold directly by monasteries but by resellers who make it their business. c  The economic enclosure online The tension between economic activity and monastic life which leads to different forms of justification, integration or separation is also

158  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy present online. A first indication is that of the vocabulary used to present the income-producing activities. Two types of description can be found, which refer partly to work or manual labour and partly to the shop. The first type of approach (e.g. ‘working life’, ‘living from the work of one’s hands’, ‘the work of the brothers’) refers to it as being one monastic activity among others, e.g. prayer and community life, while the shop approach refers directly to the commercial dimension of this activity. Communities with the most developed economic activities or a well-known product on the market tend to opt for an economic description, while communities with a smaller economy tend to opt for a religious description. When e-commerce is offered on a separate homepage, this allows an online enclosure to be established. This separation allows the product sales pages to be resolutely only to do with the economic activity, even if the design tries to reproduce monastic values, as seen above, with the function of economic activity being entrusted to a layperson. For example, on its commercial site, which is separate from that of the community, Saint-Wandrille Abbey offers a page dedicated to special sales. The separation of the economic from the purely monastic sphere allows it to develop its commercial dimension while protecting the monastic community. The monastic websites thus reproduce the strategies for integrating the economy into the monastic utopia as seen in Chapter 4. The online space is thus perfectly established in continuity with the offline space.

5 Dependency of the world economy As seen in the second chapter, several external factors determine the monastic economy, which is not free to develop in a totally utopian way if it aims to find a place in the market. The transition from an ‘amateur’ or domestic economy to a professional economy that employs external staff and sells goods and services on national and even international markets requires the acceptance of standards and regulations. a Norms and standards One factor that has greatly influenced monastic production in recent decades, and continues to do so in commercial networks, is the standards associated with products, especially food or cosmetics, which regularly change. A brother from Westmalle in Belgium explains: ‘A hundred years ago, all the abbeys had farms, they made cheese, and all that. But a big difficulty is the regulations of the European community. They set standards and then…’ (01.2008). Similarly in Praglia, the head of the cosmetics workshop explains: ‘We know very well that cosmetics is a very criticised activity. Because European standards continue to issue laws that are increasingly restrictive in the sector. We can’t keep up, we know that. So, we have other activities’ (02.2007). The standards represent constraints for monastic

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  159 communities which, because of the small size of their production, do not have the flexibility to regularly adapt their production to the new standards. These standards also reduce access to international markets, for example in Europe for African products. The brother bursar in Kokoubou, Benin, explains: I was told that the product had to be withdrawn because it doesn’t meet the standards. From the label point of view, all that. It was missing some data. (laughs) So as not to have a problem. We will see, I will start again. … I hear that the propolis ointment is in demand. (Br. Léonis, 03.2019) The limits of utopia are therefore not only those of its plausibility but also those of its viability, which force it to adhere to standards and norms in order to have a place on the market. An alternative economy is only free to  be different within the limits determined by its acceptance on the  market, be it through legal regulations or through the meeting of demand. b Crises and monastic economic Although the monastery ideally wants to be a coherent place outside the world and independent of the world, total economic independence is not possible. The bursar of Praglia in Italy admits that ‘the economic conditions of the world where we live also enter into the monastery’ (02.2007). This also means being subject to market movements or potential crises. During my doctoral thesis, the monastic communities I studied told me that the financial crisis of 2008 had not spared them, especially those who had held financial investments. For example, Saint-Wandrille Abbey in France, which depends on financial earnings for 20% of its income, suffered significant losses of income in 2002 and 2008 due to the financial market crises. In the same way, monks said that they felt the changeover to the euro in 2002 in their economy, for instance in Camaldoli: Unfortunately, the euro caused problems for our business because we realised that, while outside Italy all prices had increased, according to tausend lire equals one euro, we unfortunately did not. And so, both for the guesthouse and for our production, we were in difficulty because our suppliers had all increased their prices, and we found ourselves paying more for raw materials and our selling prices remained more contained. (Bursar, Italy, 03.2007) This example shows that the monks did not want to follow the general flow of the economy, in order to remain fair to their customers, but since they are

160  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy just as much part of the general economy, especially through their working together with suppliers, this position actually backfired financially. In order to avoid too great an impact due to the financial crisis, the monastic communities try to diversify their sources of income. This is also a recommendation that regularly appears in the reports of the auditing monk in the Benedictine communities. Even in Austrian monasteries, for example, where 90% of the income comes from the same activity (forestry), other sources are also present, such as real estate or wine. Don Raffaele, from Praglia, when asked why they opt for several small activities rather than big one, replies: We have the experience of the old monks who arrived, and it is also common sense, because if you have only one activity at the time of crisis… And one experience on this subject, for example Tamié, in France, they only make cheese. There were big problems for the cheeses. And they only made cheese! […] And so we have greater elasticity. (Fr. Raffaele, Italy, 02.2007) The diversification of the types of activities therefore makes it possible to avoid this risk, and indeed, about 57% of French communities work in at least two sectors (Jonveaux 2011a). A French Benedictine sister from L’Écoute in Benin also explains: ‘It is better to have several sectors, if you only centralise on one, it is very risky’ (02.2019). Thus, this monastery has six different sources of productive income: the host factory (one full day every fortnight), the production of enriched flour, the farm (often in deficit), the vegetable garden, the shop and the guesthouse. At the same time, however, the diversification of sectors can limit the development of a particular sector. It is therefore a question of finding a balance within a fair number of activities and favouring one or two flagship activities with a high return. As already mentioned, the COVID-19 crisis has, from an economic point of view, hit the monasteries hard, especially those who live off an economy of internal production or from visitors to the monastery who use the shop or stay in the guesthouse. Some activities were directly affected by the health measures, such as the suspension of the Mass, which greatly reduced the demand for hosts. A French monastery of Poor Clares, whose main economic activity is that of producing hosts, informed me of these consequences. Other abbots with whom I am in contact, particularly in Africa, have told me that they were only able to get by thanks to donations. The products particularly affected were those of fresh produce that could not be preserved beyond the end of the crisis. For example, the Tamié Abbey in France, whose main production is cheese, lost 85% of its turnover in one month during the first lockdown. The French start-up company Divine Box, which sells monastic products via the internet, then had the idea of calling these monasteries to see how they could be helped. Tamié declined the offer, but Echourgnac, a monastery of Benedictine nuns, accepted, and so 600 kg

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  161 of cheese that would otherwise have been destined for the skip was sold in just 24 hours. The media coverage of this action, both through social networks and in the national media, guaranteed its success. On the strength of this success, the Divine Box entrepreneurs called other monasteries and 500 kg of cheese from Pesquié, an abbey located in the Pyrenees, was sold within 5 hours and 300 kg from Randol Abbey in one day. The action carried out at Cîteaux, whose cheese is famous in France and is even sold in cheese shops, received a lot of media attention and sold two tons in less than 24 hours. This type of action, which began with cheese, was continued with wine, where, for example, 20,000 bottles of rosé wine from Jouques Abbey were sold in one week. The fact that this action was publicised on a national television channel significantly accelerated sales. In this case, the world economy, through a secular company, came to the rescue of the monasteries in their time of crisis and gave them access to a wider market. Crises are also an opportunity to innovate, like the sisters of the Annonciades in France, who in 2020 and 2021 proposed drive-ins to collect orders for products made by e-mail. Monasteries, although aiming for extramundaneity, are therefore not spared from economic crises since they themselves are part of the economy. The economic crises reveal, in fact, that the monastic economy is part of the general economy. c Monastic economy in the African context: Dependency on the infrastructure The African monastic economy, although partly an economy based on the model imported by the founding communities, is not independent of the local economic situation. The lack of infrastructure and local industry in Africa are obstacles to the monasteries’ economic activity, which also increases the cost of the products. Indeed, ‘Africa is the region with the lowest share in global manufacturing value added. It stood at only 1.6% in 2014’ (Totouom 2018, p. 365). Development economics shows that the lack of infrastructure (roads, ports and communication) reduces the efficiency of investments (Brasseul & Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 115). One of the consequences of the lack of local industry is that the monasteries have difficulty finding the raw materials or packaging needed for their products. The production of yoghurts at L’Étoile Abbey in Benin is a prime example. The yoghurt cups are currently bought from Europe, and they are delivered once a year by container shipment. As much to reduce costs as to promote the economy of the sub-region, the abbess explains that she has sought to source these locally. However, the cups ordered from the Ivory Coast arrived dirty and needed to be washed again, which added to the labour time. Other cups bought from a neighbouring country were also unsuitable as the lid did not stick well. She therefore decided to resume importing the cups from Europe. In view of this, monastics are talking

162  Monastic products and interactions with the world economy about the idea of moving from a consumer goods industry to a producer goods industry, to promote the industrial development of their country. The construction company (house building, structural work) of the Agbang monastery in Togo is already part of this orientation towards activities in the secondary sector. This sector is important as it doesn’t seek singularity, such as consumer products reserved for an elite, but is part of a fundamental area of the economy that can aid in its development. Difficulties in accessing energy or its high costs, especially when electricity is produced by a generator, are another obstacle to monastic production. ‘It is the region in the world with the lowest rate of access to electricity (35%), yet electricity is the main source of energy used in industries on the continent’ (Totouom 2018, p. 370). Economic reports from monasteries show that the cost per kilowatt hour of electricity for a monastery in Benin from the central grid is double that of a French monastery, for example. At the female abbey of Keur Guilaye in Senegal, Brother Ardouin notes that half of the electricity bill, which is becoming increasingly expensive, is a result of their economic activities. To make up for the frequent power cuts, the monastery has a generator supplied with fuel oil, as is often the case in Africa. The high cost of energy is reflected in the price of its products, and regular power cuts, despite the use of generators, have a negative impact on production. The lack of transport infrastructure has a direct impact on monastic trade and the price of goods. ‘Low levels of infrastructure and limited transport and trade services increase transaction and logistics costs, make products uncompetitive, and limit rural production and people’s access to markets, with negative impacts on economic activity and poverty’ (Totouom 2018, p. 366). As already mentioned, the transport costs represent an important part of the budget of African monasteries due to the state of the roads. The duration of the journey – also linked to the state of the roads – and the conservation of the products, especially if they are fresh, also represent challenges for the marketing of monastic products. For example, the sisters of L’Étoile in Parakou, Benin, have their own refrigerated truck to deliver their yoghurt to Cotonou, 400 km from the monastery, which takes an average of eight hours of travel time. Finally, as already mentioned, the difficulty of the monastic economy in the sub-Saharan African context is that of demand and purchasing power: The weakness of the size of the market in Africa lies less in the number of inhabitants living on the continent, which is still significant (more than one billion inhabitants, i.e. more than 15% of the world’s population), than in the low purchasing power of consumers and the low level of integration on the continent. (Totouom 2018, pp. 376–377) The countries studied here are in the lower categories of the global development indices. Benin, Senegal and Togo are low Human Development

Monastic products and interactions with the world economy  163 Index countries according to the 2019 ranking and medium for Kenya. These  countries belong, according to the World Bank ranking, to the low-income countries (Togo and Benin until 2019) or lower middle-income countries (Kenya, Senegal and Benin since 2020), the two lowest categories out of four. The low purchasing power at the local level makes it necessary to find outlets elsewhere, either in the big cities, but transport does not facilitate this option, or abroad, but both the standards and transport do not facilitate it either. As a result, the monastic economy is hampered by the weakness of the local market. The African monastic economy is therefore faced with obstacles to its expansion due to the lack of local infrastructure and industry. Furthermore, monastic production faces the same obstacles as local industry. However, the last chapter will explore how monasteries have comparative advantages in their manufacturing economy on the sub-Saharan African continent.

Notes 1 https://www.artisanatmonastique.com/53-confitures-fruits-au-sirop-et-compotes [consulted on 7.10.2021]. 2 https://www.spar.at/content/dam/sparatwebsite/eigenmarken/lebensmittel/sparwie-fr%C3%BCher/Gut-Aich-Rezeptfolder-SPAR-wie-frueher.pdf [consulted on 18.10.2021]. 3 https://www.trappist.be/en/about-ita/atp-label/ [consulted on 23.06.2021]. 4 https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2cann208–329_en.html [consulted on 1.09.2021]. 5 For monastic communities members of the Alliance Intermonastique in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

8

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery

A well-known paradox of today’s monasteries, mainly in Europe, is that they are full of guests and empty communities. Few people show up at the doors of monasteries to enter religious life, while many wish to spend a few days there, to the point that in some French monasteries one has to book a year in advance to be sure of having a particular weekend. According to Danièle Hervieu-Léger, hospitality is ‘at the heart of the definition of monastic life for the present world’ (2017, p. 659). The issue of visitors to monasteries from the point of view of their economic function will be discussed here. Visitors are indeed sources of income for the communities, which encourages monastics to open their doors more widely. However, as we will see, the influx of visitors can also challenge the characteristics of the religious setting, which requires a limit to the amount of places open to the public.

1 The boom of monastic visitors: Different profiles Visiting a monastery is becoming increasingly more popular, but the motives of the visits are very different from one visitor to another. I have identified (Jonveaux 2018b) four categories of visitors according to their motivations. First, the classic God-seekers who come to the monastery for a religious goal. In this category, we can differentiate between two subtypes: the individual God-seeker, who comes to the monastery for a retreat and often spends a few days there alone – or as a couple – to re-intensify their relationship with God. They seek solitude and silence. These retreatants are generally practising Christians in their daily life and would rather go to monasteries that are less touristy and more focused on prayer. Access to the liturgy of the monastics is an important criterion when choosing a monastery. While the majority of communities open all their offices to the public, some do not, sometimes for organisational reasons. The other category is those who come for a specific religious event without staying the night. In Austria, some monasteries offer religious youth events, like the ‘Treffpunkt Benedikt’ in Kremsmünster, the Youth Vigil in Heiligenkreuz or the Youth Vespers in Seitenstetten, which are monthly events. ‘Treffpunkt Benedikt’, for instance,

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-9

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  165 is not merely a time devoted to religious practice (e.g. prayer time) but also offers leisure activities, such as barbecues, swimming, and football games in the summer. Danièle Hervieu-Léger observes six modalities by which the young participants identify with Christianity, one of these being enthusiasm and collective excitement due to the large gatherings. During these gatherings, young people experience a sense of belonging, as described in interview by one girl when discussing her participation in an international pilgrimage in Poland: ‘I felt Catholic’ (Hervieu-Léger 1999, p.  83). In this sense, monasteries provide the setting in which the experience of belonging can be found. The monastery can thus play a weighty role in the context of this spirituality of enthusiasm due to the large gatherings. The second type are the tradition-seekers. They also come to the monastery out of religious intention, although for them it is not so much to do with extraordinary events, as everyday religious practice. They deliberately go to the monastery for Sunday Mass and not to their own parish because they are looking for a traditional and estethical liturgy. The monasteries that attract these people are normally those that celebrate their liturgy in Latin Gregorian. The monastery of Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna Woods, the monastery of Solesmes in France or Keur Moussa in Senegal with the ‘African gregorian’ are examples of this. These believers recognise in monasticism a more authentic Catholicism – a liturgy and religious life that have been spared the developments of modernity. They approach what Philippe Portier calls ‘identity Catholicism’. ‘Identity Catholics want to restore the Church in its traditional role as leader of the polis, as defensor citivatis’ (Portier 2012, p. 23). This group is often against the merchandisation of monasteries but nevertheless buys monastic products to help the communities financially. They also take advantage of the religious bookshop. The Gregorian and Tridentine liturgy at the Czech abbey in Vyšší Brod even attracts traditionalist Catholics from abroad, including France, to experience their Easter services. Books by Monsignor Lefebvre, founder of the Pius X community, in the monastery’s store, prove that these people pass through the monastery’s bookshop. The third type can be called the self-seeker. Unlike the two previous types, they are not practising, not Christian or not believers at all. The self-seeker comes to the monastery’s guesthouse for a stay, with their search focused not on God but on themselves. In this case, the monastery is recognised as a spiritual place but without seeing the necessity of its affiliation with a religious institution. Often during fieldwork, I have encountered people who were not Christian but who have been spending a week in the monastery on a regular basis for years or even decades. They also sometimes participate in the choir prayer, even though they would not otherwise attend a church service. This confirms the status of the monastery as something ‘purely religious’ (Roy 2008, p. 20) if we use Olivier Roy’s term since it can be considered on the basis of its spiritual function and independently of its institutional affiliation. In the framework of my research about new forms

166  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery of fasting, I showed that 15% of people who undertake a holistic fasting week in a monastery choose it because it is a place of energy. In this sense, monasteries have also become places of holistic spirituality, which is not the intention of the inhabitants. Whilst studying centres of spirituality connected to monasteries in the Netherlands, Kees de Groot, Jos Pieper and William Putman showed that half of the participants are in the Christian tradition and wish to develop their spirituality. Roughly 25% are farther removed from the Christian tradition and draw from several spiritual sources. Roughly 14% see themselves as neither religious nor spiritual, and another 13% call themselves religious, but not spiritual. (2014, p. 125) Monasteries have thus become places that welcome the whole range of current spiritual and religious positions without their original radical religious identity being an obstacle. The next type of guest is the origin-seeker. This person comes with a cultural goal and sees the monastery primarily in terms of its historical heritage, which is still relevant in Europe today. They come to the monastery for a guided tour, an exhibition, a concert or other event. For this public, the monastery is primarily a cultural rather than a religious place. The sense of belonging to a ‘collective memory’ (Halbwachs 1950) plays a decisive role here. Thus, Franco Riva evokes in the monastic experience a dimension of ‘return’, that is manifested in the interest in the Middle Ages as a form of monastic fascination. He adds: ‘This return is above all symbolic, because it evokes an imaginary that survives the transformations’ (Riva 2003, p. 167). This public would sometimes like to see monks and nuns living less in the current times than they do, for example without internet or even without electricity. The question of whether they have electricity is still often asked of monastics. The last type to identify is the exotic-seeker. This group comprises mainly tourists who come to the monastery without really knowing what a monastic community is today and whether people really still live there. An Austrian Cistercian quotes a visitor: ‘This exoticism that [they] have is fascinating. It is always exotic in the monastery’ (12.2011). They come for a guided tour, buy a souvenir in the monastery store and ask if they can take a picture of a monk in his habit. A monk from Heiligenkreuz Abbey, which attracts visitors en masse, told me, ‘There are also people who take pictures of a monk up close without asking. That’s shameless!’ (12.2011). Usually on the guided tours, questions come up as to whether monks or nuns still live there. It gives the impression that they have come to visit ‘the last of the Mohicans’, as a French monk said (Long 2005). A monk in charge of the shop in SaintWandrille in France said that the most frequently asked question by visitors is what time they get up. These questions about trivial aspects of daily life

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  167 confirm the exotic status of monastics in society since they underline their otherness. Exoticism can sometimes be cultivated by the monastics themselves, as in the case of the prior of Vyšší Brod Abbey in the Czech Republic, who is expected to take part in the municipal ceremonies. ‘Of strong stature, in white habit and black scapular, broad tonsure and long beard, the prior appears as the typical ideal figure of the monk in the collective imagination, linked in reality to images of the Middle Ages’ (Spalová & Jonveaux 2021, p. 11). It also appears that the monasteries in West Africa, founded by French communities, attract a specific public, that of expatriate Europeans – especially French – who find part of their culture in the monastery. In spite of the inculturation of the liturgy, notably at Keur Moussa in Senegal, expatriates or European tourists passing through the monastery find an element of their own European culture and sometimes, when there are still some left, fellow Europeans. The Sunday mass at Keur Moussa is a good example of this, with some families coming especially from Dakar, which is about 50 km away. The monastery can play the role of a piece of home for the expatriates, as both the setting and the language are the same. It also shows how monasteries are an integral part of European culture, as they play the role of offering a sense of belonging to foreigners on other continents, regardless of their religious affiliation.

2 Lay people in the monastery: Between welcoming and preservation a Pilgrims and tourists: Position of lay people in the monasteries The monastery is theoretically a coherent place, different from the rest of society and separate from the outside world. In this context, the lay person is a disruptive element within this coherent model because they have not been socialised within these surroundings. Monastic socialisation as a way of fitting into the utopian framework is a learning process that takes place over several years, and a novice master accompanies the monastic through this process (Jonveaux 2018a, p. 128). From the observation of monasteries in different countries, it appears that there are two main models of external relations. The first of these is the closed model, which corresponds to the internal economy of production or the economy of old age. Within this model, the places in the monastery accessible to the laity are strictly circumscribed and the laity may only enter the monastery for religious purposes. The communities only allow people to stay in their guesthouses if their motivation is religious, as they do not wish to receive guests who consider the monastic guesthouse as a cheap hotel. In this context, the places welcoming the laity are mainly the guesthouse, the shop and the church, with some other parts of the monastery accessible during guided tours. In France, for example, guestmasters say that they

168  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery like to contact guests by phone to understand their reasons for wanting to stay there. The second model is the open model and is a mirror image of the heritage or pastoral economies. Due to their activities, the communities have been more open to the outside world from the outset. In this model, the monasteries offer specific places of welcome that respond above all to the needs of the visitors before taking into account anything religious. The restaurant, in whatever form, which can be found in a large number of Austrian monasteries or in Maredsous, Belgium, for example, is one such place. In this context, the guesthouse is wide open and welcomes everyone, regardless of their motives for going there. The first model of monasticism is a passive concept of hospitality that responds to the requirement to welcome all those who come to the monasteries. It does not, however, seek to attract visitors. This position is best illustrated in an example from Plankstetten Abbey in Bavaria. The lay employee in charge of sales explained the discussions he had had with the monks about wording the prospectus for the Christmas market organised by the community. In the monks’ opinion, the word ‘invite’ was not appropriate because, strictly speaking, they do not ‘invite’ and they do not ask people to come: Here is an advertisement, the one that appeared in the newspapers, dailies, cooking journals, advertisements, and last year I had proposed ‘the monks invite’. In principle, this is true, but a monk said to me, ‘We don’t invite anyone’! (laughs). They are not friendly. The monks want to keep a little more distance from the business, although they live from it, although they need it, they want distance, they don’t care a bit. So, I said, well, okay, I don’t want to provoke, I proposed something else and wrote differently. And so, this year we still have ‘Living Advent with the monks’. (Germany, 12.2007) This case is an example of the passive-active concept of advertising where, in a sense, the monks inform potential visitors of an event without inviting them to come. The negation of the economy is clear to see; however, it is merely an assertion because the monks publish the advertisement nevertheless. This passive-active attitude is also found in France, at Saint-Wandrille Abbey, which forms part of a tourist circuit during which busloads of tourists visit the Norman abbeys. The bursar states: The rule that we have defined is that we try to welcome people, but we try not to make them come. So, commercially, it sucks! But monastically, it is essential. Because if we become a huge tourist site, the community can no longer have its normal setting of prayer, solitude, silence, etc. (Fr. Denis, France, 11.2004)

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  169 The tension caused by monastic hospitality is thus a paradox: high demand yet limiting the number of visitors in order to preserve the monastic setting. However, in the open monastery model, welcoming visitors seems to be less of a problem because it is conceived as part of the activities of the monastery, both in its economic and pastoral dimensions. The brother in charge of wine production at Kremsmünster in Austria explains: A monastery should be attractive, also for possible recruitment. And tourists can also be an economic factor, Melk Abbey is a good example of this. For Melk, tourists are the most important source of income, but for us by far not, because the effort to manage the few tourists and to do something here is simply much too high. (Fr. Simon, Austria, 04.2017) The monastery of Kremsmünster receives 30,000 tourists per year, which is, according to this monk, too few to make it central to their economy. It is possible for the community to welcome this amount of visitors without jeopardising the quality of their monastic life because the monastery is large and spread out enough to allow for a strict separation between the public areas and those where the community lives. The monastery is built in such a way that the actual monastery area does not notice anything from all the tourists. Now, for this exhibition, we have made an exception and also opened the private monastery garden to visitors. But that is only an exception, normally we don’t do that. (Fr. Simon, 04.2017) The open model of monastery is reflected in its architecture, which was originally designed to provide sufficient space between the places open to the laity – school, parish – and the more remote enclosure where the monks’ private quarters are located. This model of monastic hospitality considers the visibility of the monastery as something positive. Thus, Father Simon is pleased with the regional exhibition, which he says is a publicity boost for the abbey. Monasteries can become places that attract a large public. While this may seem paradoxical if we consider monasteries as extramundane places of life, it refers to the times of integration of the monastery into its social, economic and commercial environment. An example of this is the funfair at the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov, Prague (Czech Republic), which takes place every year on April 30. At first glance, the attractions with merry-go-rounds, roller coasters, etc., as well as the vendors selling candy floss and various products, all set up right in front of the monastery, may be surprising. At second glance, it is similar to the fairs that took place around the monasteries in the Middle Ages. It is a festival which has no religious dimension, but which is nevertheless,

170  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery according to the prior himself, supported by the monastery. With this festival, the monastery, which is rebuilding itself after many decades of communism, is able to reintegrate itself into its social environment, thereby becoming more plausible in the eyes of the local society. Monastery tourism consists of a public mainly interested in the cultural and historical assets of the communities. Modern-built monasteries rarely have visitors who are there out of interest for the buildings, and guided tours are not normally offered. In France, 42% of the abbeys that can be visited are abbeys founded before the 12th century, although they represent only 9% of the total number of monasteries. In contrast to disused abbeys, inhabited monasteries attract visitors fascinated by the daily life of the monastics. Similar to the case with the shops, tourist visits also cause challenges to monastic life: how can visitors be offered access to the monastery in order to experience monastic life while at the same time preserving the living quarters of the monastics, as well as the calm necessary for prayer? Tourism can become so important that monastic life is no longer possible. This was the case in Hautecombe Abbey in France, on the Lac du Bourget, which dates from the 12th century and receives almost 200,000 visitors per year. The influx of tourists and the associated noise took away the ability for the monks to live their contemplative life in peace. For this reason, in 1992, the abbot, Dom Michel Pascal, had the chapter vote to move the community to another empty monastic building. However, the communities try not to reach this point and try to preserve the primacy of monastic life over tourism. In Austrian monasteries, ‘enclosure’ or ‘private’ signs separate the monastics’ living quarters from the places open to the public. A monk in Seitenstetten explains: We have the enclosure, this is the area in the monastery where it is supposed to be quiet and where almost no guests have access. In the past, only men were allowed to enter in the enclosure…. When you visit someone in the monastery, it usually takes place outside the enclosure. (06.2012) The function of the enclosure used to be to establish a visible separation between the men or women of God and the laity. This separation was all the more important in women’s monasteries, where women were not allowed to see or be seen by men. Today, it is mainly a question of preserving the private sphere of monks and nuns. At Praglia Abbey, for example, the chiostro doppio, a double-storey cloister and the centrepiece of the monastery, is only visible to visitors through a small window, as this is where the monks’ cells are located. At the hermitage of Camaldoli, the eremo, where the monks live in small separate houses, like the Carthusians, a cell has been set up specifically for tourists. The aim of this is to confine visitors to this unique place and the shop, at the entrance to the hermitage. In both cases, the

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  171 communities try to preserve their living spaces while still offering visitors the opportunity to experience a bit of the utopian setting. As with the shop, the question arises as to who leads the visits: a monastic or a layperson. This depends on whether the communities choose to focus on the monastic or on the economic dimension through the tourism. In Praglia, the monks have chosen to make the visits free of charge and always by monks: I have noticed that for the people who come here, also to visit the monastery, most of them … come because they know that there is a community here. Indeed, they are interested in the artistic aspect, but they are also very interested in the deepening of the monastic life. In fact, the questions are always about our life. More than about art. Let’s say that’s the main interest. Also, for a visit, we don’t charge a ticket, so we give an ‘offerta’, because people come also to know a reality that is not known in books. (Guestmaster, Italy, 02.2007) If the visit is intended as a testimony to monastic life, it is not moneymaking and the visit is therefore free. Hervieu-Léger notes that hospitality ‘is the key place for the invention of a monastic witness for a post-Christian society’ (2017, p. 661). If the main interest is to know the reality of monastic life, the presence of a monastic can consequently increase the number of visitors. This is exemplified by the experience at the monastery in SaintWandrille; income from visits fell by 45% between 1994, when the charismatic monk who led the visits ceased doing so, and 2000. This drop proves the unusual value that he added. Again, in some ways, as with consumer products, this is a charismatic economy whose success is based on the identity of the guide. b Tensions caused by monastic guesthouses Despite their distance from the outside world, which was originally geographical, and their enclosure, the majority of monastic communities traditionally have a guesthouse and therefore offer hospitality. In the Benedictine context, this activity, unlike the shop, does not need to be legitimised in order to be integrated into the utopia, since it is already a part of it; it is recommended by Saint Benedict in his rule as about a religious welcome. ‘All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ’ (RB 53, 1). Nevertheless, hospitality does not belong to all traditions of monastic orders, like, for instance, the Carmelite nuns. Their separation from the outside world by a strict enclosure and concentration on the interior of the monastery, as well as their solitude, does not allow for the integration of hospitality, though they generally have some rooms for guests.

172  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery However, even within the Benedictine family, the concept of hospitality can be very different from one community to another, influenced either by national traditions or by the spirituality of the monastery. An interesting example of a particular concept of monastic hospitality can be found in the Benedictine monasteries of Parana and Gaudium Mariae, founded by the monastery of Santa Scholastica in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and led by Madre Candida in the 1970s and 1980s. Their concept of hospitality aims to give special attention to the guest, who should feel truly welcome and made to feel at home. In 2015, when these two monasteries were studied, their buildings were small and on one level, the guest refectory like a dining room in a private home: the sideboard, the decor and the guests gathered at the same table give the impression of being at home. The sister responsible for the guests serves them at the table and spends the whole meal with them to make sure that everything goes well. However, this extremely warm welcome has the particularity of not integrating the guest into the monastic setting but rather offering a setting of continuity with their normal daily surroundings. Here, hospitality as a welcome takes precedence over the monastic experience offered to the guests. The guesthouse, like the shop, is geared towards the needs of lay people and is therefore at the crossroads of the economic and religious worlds. It takes careful planning to integrate it, both spatially and temporally, into the way of life of the monastery; into the utopia, therefore, the guesthouse is usually a separate building or wing of the abbey away from the monastics. However, owing to an increase in demand, the running of the guesthouse often causes a clash between the religious and economic requirements. Religious requirements demand that the guesthouse be integrated as much as possible into the monastery and the life of the community since it is a matter of spreading the religious message. In order to guarantee the framework of prayer and silence, it is necessary to welcome only a few people at a time, who are willing to integrate themselves into this particular setting. At the Benedictine monastery in Praglia near Padua, the guesthouse is large enough to accommodate 50 guests, but the monks only receive 10 or 15 at a time, so that the community can offer them a proper welcome, especially during mealtimes. The men are invited to share their meals at the monks’ table, while the women eat in a small refectory adjoining that of the monks, whose door – when I was there – was open, making it possible to follow the reading. If the purpose of the guesthouse is to spread a religious message, it is important to welcome all those who wish to receive it and therefore, in particular, not to discriminate on the basis of income level. Hence the absence of tariffs and the possibility of paying what one can afford. The brother who runs the guesthouse in Camaldoli explains that the religious reasons that push a person to come to the guesthouse are superior to the economic benefits for the monastery: Sometimes there are families who say, ‘We would like to come for the family week, with the whole family’, but we cannot afford it, because

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  173 of the cost. So, I tell them, come and then you leave a donation as you can, in conscience. […] There is a monastic and Christian spirit that is first. First of all, we look at the person, what he or she is looking for, the situation in which he or she lives, and his or her economic possibilities. It is important that the person can realise the desires that brought them here. (Fr. Tommaso, Italy, 03.2007) In many countries, monastic hospitality is a non-profit activity, which means that it is not legally possible to advertise it or to impose prices. In the context of hospitality as a religious activity, the price should not be an obstacle to being able to stay there. Everyone is invited to give what they can afford, which, like in Agbang in Togo, can lead to hospitality costing more for the community than it brings in, as a source of income. Some communities also offer guests the possibility to participate in work tasks in order to pay for their stay in kind. This is the case at the Trappist monastery in Kokoubou, Benin, where the three other women staying at the guesthouse at the same time as me, participated in various morning cleaning tasks to pay for their stay. In this West African context, the accessibility of the guesthouse is all the more important because it would otherwise be reserved for a well-to-do public, just like their products. However, this situation is no longer possible in Europe, where guests working is considered as illegal labour for the community. A monk in charge of the House St Benedikt in Salzburg, who himself comes from the Austrian monastery of Altenburg, explains: Now when young people come and say we would like to stay for a fortnight, three weeks, but we also want to work a little so that we don’t have to pay accommodation charges. That is forbidden, it is illegal work, the state controls it, it is not allowed. We have so much work, we have our own construction team in the monastery who renovate the house, bricklayers and electricians and painters, so you could always put a young man there to help, but it is forbidden. And when young people want to work, it is really only work that no one can see, like to lay the table or something, so it is very internal work where no labour inspector can come, but it is not allowed to work somewhere. It is very difficult to explain to people why this is not possible. (Austria, 03.2012) It is nevertheless customary for guests staying in guesthouses with a primarily religious purpose to participate in chores, which underlines the non- commercial, fraternal, dimension of the hospitality. Participating in the tasks without considering them as payment in kind for the stay is therefore a form of reintegration of the fraternity ethic and the negation of the economy. The chores help to establish a spirit of community amongst the guests, as well as acting as a form of denial of the economic character of the guesthouse. Here again, the aim is to reintroduce the ethic of fraternity.

174  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery The washing up done by the guests at the end of the meal, for example in France, Belgium or Benin, is part of these two dynamics. Through the chore, the guests participate in their own hospitality, and through the convivial moment that it becomes, it makes it possible to create links between the guests, whereas silence is often the rule during meals and in the corridors of the guesthouse. For example, it is written in the kitchen in Maredsous that, for the washing up, ‘each group organises itself collegially’, inducing a collaboration between the guests, rather than each one doing their own. The fraternal dimension is reintroduced through various small jobs offered to the guests. The folding of the bedsheets after the meal in Tamié obliges cooperation (the sheets are folded in pairs), thus allowing communication between the guests. It is interesting to note that in communities where the monks and nuns themselves carry out the daily services, the guests participate in them as well. In the Austrian monasteries, where the monks do little domestic work themselves, the guests are not usually called upon to help with the washing up or the setting of the table either. The guestmaster of Camaldoli also explains: It is clear that we don’t have a 100% economic management in a way. In a hostel, you have a drink, you pay for it. But that’s not the way it is with us. At our place, someone sits at the table, there is a fixed menu, but if someone is hungrier, he asks for more, he doesn’t pay more. And also, for example, in our country, we think that it is just like that, if someone has economic difficulties, we try to help him. (Fr. Tommaso, Italy, 03.2007) This is an example of the denial of the economic reason for the guesthouse. The emphasis is on the ethic of fraternity, which is brought about through the solidarity of the guests working together or by giving, in this case as much food as the guest wants to eat. The economic dimension of the guesthouse is thus partly denied so that it can be regarded as an activity of religious hospitality. Based on this, two types of guesthouse emerge: one with a spiritual purpose, which insists on the religious function and does not make much income or even loses money from it, and the other with an economic purpose. The guesthouse is regarded as an economic activity in its own right and is not just there for religious reasons. These two types are found side by side in Italy, unlike in France, where the monasteries only allow people to stay in their guesthouses for spiritual purposes. Some Italian monasteries have managed to make a compromise between the economic and the religious requirements of the guesthouse, by offering the so-called internal and external guesthouses. The internal guesthouse is located within the monastery and fulfils the religious requirements of its guests. There are no tariffs and therefore no income. The external guesthouse is located outside the monastery, is larger than the internal one and is

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  175 open for anyone who wishes to stay, including tourists. There is a tariff, and it brings in an income for the monastery. The monastery in Camaldoli has two guesthouses: a small one inside the monastery for people who wish to stay there for religious reasons and a large one outside the monastic buildings with its own entrance, which welcomes families and guests with different motivations for their stay. Duplicating the guesthouses in this way proves the failure of the monasteries to integrate them successfully into their utopia, because it maintains a distinction between economic and religious activity instead of integrating them. To fulfil their economic requirements, the monks must charge a tariff and host as many people as possible in order to achieve the maximum income possible. The large number of guests, who can then be called clients, leads to the need for a salaried workforce to work in maintenance and service. With 170 beds and 95 rooms, Camaldoli has, according to a monk, the largest monastic guesthouse in Europe. Visitors have little or no direct contact with the monks, and the spreading of the religious message is thus compromised. At Plansktetten Abbey in Germany, the manager of the restaurant says that ‘now, in the monastery, people are used to not seeing a monk’. The restaurant and external guesthouse are services offered by the monastery as economic activities detached from its religious life. In this sense, it is no longer hospitality. Depending on the community, guests are either kept at a distance or integrated into the community’s living space, depending on certain objective criteria. Sometimes, there is very little separation between the guests and the monastic community. They eat together, including guests of the opposite sex to that of the community (e.g. in Camildoli, Italy and Agbang in Togo), and go to Church, where they are allowed to sit in the same pews as the community. However, in other communities the enclosure is much more rigid. Guests eat in separate refectories and sit in certain, designated pews in the Church, separate from the monks or nuns. The separation of guests is carried out according to objective criteria regarding gender or link to the community. For example, the monasteries of the Benedictine congregation in Solesmes establish a clear gender separation policy, often allowing men to stay within the monastery walls, while women and families stay in a guesthouse outside the monastery walls. When I visited Solesmes Abbey in 2011, I was given the keys to a small house opposite the abbey and restaurant vouchers for the village restaurant, where I was expected to eat. The monastery of Keur Moussa in Senegal, which belongs to the same congregation, has three guesthouses, each according to three levels of distance from the community. The men alone are housed in the monastery building, in a wing reserved for guests. The monks’ families are housed in a separate building outside the enclosure, a few steps from the church. The other guests – women and families – are housed in a guesthouse 500 metres up the road from the monastery, which makes them unable to hear the bells when they are rung for prayer. This is a distancing from the monastic setting as the guests no longer receive the sound and visual characteristics of the monastery.

176  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery The communities therefore seek to protect the monastic utopia from the intrusion of guests who are not used to this religious framework, particularly in the context of activities in which the guests can take part. This is the case with the office: to ensure that non-religious people do not disturb the beauty of the monks’ office, Praglia’s guests are recommended ‘to sing in a moderate voice in the choir […] because psalmody requires learning’. Furthermore, guests at the monastery in Heiligenkreuz, Austria, famous for its Gregorian liturgy, are asked not to sing during the services and to remain seated, not following the body rhythm of the monks who alternate between sitting and standing. In this case, the guests are only spectators of the prayer, without being able to live it actively, which is also paradoxical when thinking about the religious dimension of the monastic welcome. It would seem that in this case, the monks give priority to the aesthetics of their prayer rather than the spiritual dimension of welcoming others, by allowing them to be part of the choral prayer process. This position is not the one adopted by the community in Camaldoli, Italy, although they recognise that welcoming guests, especially in the liturgical context, can become a real challenge for communities: In this sense, the community is called upon, and should be able, to relate to guests with a certain elasticity and flexibility, especially at the liturgical level, an elasticity that does not mean selling out its own identity; on the contrary, it means knowing how to adapt its own liturgical and vital rhythm to a presence that challenges it according to its own themes and methods. (Communità di Camaldoli 2002, p. 20) These challenges are increased by the exculturation of Catholicism,1 which leads to a decline in socialisation both in religious places, including monasteries, and also with a public who have new spiritualities and therefore different expectations of staying in a monastery. The communities then had to establish the limits of the monastic framework.

3 Heritagisation of monasteries and cultural goods The traditional visitors to monasteries were pilgrims and retreatants guests with an essentially religious motivation to be there. Pilgrimages are currently a form of spirituality that is regaining momentum, particularly with the Way of St. James (see Heiser & Kurrat 2015). Monasteries are also benefiting from this new craze as they are often located along the traditional as well as the new pilgrimage routes, such as the Way of Saint Benedict in Austria. Some monasteries are officially places of pilgrimage,2 notably for the relics of saints that may be present there, as, for example, in Jedrzejów, Poland, where the blessed bishop Wincenty Kadłubek (13th century) lived for five years and is buried. Others are not officially places of pilgrimage,

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  177 but they play this role for visitors who regard their journey as a pilgrimage. This is the case with the Benedictine monastery in Niño Dios, Argentina, which, according to the brother guestmaster, has become a place of pilgrimage, even if it is not officially recognised as such. Many visitors have their picture taken in front of the statue of St. Benedict and buy the medals of St. Benedict, which are famous in the region. These are sold in the monastery shop but also on stalls on the other side of the road, thus competing with the community shop. However, these stalls participate in giving the monastery its reputation as being a place of pilgrimage. Apart from some monasteries built next to recognised shrines such as in Marizell, Austria, which is a place of Marian apparition, Catholic monasteries do not generally live from the economy of pilgrimages, unlike the Greek Orthodox monasteries (see Avramov et al. 2021). The role of the monastery as part of the local identity is defined in particular by the use made of it by the general public. Thus, the celebration of weddings in monasteries is often indicative of the role of the monastery in the local community. According to the prior of Břevnov in Prague, the fact that people ask to celebrate their civil marriage in the monastery gardens shows a link with the place that is part of the identity of the individuals, beyond the religious dimension. An anthropologist who lives in a house in the grounds of the Farfa monastery near Rome, which the prior took me to visit in 2008, said: ‘People like to come and celebrate their wedding in Farfa because it has all the roots’. The monastery is therefore anchored in the identity and local memory of the place. The places of conviviality and leisure in the monasteries, such as the restaurants, make it possible to welcome a non-religious public. At the same time, these places of conviviality re-engage the monastery in local life. For example, some customers go to the cafeteria in Maredsous, Belgium, every morning to drink a beer, read the newspaper and chat, just like in a normal café. The monastery then becomes a place where one can spend a day with the family, with a walk, a meal, a coffee or even Mass. According to the monks in Maredsous, the monastery has been visited by families from generation to generation, and in this sense, it is the object of a ritual. The community has organised the area around the monastery to accommodate the 5,000 people who come every weekend: car parking, children’s playground, paying toilets, a cafeteria, an ice cream parlour and walking maps. The monastery is an integral part of local life, not just a tourist or religious place. The same can be found in the monastery at Kremsmünster, where a walk through the abbey gardens and a visit to the restaurant is part of the traditional Sunday activities. The restaurant is not run by the monks, who only rent the building. In 2017, a garden centre opened, which local people can visit as a normal shop. This is an example of the secularisation of the monastery’s economy, as there are hardly any monastic or religious dimension in the shop in which only lay people work.

178  Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery Monasteries are in themselves cultural goods but also places for cultural activity. Since the Middle Ages, monasteries have been places where the production and dissemination of culture and knowledge take place. This link persists even after the departure of the communities, as it is not uncommon for disused monasteries to become places of culture, such as the abbeys of Sylvanès and Royaumont in France, which are not only places where concerts and exhibitions take place but also artists’ residences. Through concerts, exhibitions, publications, etc., the monasteries occupy an important cultural role in their region. Due to the exculturation of religion from society, for many people, monasteries are only places of culture. The regional exhibition in the gardens of Kremsmünster, which took place in 2017, is an example of the integration of monasteries into local cultural networks on the same level as other non-religious places. The monastery in Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic was nationalised in 1950 and returned to the monks in 1990. During the decades of communism, it was mainly known for its cultural dimension, from a historical building to a national heritage museum and a post office museum in 1976 (Spalová & Jonveaux 2021, p. 7). The monastery and the river are the main tourist attractions in this city, and the municipality was keen for the monastery to continue with its cultural role despite the return of the religious community. It was originally believed that the returning monks only intended to restore the buildings, not to live there as well, which was a surprise to the local people. The renovated monastery has had a positive impact on tourism in the region. The prior agreed to allow secular concerts, organised by the commune, to take place in the monastery’s gothic cellars free of charge. Sacred music concerts organised by the community, on the other hand, take place within the church, thus establishing a clear separation between religious and secular cultural places and activities. The liturgy, originally the central point of religious celebration in monasteries, is also a cultural asset, and the influence of certain monasteries and their economy are based on this. In Europe, this is the case with the French Benedictine monastery in Solesmes or in Austria, the Cistercian monastery in Heiligenkreuz. The sale of records of their Gregorian liturgy is an important part of their economy. In Africa, this is the case with the Benedictine monastery in Keur Moussa, which also belongs to the Solesmes congregation. The monastery not only sells CDs of the liturgy but also the kora, the musical instrument used during the liturgy and made at the monastery. Both of these items are sold mainly in Europe and play a major role in the economy and influence of the monastery. The liturgy from this monastery has also inspired many of the West African monastic communities. However, the monks categorically refuse to give kora concerts in their church. The brother in charge of the kora workshop explains: ‘Concerts, no! Sometimes we are asked for concerts, but we refuse. The last time we went was in 2009. This is the click of sacred music’ (Senegal, 04.2017). The paradox is that some monks, mainly in Europe, do give kora concerts. Although they take

Tourism, visitors, lay people in the monastery  179 place mainly in sacred places, they are not always within the monastery. In Keur Moussa, the monks wish to clearly identify their music as liturgical music and not something cultural, which would disassociate it from the religious dimension. There is therefore tension between the cultural demand of the public and the religious purpose of the kora. This tension is linked to the heritagisation of monasteries – monastic buildings, but also monasticism itself – which in Europe is partly based on the exculturation of Catholicism. According to Jean-Michel Leniaud, ‘heritage does not exist a priori; any object is likely to become part of it when it has lost its use value’ (Leniaud 1992, p. 3). For many visitors, however, even inhabited monasteries have lost their use value as they no longer recognise the religious role of the monasteries and are unaware of the existence of the monastic communities. Some monasteries lose their use value by becoming museums, with their primary role being as an attraction to the public instead of being a place where monastic communities live their lives. One glaring difference I have observed between the great historical monasteries of Europe and the newly founded monasteries in Africa is in the traces of daily life in the monastic buildings. While European monasteries sometimes appear to be like frozen museums, it is common to see drying linen in the cloisters of African monasteries. In the latter case, it is apparent that the places still have the full use value, whereas in the former, heritagisation is at work.

Notes 1 Disconnection between the culture and the Catholic referents that have forged this culture (see Hervieu-Léger 2003, p. 87). 2 In order to be recognised as a shrine under canon law, it requires the approval of the local religious authority (ca. 1230).

9

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development

After having explored the contemporary monastic economy on several continents, the question arises as to its impact on the world. The role of monasteries regarding the economic, social and cultural development of Europe, particularly in the Middle Ages, is well known. Philibert Schmitz identifies in particular a ‘civilising work’ of the monks between the 12th and 20th centuries (Schmitz 1949). The monks introduced new crops, such as the olive tree and the mulberry tree, as well as silkworms in Praglia near Padua (id., p. 33). They developed many techniques in the agricultural, technical, medical and scientific fields. They were also the first to develop watermills (Le Goff 1977, p. 112). In addition to this, the Cistercians are well-known in Europe for their work in clearing land for cultivation. The monasteries were also integrated and recognised in another way in medieval Christian society, which was known as the Three Orders Society. Do monasteries have any influence today on Europe’s secularised societies or in Africa, where monasticism is rarely older than 60 years? Are they able to bring about any type of change in these societies?

1 Impact of the monastic economy: Towards an alternative economy Until this point, the monastic economy has been described in terms of its internal organisation and its involvement in the commercial world and tourism. The monastic economy is a subsistence economy which aims primarily to support the community, not to gain a market share. Under these conditions, it seems difficult for the monastic economy to influence the world economy. Despite this, does the monastic economy manage to impact society or indeed the world economy? a A utopian economy for the world? If the monastic economy defines itself by its alterity, it is not primarily in protest against the world’s economy, but it is in order to integrate it into the monastic framework without altering it. It is therefore first and

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-10

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  181 foremost a necessity, rather than an activist position to change the economy. Furthermore, the monastic economy – unlike other alternative economic models – is not intended to be a universally applicable model, since it is intrinsically linked to a way of life that presupposes total consecration to God. Although the monastics carry out economic activities, their goal goes beyond merely making money for their community; it involves building the Kingdom of God on earth. If the monastics are ‘militant entrepreneurs’ or ‘committed entrepreneurs’ according to Draperi’s (2007, p. 39) expression for the social and solidarity economy, it is because their goal is not just economic; it goes far beyond that. Monastic communities use their economic activities as a way of giving witness. They show that it is possible to maintain values which are often lacking in the capitalist economy, such as respect for people and working in harmony rather than in competition. A Kenyan sister who is involved in development projects for disadvantaged families explains that they also seek to teach them values: Also, we teach them how to share, because even in the rule of Saint Benedict they say that like we give to the poor, so we are teaching them how to share the little that they have. So, there are days that they could come with whatever little they get, and they share with those who have nothing, so I think with that we have been a witness to the society and also economics which is really a challenge. (Sr. Judith, Kenya, 02.2014) Giving witness as part of their economic activity requires the monastics to be role models in this regard. An Austrian monk from Heiligenkreuz says: I think our economy is a part of the monastery, part of the Church and I think we have to be better in this case than others. We have to take a position of leadership. Yes, of a good example. (04.2017) This idea of having to be better than others is in line with the above-mentioned idea of ‘institutions of perfection’, which have to set an example of living out Christian values. Some monasteries not only claim to be leaders in the religious world – especially through their liturgy – but also tend to extend this role to all their activities, including the economic. We find here what Hervieu-Léger wrote about the monasticism of Dom Guéranger (Solesmes, 19th century), which is similar ‘through the search for the perfect exercise of divine worship, to the society of angels’ (2017, p. 51). This search for religious perfection, visible at Heiligenkreuz in the affirmation of the superiority of the Gregorian liturgy, is reflected in their economic activity, which must also present to the world a perfection that comes from their proximity to the divine.

182  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development Training the lay people involved in the economic activity of the monastery in the monastic values is also a method of bringing the monastic utopia to the world. For example, for a long time, the monastery in Ganagobie in the south of France has been offering sessions for company directors or people involved in commercial and managerial responsibilities. The same type of session was organised for a time in Praglia in Italy, thanks to the collaboration between a Christian association and the monks of the abbey. As for the bursar of Saint-Wandrille, he ran conferences, by invitation only, on management according to the rule of Benedict in banks and business schools. During such sessions, the monks teach lay people about their utopia in terms that are not only understandable but also applicable to the world. The rule of Benedict, as written utopia, serves as the basis for the implementation of the utopian economy. It is an integral part of the managerial framework, and there are many publications about it. The monastic school is also a place for people to learn about the monastic utopia. Thus, the Austrian monks who teach in schools say they are trying to spread Christian values within the field of economics. A headmaster of a school in Austria who is also a monk teaches his pupils in this way: ‘Man is not simply someone who is made for economics, but he has in him, talents, skills to share. There is still a creativity. I think that is very important’ (06.2012). Other monastics are involved in associations that promote Christian values in the economy. A Benedictine sister from Steinerkirchen in Austria works for the Network of Christians in Support of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative: ‘This is all about the eco-social market economy and has no religious basis. A bishop founded it and based the idea of the eco-social market economy on Christian values. So, Christian values’ (11.2012). In this case, it is no longer simply a question of using the economy as a means of prophetic message but as an added commitment to spread it. The monastics then adopt a prophetic role in the sense that they become bearers of a truth not just for the monastery but for the world. This way of spreading the economic utopia more widely also makes it possible to justify the monastic economy, which becomes an instrument for spreading the monastic utopia in general. b Social dimension of the monastic economy in Europe Until recently, monasteries in Europe had a significant role in the social and economic development of their region. The prior of Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic states that in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, ‘the monastery served society very well, with the sawmill, the railway, etc.’ Or in Austria after World War II: The Russians destroyed a lot. The horses were gone. It was all very difficult after the war, no machines. We didn’t even have a tractor. We modernised agriculture. We also started to build roads so that the

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  183 lorries could drive. We built 50 km of road. That was expensive but necessary. (Seitenstetten, 06.2012) Although few monasteries in Europe still play a significant role in their region, most play a social role in their immediate environment. This social role seems, at first sight, to contradict the idea of independence from society or even autarky. Ludo Milis asks: ‘If the monks played a social, i.e. world-oriented role, was it not the result of their inability to fulfil the Christoriented spiritual ideal?’ (Milis 2002, p. 22). This social role can therefore be regarded as a failure of their plausibility. How can the monastics claim to live an extramundane life while also carrying out a social role outside the monastery? Can their spiritual ideal be autonomous from the rest of society? What about love thy neighbour? In some cases, for instance, as part of the reforms by Joseph II in Austria, monasteries had to show a commitment to society. Local society in areas of newly founded monasteries, especially in Africa, expected the same social commitment from them that they received from the apostolic congregations. In rural regions where the economy is gradually dying out, the monastics are keen to promote local employment. For example, the farm belonging to La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey in France enabled a young couple with children to settle in a small village affected by the rural exodus. The employees were chosen mainly for their local origin. The main aim was to give work to local people, rather than to seek the most highly experienced or qualified person for the job, in the interests of regional dynamism. An integral part of the employment strategies of the communities is to give work for those struggling to find a job. At Maredsous Abbey in Belgium, the business manager (a layman) acknowledges: We are in an abbey, so there is a social character, so we put people in work who are more in difficulty, people who would be more difficult to integrate into normal society. Here, we have this social aim of providing a living for some people in the neighbourhood or whatever. (01.2008) He directly associates this social character with the identity of the abbey, as if it were necessarily linked. Similarly, in 1995, the monks in Tamié, France, chose to hire several young unemployed people under a ‘solidarity contract’: It was a time when there were a lot of employment difficulties. […] We asked ourselves whether the most interesting, the most intelligent thing for us was to give money or whether it was not to give work? So, we went to the labour office in Albertville and we took three young people who were on the fringes of the labour market, and we employed them in the framework of the CES (Contract Employment Solidarity) at the time.

184  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development The aim of the solidarity jobs was in fact to put people back into the labour market and then, once they were a little more experienced, to put them back into the labour market. It turned out that the three young people we had employed were doing very well and that in our case it is a bit special, so we asked the administration if we could keep them. So, we kept them. (Bursar, Tamié, 10.2008) In this example, the monks combined their economic activity with social impact, by addressing a pressing social need. The prior of Farfa in Italy, when mentioning the current need to employ people, even in the abbey, adds that this gives them ‘also the possibility to give work to others’. In this way, what he calls ‘a social economy of the territory’ can be developed. Economic utopia is first and foremost about the monastery, but it is also important to take the social aspect into account, thereby extending the utopia to the local environment and even to the national economy. If the work has a real economic dimension, then it must also be sufficiently profitable, which may conflict with the social dimensions mentioned above. The lay manager of the farm explains: At the beginning, they tried to take on local workers, who were not always very good at what the job required. So, today, if I tell you really, in relation to the job, I have employees who at the limit would not be suitable. The performance of the activity is less important than the human dimension. But this is possible because farming is not the activity that sustains them: it represented only 1.5% of their total income in 2004. The abbot of Tamié also affirms the primacy of human values over economic performance: The human concern in the distribution of work. Someone who is not competent for the cheese factory, we are not going to dismiss him, we are going to find him another job, not throw him out of the monastery. These are values that we are rediscovering today. (10.2008) In the cases mentioned here, it is not a question of social projects developed in addition to other activities, but a question of social impact through their subsistence economy. The monastic economy is in this sense a form of impact investing. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) defines impact investing as ‘investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return’.1 In the cases mentioned above, the monastic economy seeks not only a positive financial return, to ensure the subsistence of the community, but equally important is the social impact. It is indeed impact investing.

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  185 A balance must therefore be maintained between social investment and the profitability of the activity, so as not to endanger the livelihood of the community. For example, in Steinerkirchen in Austria, a sister explains: ‘We cannot just hire people for social reasons now, we cannot afford it. But it is certainly a factor. People say that we support the employees’. The better performing economies can invest more in the social dimension. In Plankstetten, the monks have chosen to employ people who have low employability rates in the labour market, so meaning that they have a particularly high percentage of disabled workers. However, society is continually demanding them to employ more and more disadvantaged people, to the extent that the monks are forced to refuse requests if they do not want to jeopardise the smooth running of the workshops. The integration of disabled people is also a burden for the other employees. For a company of 30 people, we have to employ half a disabled person. But we get a lot of requests here from parents, to see if there is a place available, or from parents who cannot find any other solution, I think we have about 10% of our employees who have a disability. I don’t think we will exceed 10%, because the more it is, the more difficult it is economically, and also for the colleagues, it is a burden. It is also a big burden for the community. It is of course very nice when we manage to integrate people, but it doesn’t always happen like that. There are positive cases when people have been able to integrate, when they work very well with us…. But there are also negative examples. When there are people who come with major problems. […] There are fewer positive examples than negative ones! Society is waiting outside: ‘You, monastery, you have to give me social help!’ but we also have to do economics, that is our problem. There are limits. We are not a social association, nor the Red Cross, we are a monastery. (Fr. Matthias, Bursar, Germany, 12.2007) Once again it is clear that the monastic economy can only focus on social and religious aspects once its economy is assured. The monastic economy is not a form of non-profit economy with a social purpose since it has to support the community. The limits of the social action of monasteries through their economy are therefore defined by the determinants of its viability. c Monasteries as places of innovation Monasteries are known to have been places of innovation throughout history, for instance concerning the use of hydraulic energy (Benoit & Berthier 1998). But what are the characteristics that make monasteries special places for innovation? Olivier de Sardan considers as an innovation ‘any grafting of new techniques, knowledge or modes of organisation (usually in the form of local adaptations from borrowings or imports) onto existing techniques,

186  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development knowledge and modes of organisation’ (1995b, p. 34). Innovation is therefore distinct from invention and requires favourable factors to emerge, survive and spread. In the monastic context, five factors can be identified that allow for innovation (Jonveaux 2019b). Firstly, the monastic economy is characterised by rationalisation because its purpose is to produce sustenance while maximising the time given to prayer. ‘From an economic viewpoint, the monastic communities of the Occident were the first rationally administered manors and later the first rational work communities in agriculture and the crafts’ (Weber 1978, p. 1169). The goal, as seen with the watermill, is not primarily profit, but to save time for prayer. Because it is directly oriented towards God, this goal is the object of all effort. Secondly, monasteries have an increased capacity for risk-taking, due to the fact that monastic communities do not primarily seek profit but rather sustenance for the community. The profit and loss account does not aim at enrichment but at maintaining the standard of living and economic activities. Risk-taking in one sector is also facilitated by the fact that communities usually have several economic activities and different sources of income, not all of which are linked to their commercial companies. Finally, risk-taking is facilitated by the long-term perspective, where the outcome of one year has less relative value than in the short-term perspective. ‘Several recent experimental studies have shown the existence of a negative relationship between impatience and risk tolerance in individuals: individuals who are more tolerant individuals are also more patient, while more risk averse individuals are also more impatient’ (Beaud & Willinger 2016, p. 66). In the case of monastics, this is not a genetic characteristic like for Beaud and Willinger but an eschatologically oriented attitude to life which produces patience. Thirdly, the monastic community is there for the long term, both in time and space, linked to the vow of stability. It has a much longer potential lifespan than a normal business and is theoretically less subject to fluctuations in personnel and location. The long-term perspective and the durability of the community encourage investment in human capital, i.e. in training. The economic risk of training is that the labour force is unproductive while attending the training course. In the ideal model, a monk is more stable in his community – which is a community in which he lives and not just works – than an employee in a company. In addition, as Mebarki and Vaneecloo point out (1993, p. 94), when they leave the company, employees do not have to pay back their training expenses, as training was an integral part of the job. The greater stability of monastics allows for a larger amount of money to be spent on training costs. For communities with a young average age, such investments can create economic imbalances, when a large proportion of the young people is temporarily unproductive. This was the case in Agbang, Togo, when I was there in 2013. The founder wanted to invest as much as possible in training the young people. The monastery in

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  187 Séguéya, Guinea Conackry, devoted almost 15% of its budget to training and education in 2016. However, training can often be financed by grants from the congregation or other institutions. The sustainability of the community is also due to the knowledge and experience passed on over time. The monastery is a privileged place for the transmission of knowledge. The monks of the Middle Ages recorded their knowledge of agriculture or medicine, for example, in manuals. In this way, monasticism has played an important role in the development of science, particularly in Austria after the Melk Reform. The long history of monasticism allows for constant improvement and the possibility to take inspiration from other periods or communities. ‘The remarkable stability of monasticism is in large part a stability of memory, a continuity of understanding spanning thirty generations’ (Winthrop 1985, p. 30). Finally, monasteries and the companies that belong to them are generally places of social peace, where the community is united around the same goal, which is defined by the rule and is focused on the search for God. Social movements and strikes are rare in monasteries, although this does not mean that tensions do not exist between the employees. The accountant from Saint-Wandrille Abbey explained: You have no turnover. There are no strikes (small laugh). There are conflicts, but the conflicts are… part of everyday life. As soon as there are conflicts, the accounts suffer. Either the accounts suffer at the administrative level, or you have losses in profitability, because people are less motivated. So, what I mean is that when we look at past periods, we don’t have a deterioration in the rate of profitability, we don’t have disputes. (France, 02.2005) Social peace or the absence of strikes allows energy to be concentrated on production and its improvement. Rationalisation, risk-taking, sustainability, transmission and social peace are therefore five characteristics of the monastic world that favour innovation, particularly because economic activity is freed from immediate concerns and it is possible to invest time that is not directly productive. Current examples of innovation in monasteries can be provided by the microcopy of Saint-Wandrille in France. The monastery even worked for the secret defence department of the French state to microcopy the plans of the Ariane rocket. In Břevnov in the Czech Republic, the abbey owns fields 50 kilometres from Prague where they grow hops. They have developed a new line to work this plant, which is currently the most modern in the country. A final example is the monastery in Kremsmünster, Austria, which is working in cooperation with the University of Salzburg to design an innovative system to better predict storms. As will be seen in the next section, ecology is currently a favourite area for monastic innovation.

188  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development

2 Sustainable development and ecology Benoît-Joseph Pons states that ‘monastic happy sobriety is motivated more by its social aspect than by its environmental aspect’ (Pons 2020, online). While this is partly true in the sense that serving other human beings takes precedence over nature, the respect for creation is nevertheless a central aspect of monasticism, particularly Benedictine monasticism. Ecology and sustainable development are highly topical issues in European society and are particularly relevant in the monastic world. Indeed, many monasteries are engaged in sustainable development activities and are even recognised as pioneers in some of them. But where does this elective affinity between ecologism and religious eschatology (Hervieu-Léger 1982) or between ecology or sustainable development and monasticism come from? a Elective affinity between monasticism and ecology If ‘the Christian tradition does indeed nurture […] a de-divinisation of nature’ (Gisel 1993, p. 30), it also sees nature as divine creation of which humans are the custodians. Nature is one of the visible parts of God’s creation, and its preservation is a commandment from God. Monasticism as an archetype of Christian life responds to divine demands – ‘The really complete Christian is the monk’ (Weber 2021, 164) – integrates the natural dimension into its system. According to Genesis, paradise is a garden; the Garden of Eden enclosed by high walls. Since the Middle Ages, monasticism has tried to reproduce this original garden in its architecture. Thus, the monastic garden in the heart of the cloister is a garden of symbols, with Jesus as its centre (the fountain), Mary present in the rosebushes, and ‘flowers and trees full of fruit [symbolising] the results of good deeds and the virtue that itself facilitated their realization’ (Kobielus 1995, p. 223). The Kingdom of God proclaimed by monasticism thus has a strong natural component that is reflected in the monastery garden itself. Some monasteries are still known for their gardens, such as Seitenstetten in Austria, which have many species, including 110 historical species of roses. Monasticism in the Benedictine tradition has also developed a special role as guardian of the divine creation. The theologian Denis Edwards identifies a specific relationship between the Benedictines and nature, which is a kind of ‘cultivating and caring for creation’ (Edwards 2006, p. 25). ‘In this tradition, love for God’s creation takes the form of responsible farming and preservation of the land. It also involves the love of learning and the conserving of a previous cultural heritage’ (id., p. 25). Compared to other monastic orders, which were more likely to settle in towns, such as the Carmelites or the Visitation nuns, the monasteries of the Benedictine family were originally established in places far from the towns where they had the possibility of developing agricultural activities in their immediate environment. The towns were generally built around the monastery because of their attraction to the surrounding population, in terms of both employment and security.

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  189 The monks, especially the Cistercians, were committed to clearing land to make it arable. For France, ‘it has been calculated that a third of its territory was cultivated by monks, and that three-eighths of its towns and villages owe their existence to them’ (Martin 1880, p. 82). An Italian monk from Camaldoli stated in an interview: Monastic work is born, as a work of contact with the earth, other than as a craft work. The first work is certainly agricultural work and, in any case, some transformation of the goods of the earth. And this is important because the monk has contact with the earth, and therefore with creation, with the cosmos. The role of the human being as custodian, as, how shall I say, promoter of nature. Before, all the monasteries had a very developed agricultural activity and, in some monasteries, it was the only existing work activity. (Br. Amedeo, Italy, 03.2007) This linking of Benedictine monasticism to land is partly explained by the spirituality of stability (stabilitas loci), which characterises monastic orders. Monks and nuns enter a particular monastery and take a vow of stability. At the community level, this means that it must be able to find what it needs to survive in its immediate environment, over a period of centuries. We can therefore identify an ‘economy of stability’ (Spalová & Jonveaux 2018), which is determined by the fact that monasteries are rooted over a long period of time on a secular scale in a specific place. The monastic economy unfolds over a long period of time, unlike the economy of the world. In this sense, it is an economy of sustainable development, in its original sense, to meet the requirements of long-term economic development in one place. The objective of sustainable development is indeed ‘that present generations can meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs’ (Dubois & Mahieu 2002, p. 73). Some monastic economic activities, such as forestry, integrate this long-term vision particularly well. The prior of Vyšší Brod in the Czech Republic views the economy of the monastery as being a long-term project. He explains that although the forest plots were returned in 2012, it will take time to earn an income from them, but he says: ‘We have time: the meaning of the monastic economy is to work for eternity’. An employee of the national forestry office who works on a nearby plot of land considers that monks are the best forest owners because they can work on a 100-year scale. The monastic economy is therefore proving to be a sustainable development economy in itself without the need to specifically integrate sustainability as one of its aims. b Monastics; rational pioneers of ecology The monastic economy has two dimensions linked to ecology: sustainable development, as described above, which has long-term aims, and the

190  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development preservation of the environment, which corresponds to the concept of the monastics being guardians of God’s creation. Monastic ecology does not involve removing human beings from the natural environment. On the contrary, the ecological approach is understood as maximising the use of natural resources in a respectable way for future generations. Being a guardian of creation not only means caring for it but also involves getting to know it better in order to benefit from its gifts. Monastic communities have thus sought to make the best use of natural resources, for example energy, while gradually perfecting their techniques. The ecological decisions made by the monastics therefore do not run contrary to economic rationality. Indeed, the main reason given by monks and nuns for switching to renewable energy is economic: to reduce energy costs, especially for heating. The primary argument is therefore not ecological, as shown by the example of the hydroelectric power station at La Pierre-qui-Vire. This plant was built at the end of the 1960s by a skilled monk, who was trained as an engineer and who had understood the benefits that the river could offer. The monastery was not built at this location merely by chance since the founder, Father Muard (1809–1854), had already wished to buy both banks of the river to build a mill upon. Moreover, independent energy production is in line with the idea of economic self-sufficiency written in St Benedict’s rule. However, although the motivation for constructing the mill was partly to meet the high electricity needs of the printing house in the monastery, according to the cellarer selling a part of the electricity produced was also part of the plan. The ecological and sustainable aspect, as understood today, was not a determining factor when the power station was built. This has, however, become more important over time. Thus, Brother Etienne, who is in charge of the plant, states: I think we have to be concerned about our planet, which is in a bad state, if it goes on like this, it will not last forever. […] We have to leave it to the next generations… This was not the primary concern of those who built the micro power plant in 1969, it is more so today. (02.2006) Although Brother Etienne is convinced of the ecological value of the hydropower plant, he does not neglect the pragmatic and economic aspects: I would insist much more on the fact that it is an energy that can gain value in the future, because, I always come back to Brussels, there is a directive from the European Commission that will oblige the States to consume 21% of renewable energy. This means that our electricity, produced from water, is likely to have a certain value, it will be sought after insofar as the distributors will have to justify to the Brussels authorities that they have indeed distributed 21% of… (Br. Etienne, France, 02.2006)

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  191 The ecological arguments are thus aligned with the economic arguments, which shows that environmental sustainability is an integral part of the monastic economy; the additional costs of ecological development are therefore not justified. At the abbey in Maredsous, Belgium, the monks have installed solar panels to provide hot water in order to reduce the electricity bill. These examples show that monastic ecology remains within a rational economic framework. In Tamié, for instance: We stopped the wood boiler, for example. So, we still have the wood boiler, but it is a job to go and collect the branches, to saw them, it is better to work at the cheese factory anyway because it [the wood boiler] is not profitable. Today, we have to be realistic, that’s all. We must not be romantic either. There is ecology and everything, you have to take it into account and at the same time be realistic. We have to have something balanced, which corresponds to the community and to the talents of each person. (France, 10.2008) Ecological sustainability is often a secondary concern for the monastics, with economic reasons taking priority. However, as will become clear, purely ecological arguments are becoming increasingly more important for the monastics. The example of the organic farm at La Pierre-qui-Vire fits perfectly into this pattern of economic opportunism converted into a spiritual witness of respect for creation, but which also allows for innovation. The adoption of organic farming dates back to 1969 and follows a period of close collaboration with the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). The cows on the farm at La Pierre-qui-Vire had all been made ill by various products being tested on them, so it was urgent – especially for the economic situation – to find a solution. In the interviews: the brothers make it clear that the economic disaster caused by the situation was the most important aspect of the problem: The cows were producing half as much, they were sick, we had incredible veterinary costs. And to such an extent that we said, this is not sustainable, it was not bringing in anything, it was costing the monastery. (Br. Frédéric, bursar, 02.2006) For the farm it was a question of urgency, we had to change, because we had lost money, we were doing research with INRA, all the cows were sick, we had to change the herd,…well, we went organic, it was a gamble, and the gamble was won. (Br. Etienne, manager of the hydroelectric plant, 02.2006)

192  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development That is when they decided to go organic. According to today’s monks, only two or three of the monks at that time were convinced by the organic solution. The others were only interested in the economic side. The farm thus became the first organic farm in Burgundy, and what was a gamble at the end of the 1960s turned out to be a success, as shown by the current enthusiasm for this label. The term ‘gamble’, used by Brother Etienne, highlights the opportunism of this business. From this economically motivated decision, the monks then constructed an extramundane meaning for it. The commitment to organic farming is therefore seen as a religious act of protecting creation out of respect for the Creator. Owing to the fact that monasteries are privileged places of innovation and have always integrated sustainability and the conservation of nature into their relationship with the economy and the environment, they were able to establish themselves as pioneers in the field of ecology in the 20th century. European monasteries have historically been at the forefront of the development of agricultural techniques. It is therefore not surprising that they are currently involved in organic farming. According to the monastics interviewed, organic farming is a continuation of monastic agriculture. For instance, a French women’s abbey, after having had the first off-ground turkey farm, was a pioneer in organic farming and owned the first organic farm in Morbihan. The sister bursar said that they had ‘always been organic’, ‘before anyone talked about it’ (02.2005). For some monastics, organic farming is the most accomplished form of monastic agriculture. For example, the same sister continues to say: ‘I am much more comfortable with the organic look’. The adoption of organic farming allows us to affirm that the monastic economy is an alternative economy based on values other than purely economic ones. A Camaldolese monk affirms: ‘An economy that respects the environment is not economically quantifiable’. The aims of the monastic economy therefore extend beyond the purely economic. Many monasteries had, therefore, a pioneering role in the pattern of ecological production. For instance, the director of the brewery in Westmalle, Belgium, explains: ‘They built a water purification plant in the 1960s. At that time, it was really revolutionary’. The examples would be too numerous to mention, but the methanisation at Tamié Abbey is interesting because it is embedded in the latest technologies. As with the organic farm at La Pierre-qui-Vire, the original idea was to find a solution to an economic problem. Cheese making produces whey, which is very polluting for the environment: Originally, the whey was given to feed the pigs and then it disappeared, anyway, it was more expensive then… Then we had to sell the serum, but we were too far away, so we had to look for a storage area nearer. At first, we were paid 15 cents a litre and at the end when I was in charge of the cheese factory, we had to pay 15 cents a litre to take it away. That’s when my successor launched this study on methanisation. And it is a

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  193 business that works very well because the gas produced provides us with all our domestic hot water. So, there was a lot, a lot of publicity about this business because a lot of people are interested in it, but p eople either don’t dare to get involved, or don’t know if it is viable. So, there was a lot of publicity, TV, radio… (Bursar, France, 10.2008) The main reason for the methanisation is therefore economic, but the monks quickly emphasised the ecological importance of this activity. This initiative has been widely communicated, including by documentaries filmed by national TV stations. The monastery therefore serves as a showcase for ecological initiatives. However, to claim that the ecological commitment of the monks is only based on economic motives would not be accurate as ecological development is important from both an economic and a religious standpoint. The monastics tend to opt for ecological choices when they can afford to, even though it sometimes means losing money. For example, at Tamié: ‘Overall, in the small farm here, we don’t use any fertiliser, we try thermal weed killers. Sometimes it is very expensive, it is not possible, but we have that’. When asked if they are willing to do this even if it costs them more, the monks answer in the affirmative. However, this small farm has virtually no role in the monastery’s economy, suggesting that rationality prevails in the case of activities essential to the community’s survival. This pioneering role in ecological activities can be explained on the one hand by the capacity of the monastic structure to create innovation and on the other hand by the elective affinity, identified above, between monasticism and the protection of creation, which is currently translated into ecological terms. From pioneers to prophets, monastics do not aim to keep their ecological commitment behind the walls of their monastery, but to be witnesses to society of their environmentally friendly practices. A brother from Plankstetten in Germany said in 2007 that they have been ‘prophesying for the organic-boom (Bio-Boom) for some years’. In 2006, a monk from La Pierre-qui-Vire explained about the new wood-fired boiler: I would be more in favour of people knowing about it. […] The micro hydroelectric power station, I encourage the pupils of the local secondary schools to come and visit it. […] To make them aware of these issues of renewable energy… (Brother Etienne) Similarly, in Plankstetten, information about the ecological utopia is passed on through the distribution of products, seminars on ecological subjects, stays at the monastery and visits to the farm by children from the surrounding schools. The monks also welcome young people for a year of ecological volunteering, supported by the state. During my survey in 2007, two

194  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development volunteers were being hosted by the monastery. Since the publication of the encyclical Laudato Sii, ecology has also become the subject of spiritual retreats, as offered, for example, by the Poor Clare Sisters of Cormontreuil in France in 2022. Through spreading the ecological message in this way, the monastics are actively participating in changing society for the better while at the same time, becoming more plausible in a society which expects ecological solutions but is critical of religious institutions. c A systemic approach or rational ecology The environmental commitment of the monasteries is particular in that it is organised systemically and takes into account a chain of reactions in which economic and religious considerations are intertwined. This echoes Séguy’s definition of utopia, which aims to ‘radically transform the existing global social systems’ (2014, p. 287). Françoise Champion wrote critically about the approach to nature in the Cistercian tradition: ‘Auberger reminds us that creation refers less to trees, hills, mountains… than to an Order: what is proposed to the monks is a setting in order of wild nature’ (1996, p. 42). At the time of the monks who cleared the land, it was a question of ordering nature for the well-being of man in accordance with the Creator’s design. The aim of ecological ordering is rather to enable future generations to continue to enjoy natural resources while establishing a respectful relationship with nature – out of respect for its Creator – as opposed to its destruction for economic purposes. For example, since 2006, La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey has had a wood-fired boiler in operation as a result of renewed ecological considerations. The ecological and economic reasons for this are of equal importance and form part of the local system, which the monks are very keen on. The brother in charge of the boiler insists on, sourcing the wood locally, and Brother Etienne explains that by so doing, they are participating in the local economy, as they are using the local wood industry and sawmills. In addition to this, the monks are thinking of using the ash as fertiliser for the organic farm. This is a well-thought-out project involving a consultancy firm to evaluate its profitability. This approach fulfils Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Sii, as integral ecology takes the environment into account as much as the social aspect. The same integral and systemic approach can be noted in an interview with a forest brother from Heiligenkreuz: I think, we do not start with the wood. We start with planting trees, or with natural regeneration of the trees. And from this point to the end, when we harvest the wood, I think the whole process should be good. […] When you use sustainability, you can speak about three sectors - the economic, the ecologic and the social part. And I think, in these three parts we should provide a good example in our country, to other firms and companies. So, in the social part, I think we have to like the people,

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  195 really like them. And to help them when we can help. Of course, none of our workers gets thousands of euros (laughing) in a month because we like them - that is not possible. […] And also with the visitors of the forest we want to show the possibilities of how to use the forest in a good way. (Forester, Austria, 04.2017) The monastic system aims to propose a coherent approach between the economic, the social and the ecological, which corresponds to the integral ecology. An extreme example of a coherent ecological system in a monastery environment is the monastery in Plankstetten, Bavaria, which, when studied in 2008, had developed an ‘Öko-autarkiekonzpet’ (ecological autarky concept). Every single dimension of the monastery is integrated into the ‘regionales Autarkiekonzept’: organic farming, organic garden, renewable energy, etc. This concept is thus constructed and thought out in such a way that all of the monastery’s actions are carried out with an ecological focus. This Öko-Koncept (ecological concept) integrates all the dimensions of monastic life: food, production, energy, fuel for the cars, reception of visitors, etc. The graphic representation of this organisation proves its systemic dimension. At the centre of the circle is the kitchen, which receives the monastery’s products (bakery, butcher’s, garden, farm and agriculture); transforms them; and redistributes them into meals for the community, the hotel and the brewery. The second concentric circle, around that of the monastery, includes other organic producers in the region, especially necessary for the beer. An entire ecological system has therefore been developed in this monastery and exemplifies the definition of utopia according to Séguy. Here, however, it is a utopia centred on ecology. In the monastery’s newspaper in 2001, the current abbot spoke of a ‘symphony between man, economy and creation, in harmony with nature’.2 The word ‘creation’ is often used in the monks’ discourse. In a 12-page document explaining the ‘regionales Autarkiekonzept’, the monks set out what they see as a tradition of responsibility for creation, based on the rule of Benedict and the principles of monastic life. Ecology is part of the monastic search for God through the preservation, respect and continuation of life. Benedictine principles such as stability, which gives meaning to the internal production of the monastery with care for quality, the welcome of guests and the glorification of God, help to realise this ‘regional economic and ecological circle’. They define themselves as a ‘green monastery’ as shown on a video tape presenting their monastery. The ecological utopia of the monks in Plankstetten supersedes the religious utopia as they prefer not to sell products from other monasteries in their shop because, according to their criteria, they are not organic enough. Their food shop offers only organic products, claiming the ‘Bioland’ label. However, the sales manager suggested that it would be good to offer other

196  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development monastic products. At first, the monks refused for the reasons given, but finally they did agree to sell them in a section of the bookshop, rather than in the food shop. Thus, they do not sell non-organic products with organic products, but they prefer to associate them with religious objects. From this point on, religious utopia is no longer the primary aim since organic arguments predominate. This is also true for the guesthouse, where, in the guesthouse brochure, the organic quality of the food is emphasised more than the spiritual character of the stay. The only sentence in the brochure reads: ‘Meals of the highest organic quality: the monastery kitchen prepares meals using fresh vegetables from the monastery garden and farm, and meat from the monastery butchery’. Ecology, then, takes precedence over religion.

3 Towards a secularisation of the ecological discourse or integration of the ecological discourse into the monastic sphere? Between the beginning of my investigations in 2004 in France and today, the ecological discourse of monks and nuns has evolved considerably. I had already identified (Jonveaux 2011a) disparities between France and Germany, the latter having been interested in ecological issues for a longer time. At the time, this discourse already had a place within the German Catholic Church and the Abbot of Plankstetten, who had become a bishop, was described in the media in 2008 as a ‘green bishop’. But in general, the ecological question was not very present in the institutional Church. Ludovic Bertina identifies a ‘delay’ in French Catholicism concerning ecological issues. Whereas in Germany, the bishops as a whole published Being Responsible for Creation as early as 1985, and in the United States, Renewing the Earth was published by the Bishops’ Conference in 1991, it was not until the year 2000 that several French bishops jointly supported a fair understanding of the ecological struggle. (Bertina 2017, p. 35) In Latin countries, ecological commitment and religious commitment are two separate ‘arenas’ (Neveu 2015) in the public space, to use a term from the sociology of social movements. The prophetic proclamation of ecology by monastics was unusual, as environmental activism and religious prophetism were mutually exclusive; indeed, environmental activists were often anticlerical. In the years during which the Church did not address this subject, the monastics were responsible for bringing a religious perspective to the ecological arguments, by acquiring a place in the public arena as religious ecological activists. The lay person in charge of the economy at Novacella Abbey, which is a canonical abbey in Alto Adige in Italy, says:

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  197 The ecological aspect in our abbey has had a certain importance for a few years, because we have committed ourselves to give visibility to this subject, also to succeed in doing so because there was the problem with the Greens for a few years. The Greens are not in the government coalition. They are considered the devil! However, the government did not know what to do because they were saying the right things, less traffic, sorting out waste, so many things, but we could not be inspired by them because they were considered the enemy. And we here, we said, we are the Church, we are part of the Church. The first rule is to respect creation. What God has created. (Italy, 11.2006) This situation has changed radically since then, particularly with the publication in 2015 of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato sii. The appropriation of ecological themes and their semantics by the Catholic Church has led to an evolution in monastic discourse, which has integrated secular ecological semantics and arguments. This allows monastics to position themselves in this field and to make their religious utopia plausible in societies that are increasingly less interested in eschatological salvation. The feared end of the world at the beginning of the 21st century is essentially an environmental apocalypse for which man, not God, bears responsibility. The monasteries are currently progressing from opportunistic ecology, which, as discussed above, involves economic arguments and responding to current demand from society, to an ecology of commitment. For example, an Italian monk from Praglia acknowledges: ‘It is a bit of a fashion to work with nature’ (02.2007), which lends credence to the fact that ecological commitment is not determined solely by religion. However, the commitment of the monastics to the environment can only be seen as opportunistic insofar as its inclusion in the ecological arena is concerned since the protection of creation is intrinsic to the monastic values. The opportunistic approach is also a response to a demand from society that corresponds, in mirror image, to the offers made by the monastery. A monk from Camaldoli explains: In today’s context, the environment is becoming a requirement for every man and woman, and this is also being recovered at the monastic level, contact with nature, in the laborious sense of the word, not just contemplative, is becoming a way of keeping up with the stronger demands of today’s man. (Br. Davide, Italy, 03.2007) In this sense, through their ecological discourse, the monastics make their religious utopia more plausible in the view of secular society. This change in approach to environmental concerns and ecology can be recognised by the lexicon used and the new perception of the monastics

198  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development by society. The concrete actions of monastic communities may remain the same, but the opportunistic arguments, especially economic ones, are now less common. This commitment may mean additional costs, as can be seen in the video ‘The Green Monastery’ of Plankstetten, where young people are hired during the summer to remove the Colorado potato beetle from the potato plants, so that no insecticide is used, but which implies a much higher cost. However, despite an asserted ecological commitment, some monks ‘do not like to use this term ‘sustainable’ because they have the impression of being dispossessed of something which was traditionally monastic before it became a societal concern’ (Spalová & Jonveaux 2018). A Cistercian monk from Heiligenkreuz says: When you talk about sustainability - I don’t use the word, I don’t like to use it, because I think it is a very ‘nobody knows what it is’. So, I think it is better to use other words, more detailed. (04.2017) But in general, the environmental actions of monasteries are currently verbalised as such and in terms that come from the ecological scene. A former abbot from La Pierre-qui-Vire said in an interview in 2011: ‘The famous ecology nowadays…before we didn’t talk about it, but we lived it too’. The relationship between the monastics and nature hasn’t necessarily changed a great deal; what is different is the way in which this relationship is verbalised and presented to society. A shift can also be observed in the association of monastic identity with ecological commitment. In 2006, Brother Etienne from La Pierre-qui-Vire said about renewable energy: ‘We don’t do this as part of our monastic life. We are sensitive to this dimension of safeguarding nature and preserving natural resources and it is true that we try not to do anything by wasting energy’. This monk did not associate his ecological action with his identity as a monk. In 2015, a Benedictine monk from Sankt-Paul in Austria, who is careful to develop his honey business organically, said the contrary: ‘This responsibility for creation, that is our mission as Benedictines’. As environmental and climate issues become more and more prominent within society, the monks identify acting upon this as being one of their responsibilities. A Benedictine sister in Austria explains: We have a woodcut heating here in the monastery, that is together with the parish. There is also the issue of creation responsibility in the church. Getting people to use green electricity. And after that, energy must also be saved. (Steinerkirchen, 11.2012) This sister associates the monasteries with the church in general and underlines their responsibility in raising awareness of these problems in society.

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  199 This shift can also be seen in the criteria of the French brand ‘Monastic’, which since 2018/2019 has included ecological criteria summarised as follows: ‘A commitment to sustainable development and integral ecology’, with a reference to Laudato sii. Ecology is expressed and affirmed as such in monastic products, following on from the expectations of consumers. The ecological commitment of monastics to sustainable development therefore responds on the one hand to the Catholic values of respect for creation and on the other hand to the expectations of today’s society for whom ecological and climate disaster are of great concern. These examples perfectly illustrate the adaptation of the utopian society to the needs of society in general. This relationship is referred to as the ‘dialectical relationship between utopia and the existing order’: ‘By this is meant that every epoch allows the birth (in differently situated social groups) of those ideas and values in which are ­contained, in condensed form, the unrealized and unfulfilled ­tendencies which represent the needs of each epoch’ (Mannheim 1956, p. 135). The ­monasteries’ approach to ecology illustrates this dialectic between utopia and the needs of society, for example not only through the differences between Germany and France, but also with the development seen in recent years.

4  Development in Africa The influence of the monasteries upon the economic, social and cultural development of Europe is well known. Many African monastics hope that their monasteries will play the same role in their region as the monasteries did in Europe in the Middle Ages. Is there an identifiable impact by African monasteries on the economic and social development of their region? In what way can the monastic economy, which aims primarily at being a subsistence economy for the community, become a development economy? This section only considers African cases, as they correspond to the surveys carried out, but the same questions could be asked in the case of Asia, taking into account the fact that a non-Catholic monastic tradition already exists on that continent. Unlike with the apostolic orders, monastic life was not established on the continents outside Europe for missionary or social action, but primarily to ensure a presence of prayer and to spread the ideal of monastic life. In 1924, in Rerum Ecclesiae, Pope Pius XI called for the establishment of prayer centres in mission countries, thus asking contemplative orders to found monasteries on the new Catholic continents (Leclercq 1979, pp. 141–142). From this perspective, the developmental role of monasteries does not appear obvious at first glance. A development economy would be an economy that promotes the development of a region or country. ‘Development implies, in addition to growth, a reduction in inequality, unemployment and poverty. [...] It is an ‘upward movement of the whole social body (Gunnar Myrdal)’’ (Brasseul &

200  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 22). Indeed, it is important not to confuse ‘economic development’ with ‘economic growth’ (Perkins et al. 2008, pp. 28–29), the latter referring to ‘the rise in per capita income as well as output’ (id. 2008, p. 28). Economic indicators of development include the distribution of activities among the three production sectors (primary, secondary and tertiary) and the level of food consumption. Social indicators relate to health, education, housing conditions and urbanisation (Brasseul & Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 23). Life expectancy and literacy are indeed two key development variables (Perkins et al. 2008, p. 32). The question of whether the monastic economy is a development economy is therefore a question of whether monastic economic activities promote the growth of these economic and social indicators, not only for them but, more importantly, for the population around them. a A ‘pro-poor’ economy? The primary purpose of the monastic economy is subsistence. However, as in Europe, the profit generated by economic activities can be used to finance charitable projects. The prioress of Toffo monastery in Benin says: ‘Our work serves to help the poorest’ (03.2019). The monasteries of the Benedictine tradition in Africa have a type of economy that takes the poor into account. This means that, whatever activities they undertake, they integrate concern for the poor both in their processes (employment) and in the allocation of their income (support for social projects). In this sense, a type of ‘pro-poor’ growth is identified, with a mostly ‘relative’ approach that ‘considers growth as pro-poor when the poorest benefit more than others from its fruits’ (Brasseul & Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 35). Attention to the poor or disadvantaged has always been a dimension of monastic life, carried out through various acts of solidarity. This dimension persists even in places where monasteries no longer have a direct role in economic development. By helping the poor and disadvantaged, the monastics legitimise their own resources and higher standard of living. However, direct almsgiving at the door of monasteries, as reported in medieval tradition, with a door dedicated to this purpose in some monasteries (‘porta della carità’ at the monastery of Praglia in Italy, for example) (Jonveaux 2020, p. 1139), is very rare these days. Financial support for the needy is likewise uncommon, as the monasteries prioritise offering work to the needy. A sister from Karen, Nairobi, explains: They come, so many. Sometimes, because we don’t just want to give them free things, so sometimes they come and we give them some work to do like to dig, so of course you give them something to eat, like a cup of tea and bread. Then they go on to dig the hole maybe from morning up to 4 pm. Then we give them 100 schillings or something, so whatever they agree with the sister, they work and then they go. So, some you give

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  201 them work for 3 days, maybe they need more money, maybe they need house rent, maybe some medical problem. So sometimes they come and they are poor and they are really sick, then we just send them to our dispensary. (Sr. Luce, Kenya, 02.2014) The aim of the sisters is to make the aid-seekers autonomous, with a view to empowerment (Brasseul & Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 32), which has also been observed in the monasteries in Benin. Solidarity here is achieved through the granting of work, which allows for an equal relationship between the person requesting help and the person offering it. The Trappistine Sisters in L’Étoile, Benin, proceed in the same way when people come searching for help: Sometimes they come here. Instead of begging like this, give me, give me, we give him a job. We say, well, you can work a little bit here. At the end of the week, he can earn a little something. That’s it, I worked, I earned. Instead of coming like this to beg, give me, give me when he has done nothing. (Sr. Marie-Fautine, 03.2019) Monastic solidarity therefore involves, from the outset, a process of empowerment, by offering the needy work instead of handing out money or goods to them, thereby making them dependent on aid. It establishes another type of relationship which is more equal. At Our Lady of Mount Kenya, for example, the brothers allow a woman to sell rosaries at the entrance to the monastery. The Kenyan prior explains: She is an old ‘mama’, she sells all these devotional objects, and we gave her the opportunity to be able to sell them to people and earn a little something. […] I told her, it is OK. It is also a part of evangelisation. (Brother Steven, 02.2014) The rosaries are not produced by the monastery but contribute to its religious economy as a place of retreat and have a social justification, as it allows this woman to have a small income. This type of solidarity also changes the vision of the monastery as being a place where the primary role is to distribute free aid. A Ugandan monk I met in Kenya, from a monastery of the St. Ottilien congregation, explained: A few people understand but then also the congregation of St. Ottilien is emphasizing mission work. So, this mission, it is good, but then if we don’t understand it ourselves well, it makes the monastic environment itself very dilute, this is true also. But also, the general understanding of the people surrounding the monastery is that the monastery is a

202  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development very rich institution where a lot of charity can be done right from the beginning, so they see the monastery just like a store. (Fr. Ian, Kenya, 02.2014) A purely charitable attitude in the sense of financial or material donations without offering the person a means of earning money puts the monastery in a position of wealth. Being at the service of the poor does not mean that the monasteries should cultivate an unequal relationship with the needy, but, on the contrary, to help to empower them. In addition to hiring employees, there is also a dimension of the internal empowerment of existing employees by offering them a better standard of living. Some monasteries have built houses for their employees, as in Keur Moussa Abbey, with the village of Saint-Benoît which has been built for the abbey’s employees. At the monastery of L’Écoute in Benin, the four permanent employees are paid the minimum wage. According to André Ardouin’s reports, five employees at the monastery of Séguéya in Guinea Conackri (founded by Keur Moussa) have been registered and pay social security. Their contribution does not cover illness, but the monastery helps the employee and his family in case of need. These living conditions offered to the employees of the monasteries have a direct impact on lifting them out of poverty, if we consider that ‘it is often the absence of basic rights for the poor (right to land, social security, minimum wage, remunerative prices for peasants) that explains and maintains poverty’ (Brasseul & Lavrard-Meyer 2016, p. 35). The Benedictine missionary communities studied in Kenya show the involvement of monastics in the development of empowerment outside their monastery. For example, the Benedictine sisters in Karen help poor elderly people to find their own livelihoods and escape poverty. Actually, we have been working with groups of people, women, and elderly people. I myself was working with a group of old people which has been funded by the Helpage International, it’s a funding agency which funds the old people, globally, in the whole world and especially in the poor countries, the developing countries. So, for the past around  25  years we have been working with these old people in their villages, different villages, we have been visiting them and we found that they had been used so much to being given handouts and eventually they became dependent but we tried to help them to be self-sufficient. So, we were able to teach them with the help of other people who have the  skills to teach them like how to make soap, or to make school uniforms. (Sr. Judith, Kenya, 02.2014) Similarly, at Our Lady of the World Monastery in Mount Kenya, the brothers support subsistence farming projects in bags to enable poor and landless families to become self-sufficient. The communities are therefore careful

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  203 not to make the beneficiaries dependent on aid but rather offer them a form of empowerment. b The impulse behind monastic development The development actions observed in the monasteries are as much about responding to immediate needs as about more sustainable investments. Numerous co-operations can be observed with NGOs, particularly, but not exclusively, Catholic ones (Caritas). NGOs finance isolated projects, such as a borehole for the Fulani near Kokoubou in Benin, so that they do not need to go to the monastery, which was carried out by the Caritas of the diocese of Parakou with funding from Miseror (Germany). They also support longer-term projects, as is sometimes the case with the school. As SophieHélène Trigeaud has noted, some orders of the contemplative tradition have developed their own NGOs, for example among the Carmelites (Trigeaud 2014, p. 778). The monastery in Mambré, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, founded by the monastery of Clerlande in Belgium and belonging to the Congregation of the Annunciation, has grouped its projects in a nonprofit association, which has an NGO in Belgium. The impulse behind the monastic developments can be placed into four categories: •

•

The monasteries are rooted in their local environment. They develop an economy that is, at least partly, local and contributes to the economic development of their local environment, if only through employment. Monastic communities therefore also become drivers for the development of their region because of these local roots. The development of monasteries also means the establishment of economic activities in their immediate environment, which involve the local population. At the monastery in Séguéya in Guinea Conackri, a monk from the mother abbey in Senegal has set up an agricultural cooperative between the monastery and various neighbours. This monk considers that he had no choice because ‘the monastery cannot develop on its own, have large agricultural production and the people around have nothing’ (08.2021). This can lead to insecurity for the monastery. This cooperative has obtained a tractor through donations, which will be made available to all. An important goal for this monk is training through the exchange and improvement of techniques. The standard of living of the community, which depending on the community can reach almost European standards, also contributes to the development role of the monasteries. In this respect, the difference in living standards to that of the local population can actually be beneficial to the latter. On the one hand, the way of life of the communities allows the neighbouring populations to have access to essential resources, such as water or electricity. For example, the monks in Agbang monastery,

204  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development

•

•

Togo, let the neighbouring Fulani come to the monastery to charge their mobile phones. The Trappists in Kokoubou and the Trappistines in l’Étoile in Benin allowed the Fulani to come and draw water from their boreholes until they dug some for their villages. The higher standard of living also makes it possible to employ and possibly financially support local people. It is not uncommon for communities to pay for the schooling of promising children whose parents would otherwise be unable to send them to school or for medical care to be provided for the monastics’ families. The internal values of monastic life contribute to the internal development of the community, which then influence the outside world. This includes studying, also study abroad, which encourages the formation of monks and nuns. Monastic values related to the economy and work lead to the level of performance necessary for maintaining the quality of spiritual life. Monastic communities are also places of cultural development, as for instance in Keur Moussa, whose liturgy inspired many of the West African monasteries. Finally, the monasteries are anchored in national and international networks, on the one hand religious through the congregations and orders on the other hand secular through the guests and friends of the monasteries, which make it possible to generate financial aid for various projects.

Armand Totouom identifies six main obstacles to industrial development on the African continent: The low level of infrastructure in African countries, in particular transport and energy infrastructure, and telecommunications infrastructure, the lack of political vision, political instability, the small size of the market, difficulties in accessing finance and the low level of human capital. (2018, p. 383) While some of these, as we have seen, are also a hindrance to the monasteries, they have comparative advantages regarding access to finance, development of human capital and integration into networks that expand the market. c Direct and indirect development: social activities of monasteries As I have explored in another article (Jonveaux 2021b), the approach to development is different according to the community, including within the Benedictine family; whether they are contemplative communities, focused on prayer and manual work in or near the monastery, missionary Benedictine

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  205 communities or endogenous missionary Benedictine communities, i.e. founded by a local monastic. Contemplative monasticism, often founded by French communities in West Africa, does not regard direct social involvement with the local population as part of their mission. It does not aim to respond to the needs of the people around them. Although they often opened schools and dispensaries at the beginning of their foundation, they tried to entrust these tasks as soon as possible to apostolic communities (Jonveaux, 2019b). Thus, in Keur Moussa in Senegal, the monks opened a school, which they entrusted to lay people, and a dispensary, which they then handed over to a community of apostolic nuns. One monk says that ‘women used to come to the monastery to give birth, but it is not the role of a monk to help women give birth’ (07.2016). In Toffo, Benin, the Benedictine nuns have started to meet some community needs, especially regarding orphaned babies, but have asked the bishop to send an apostolic community to take over as soon as possible. The monks in Kokoubou did the same with their dispensary, only offering trips between the dispensary and the hospital. L’Étoile monastery quickly brought in a Dutch nurse to look after its dispensary, which they took over when the monastery was constructed, initially to care for the workers. It was then transferred to the town of Boko at the expense of the diocese. Most of these social activities therefore began in response to a direct request from the population, without being part of the original plans of the monks and nuns. Accustomed to the apostolic missionary communities that arrived in West Africa long before the monastic orders, the local people immediately identified the monastics with the religious congregations that had come to help them. A founder of the Kokoubou monastery says: At first, they only knew the missionaries. And then the nurses or hospitals. They asked us: ‘Are you the fathers who come to evangelise or for the hospital?’ We said no. Nothing of the sort. We come to live among you. It took them a long time to realise. (Brother Jacques, 03.2019) The aim of contemplative monasticism is to be separate from the outside world, not to develop social activities for the population, in other words, social activities are not its raison d’être. Development as practised by contemplative communities appears as a positive externality in the sense that it is not the aim of the communities, but, as the former abbot of Keur Moussa says, ‘it comes with it’. An externality is an economic situation in which the act of consumption or production of one agent influences, positively or negatively, the situation of another

206  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development agent not involved in the action, without the latter being compensated or having to pay for the damage or benefits generated. (Aghion 2010, p. 252) It is therefore the opposite of the voluntarist form of development, as described by Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan who defines it ‘as a modern voluntarist form of introducing economic and social transformations in the countries of the South’ (1995a, p. 69). Through its work activities, in order to fulfil the subsistence needs of the community, and the standard of living developed, in order to meet the needs of monastic life, the monastery is involved indirectly in the development of its region. The fact that the monastery does not voluntarily engage in development activities does not mean, however, that the communities do not aim for this. A Trappist brother from Kokoubou, who has since become prior, explained: So when we see the course of history, and the impact of monasticism on social life, we say to ourselves, perhaps we have a role to play in this sense. Well, by being in our place and doing what we have to do. And little by little it will be communicated. (03.2019) It appears from this monk’s comments that the monastery’s role in the development of the region is already part of their normal activities, so it is unnecessary for them to be given specific activities to aid development. The Benedictine missionary communities, on the other hand, have a more direct approach to development. These communities, which belong to the Bavarian congregations of St. Ottilien for the men and Tutzing for the women, were the first to found monasteries in East Africa at the end of the 19th century. They combine the monastic dimension of the primacy of prayer with active missionary activities, according to the need. These communities do not define themselves primarily by their social actions but identify work as a source of income and associate social or pastoral activities with the missionary dimension. Schools and health centres are rarely sources of income because of the costs involved and the low fees charged for these services. At the same time, most of these monasteries have productive activities from which they derive their income, such as agriculture, carpentry and printing. The Tigoni monastery near Nairobi in Kenya, for example, has tea fields, a butcher’s shop, a bakery and a garden with fruit and vegetables. The Karen sisters in Nairobi have a dispensary adjacent to the monastery, but the income comes from their retreat centre. The original aim of these communities was evangelising East Africa, not establishing monastic life as a means of serving the local population. However, their missionary dimension means that they are engaged in pastoral activities outside the monastery, as well as helping to meet the basic

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  207 needs of the local population. This is achieved through the establishment of dispensaries, hospitals, schools and vocational centres. According to the guide of the Congregation of St. Ottilien (2020), the monasteries belonging to this congregation run about ten schools and about five vocational schools. Development is an explicit aim of their activities, as shown by the words of Father Ian, currently a teacher in Nairobi, when speaking about his monastery in Uganda: The activities of the monastery, they have a school. The orientation wants to bring basic human development on the background of agriculture and school and the medical services. So, you open a school to train them to do something for themselves so that they can come and get the skill, maybe of building, carpentry, maybe repairing bicycles or motor vehicles, then they go and establish themselves to do something on their own. (Fr. Ian, 02.2014) In his thesis on the health and educational activities of the Benedictines of St. Ottilien in Tanzania, John Christie-Searles shows the impact of the presence of monasteries on the southern regions. It is clear that they are instrumental in reducing gaps in health and education variables when compared to the northern regions. ‘Infant Mortality in Ruvuma is regressed against Ruvuma Benedictine Presence Squared and Rural population percentage for years between 1996 and 2013. […] The Benedictine presence explains 25% of the infant mortality rate decrease’ (Christie-Searles 2018, p. 108). And in its conclusion: ‘Take away the hospitals and schools funded and operated by the Benedictines and there would be a sizeable gap in social service delivery in the southern region of Tanzania’ (id., p. 172). Although monasteries are not the only parameter at stake, their presence has a real impact on development related to education and health. In some cases, the monastery does not offer these social services directly but offers them support. For example, at Our Lady of Mount Kenya, the monks have developed a centre for spiritual retreats but also host a kindergarten on their own premises. One class is in a large tent on the lawn, another in a room in the guesthouse and the third in the monastery chapel. One of the brothers said that it cannot remain like this, because the children are noisy and do not allow for spiritual recollection. Their pastoral activity is therefore in conflict with their support for development, especially because the kindergarten does not have its own building. But this example shows that a monastery can open its doors, even to the most spiritual places, for activities with a social purpose. The case of monastic missionary communities thus shows an active and direct commitment to development through social activities specifically dedicated to this purpose. Finally, the monastery in Agbang, Togo, is an example of an endogenous missionary monastic community, i.e. a community founded on the personal

208  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development initiative of a Togolese monk and not by a European community invited by an ecclesial institution. Agbang monastery was founded by Boniface Tiguila in 1985 after he left the Benedictine monastery in Dzobegan, founded by French monks, because he did not find it sufficiently integrated into local society. The community was accepted into the congregation of St. Ottilien in 1988. The activities of the monastery are based on the same model as the other communities of the St. Ottilien congregation, with a primary and secondary school, but it also carries out other types of economic activity with the explicit aim of integration into the local market. For example, the monks developed a sewing workshop in Kara, which actually closed after my survey. The prior sent a monk to study metal carpentry so that they would be able to offer this service later. Finally, a construction company was established and this monk acts as the main contractor. There is also a car mechanic workshop for both the community and external clients. The prior practices traditional pharmacopoeia. These activities are offered in response to the needs of the local market and are not only aimed at a wealthy clientele. The brother in charge of the goldsmith’s workshop in Lomé points out that purchasing power is very low, and he takes this into account when making wedding rings. Agbang uses a model from the Benedictine tradition, which is that of the priory. A priory was traditionally a branch of the monastery established at a place of work (farmland, parish) to avoid the monks having to travel back and forth. It enabled them to have part of their monastery close to their workplace. The Agbang monastery has two houses called ‘monastic cells’, one in the capital, Lomé, and the other in Kara, the town closest to Agbang, 20 km away by track. The goldsmith’s business is in Lomé and makes liturgical objects as well as jewellery (wedding rings). The house building business is currently in Kara. The economic activities are therefore located in the centres of population, where the demand and the workforce are, while the spiritual centre of the monastery is further away, ‘in the desert’ as one monk put it. These places in the heart of the cities also have a pastoral purpose, and the visibility of monastic life is located in a context where it is still little known. The founder’s idea of being ‘closer to the people’ can be recognised there. The community of Agbang is therefore involved in development through its non-remunerative activities that respond to the social needs of the population (school), as well as through its economic activities within the local market, which promotes development through the economy. Being directly involved in development was mainly what motivated Brother Boniface to leave Dzobegan, which corresponds to the contemplative model, and to found another monastery. His words show a utopian vision of monasticism as a means of transforming society: ‘I have always dreamed that monasticism could also serve here as a motor for the advent of a new society where ignorance, misery and spiritual blindness would be only a memory’. Through all their activities, the aim of the monks is therefore to promote development by

Monastic economy and (sustainable) development  209 transferring the capabilities of the monastery to the population, especially knowledge and know-how. A brother from Lomé explains: I believe that the usefulness of the monk, the little he knows, the intellectual potential that we have, even if it is manual, is for the service of man. As Boniface says, his wish is that one day, as in Europe, monks and monasteries will be able to help reduce the ignorance of the population. I think this is important. (Togo, 04.2013) However, the community has had difficulty in finding an economic balance. According to the bursar, 96% of their income in 2010, 25 years after the foundation of the monastery, came from donations, especially from the congregation. In 2011 this was still 86%. The development of this monastery has only been possible thanks to donations from outside, more so than for any of the other monasteries studied. Although I do not have the figures for the following years, Agbang has undoubtedly improved its economic balance since the monastery became an abbey in 2016, which is a condition for canonical erection. However, the financing of the development work is not self-generated by the community itself since most of the finances come from outside. Finally, in all these monasteries, key development variables related to education (literacy) and health (life expectancy) are considered, either outsourced to an apostolic religious community or to lay people, or internalised and integrated into the activities of the monastic community. It should be noted here that monasteries do not only run primary schools but also run secondary schools, which have a greater impact on development than primary schools (Gender Report, 2019) and vocational schools. In the contemplative monastery model, development activities are most often directly linked to the economic activities of the monastery. In the missionary model, income-generating activities and development activities (schools, hospitals) are distinct. d From development to ecology The monastic economy is able to be sustainable thanks to its locational stability. Sustainable development in its ecological dimension is also becoming increasingly more important in Africa. For example, at Keur Moussa Abbey, the monks are developing organic farming and have developed a vocational training school for agro-ecology. This means that they are trying to spread ecological awareness to the outside world. In Toffo, the sisters consider themselves responsible for the protection of creation. The prioress explains: ‘And we see to the reforestation. And then to save some rare species. To save some rare species, that is our project. For monastic life in Africa, it is our project to save rare species, pharmaceutical species’ (03.2019).

210  Monastic economy and (sustainable) development She therefore regards the protection of certain species of plant as being an integral part of monastic life. Sustainability and preservation of the local natural environment are therefore important aspects of African monastic life. The role of monasteries as pioneers in the field of ecological innovation is illustrated by a situation experienced by the monastery of Keur Moussa. A few years ago, the president of Thailand offered the president of Senegal a solar dryer with innovative technology. After contemplating what to do with this gift, he decided to give it to the monastery of Keur Moussa and they have been using it to dry fruit ever since. The exemplary role of the monks is thus recognised within society and its highest authorities. In some cases, development and ecology are directly connected, especially in the case of energy. Difficulties in accessing energy or water are pushing monasteries to find sources of production, which are in line with the renewable and sustainable approach. In Kenya, monks developed solar energy and water recycling, meaning that regions without access to mains electricity are able to have a source of electricity. Agbang Monastery also has a solar power source; in 2013, when I carried out my survey, it did not provide electricity until the evening on cloudy days. Ecology is becoming increasingly more important in African monasteries, as exemplified by their work on renewable energy, organic farming and the protection of plant species. The monasteries can play the role of pioneer because they live outside of the general society, and this role enables them to be recognised by the society as a whole and by the authorities.

Notes 1 https://thegiin.org/impact-investing/need-to-know/#what-is-impact-investing [consulted on 29.04.2022]. 2 Einblicke, 09.2001.

Conclusion

Whatever the time or place, monasteries remain a radically different reality. As this profound otherness is part of the monastic identity, the monastic economy carries this otherness within it. The criteria for differentiating the monastic economy evolve according to the characteristics of the secular economy that surrounds it. Society, however, often integrates what originally made the monasteries different into the societal norm, by using their modes of work, time management or technical innovations. This adoption by society of what made the monastery different then leads to a new movement of differentiation on the part of the monasteries. Thus, today’s monastic communities seek to establish themselves as an alternative model to the capitalist economy that they themselves helped to found several centuries ago. The definition of monastic otherness thus changes according to the evolution of society but always remains at a relatively equal distance from it. This international survey of the economies of monasteries highlights two main points: firstly, they are directly influenced by the socio-economic and political setting and history of the monastery, and secondly, related to this, the greatest differences between monastic economies are between countries and not between religious orders. This would mean that, all other things being equal, the socio-political framework and history play a more important role in determining the way in which the economy of a monastery is developed than its spiritual framework, especially the rules. The tension between the economic and the monastic life is structured around two main variables: time and space. To this can be added meaning and monetary value. These variables are found not only in their economic activities in general but also work, the shop, the guesthouse and cultural visits and offers. Tension arises regarding where the economic activity should take place with respect to proximity or distance from the religious and community life. There are also conflicts due to time management issues, regarding the allocation of time to be used for economic and religious purposes. The integration of the economic dimension into monastic life is therefore made up of perpetual decision-making, which favours one or the other of the dimensions since the perfect balance is a difficult ideal to achieve.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003208525-11

212 Conclusion

Figure 10.1 Modelling the tension between religion and economy.

In summary, we can construct this graph which illustrates the trade-offs between the religious and economic determinants (Figure 10.1). The space on the top left represents trade-offs that tend to place the religious dimension or monastic values above economic performance. These include, for instance, decisions to hire less skilled people for social reasons; to consciously limit production to preserve the contemplative prayer environment or not to make the shop visible in the monastic space. At the bottom right are decisions that prioritise economic performance over religious purpose. For example, limiting the number of services in order to devote more time to work and allowing a monastic not to go to service in order to keep the shop open or opening the shop on Sunday. The optimum would be the space at the top right that prioritises both religious and economic determinants for a total maximisation of the two entities. This optimum, which is constantly sought after, is by definition rarely possible, which means that this graph constantly changes according to the activities and time periods. As the bursar of Camaldoli says: ‘Unfortunately, if we always return to the spiritual, we also always return to the venal, the economic discourse’. Each decision encountered in the religious and economic life of a monastery will therefore favour either spirituality or the economy, and the ex-post justifications will make it possible to correct and readjust these compromises so that they tend towards a balance. The monastic economy continually attempts to provide for the subsistence of the religious community while reducing areas of friction with their religion. However, this economy does not remain at the internal level of the enclosure of the monastery but also has an impact on the world both socially

Conclusion  213 and ecologically. When these consequences were intended from the outset, this is an example of the model of investing impacts; when the consequences were not intended from the outset, this is known as positive externalities. Whatever the trade-offs, it appears that monastics favour a form of rationality that aims to optimise both dimensions. In this respect, Max Weber’s theses on the rationality of the monastic economy are still valid. In whatever alternative direction the monastic economy develops, economic rationality and pragmatism remain present through its spiritual, social or ecological values. Because the economy is primarily at the service of religious life, it is subordinated to its main objective subsistence. The monastic economy is currently experiencing a revival of interest both for its products, which meet a growing demand for singularities bespoke goods which incorporate (Karpik 2007) qualities of tradition, naturalness and trust, and also for its very form as an alternative economy. The monastic economy seeks to be a different economy, not primarily in protest against the capitalist economy, but for it to be able to fit into the utopian framework of the monastery. Unlike other forms of alternative economy, the monastic economy does not seek to be a universally applicable model since it is intrinsically linked to the lifestyle of divine consecration. Instead, the monks and nuns use their economic activities as an essential vehicle for spreading their religious utopia. Their economy aims to change the world primarily from a religious point of view, rather than an economic one. The monastic economy thus responds to current trends in society and benefits from social recognition for its alternative and ecological dimensions. However, this economy aims to support religious institutions which are for the most part, especially in Europe, weakened by their lack of recruitment. What are the current perspectives for the monastic economy? The demography of the communities is a factor which plays an increasingly important role in the monastic economy. The reduction of the internal labour force in the communities requires either a change of activities or the employment of more lay people. Three demographic trends are currently recognisable among the countries studied: in Western European countries, the lack of recruitment and the ageing of the large amount of post-war entrants are leading to a significant increase in the average age of the communities. In some Eastern European countries and Argentina, the average age of the communities is still relatively young, especially with the large influx after the fall of communism, but recruitment has slowed down considerably. Renewal is therefore no longer taking place, and the ageing of communities will be the next stage if recruitment flows do not change. Finally, in Africa, the average age of the communities is relatively young and, depending on the country, recruitment is high. The labour force is present in the community, but the costs of training young people are also high. As stated above, African communities which were founded by French communities still benefit from the income from pensions either because some French monastics are still in the community or because monastics who returned

214 Conclusion to France still send their pensions to the communities. This means that these communities urgently need to find new sources of income, in order to replace the pensions of founders. The evolution of the monastic economy in the next 30 years will be a subject to be studied on each continent, taking into account the internal evolution of monastic institutions not only in their form and demography, but also in the place they occupy in each society. The monastic economy is directly dependent on both internal variables (demography and expectations of monastic life) and external variables (place of monastic life, economic, social and political context).

Appendix

Table A.1 Monasteries in which the field inquiries were conducted Continent/ country Europe Austria

Belgium France

Germany Italy

Poland Czesh Republic

Monastery

Order

Sex

Foundation

Inquiry

Kremsmünster Benedictine

F

777

Heiligenkreuz

Cistercian

M

1133

Sankt-Paul Marienkron Steinerkirchen Seitenstetten Rein Maredsous Westmalle Clairlande Cormontreuil SaintWandrille Saint-Michel Solesmes Tamié La Pierre-quiVire Carmel Plankstetten Farfa Camaldoli Muri-Gries Praglia Jędrzejów Vyšší Brod Břevnov Venio

Benedictine Cistercian Benedictine Benedictine Cistercian Benedictine Trappist Benedictine Poor Clare Benedictine

M F F M M M M M F M

1091 1955 1938 1112 1129 1881 1804 1970 1220 649

2011, 2012, 2017 2011, 2012, 2017 2015 2011 2012 2012 2016 2008 2008 2014 2019 2004

Benedictine Beneditine Trappist Benedictine

F M M M

1898 1010 1861 1850

Carmelites Benedictine Benedictine Camaldolesian Benedictine Benedictine Cistercian Cistercian Benedictine Benedictine

F M M M M M M M M F

1626 1129 554 1124 1845 1123 1140 1259, 1945 997, 1991 2007

2005 2011 2008 2005, 2006, 2011 2008 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2019 2017, 2018 2016 2016 (Continued)

216 Appendix Continent/ country Africa Benin

Kenya

Senegal Burkina Faso Togo

Monastery

Order

Sex

Foundation

Inquiry

Kokoubou Toffo L‘Ecoute L‘Étoile Karen Our Lady of Mount Kenya Student House Nairobi Tigoni Keur Moussa Keur Guilaye Koubri

Trappist Benedictine Benedictine Trappist Benedictine Benedictine

M F F F F M

1972 1970 2005 1960 1984 1979

2019 2019 2019 2019 2014 2014

Benedictine

M

1999

2014

Benedictine Benedictine Benedictine Benedictine

M M F M

1978 1962 1970 1963

2014 2016, 2017 2016 2017

Agbang

Benedictine

M

1988

2013

Benedictine Benedictine

F F

1987 1979

2015 2015

Benedictine

M

1899

2015

South America Argentina Parana Gaudium Mariae Nino Dios

Table A.2 Interviews with monks outside their monastery Name

Monastery

Country

Fr. Noé

Séguéya

Guinée Benedictine 2003 Conackri Solesmes

El Sambión Argentina Fr. Camilo

Order

Foundation Place of interview

Benedictine 1956

Date

Abbey of 08.2020 Ganagobie, France Krems02.2018 münster, Austria

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Index

Note: Bold page numbers refer to tables. Agbang 37, 87, 91, 97, 117, 144, 162, 173, 175, 186, 203, 207–210, 216 agriculture 11, 33, 44, 182, 186, 187, 192, 195, 206, 207, 213 Apostolic 1, 7, 8, 11, 75, 85, 94, 107, 108, 110, 114, 115, 116, 121, 134, 136, 141, 143, 152, 183, 199, 205, 209 Argentina 2, 4, 20, 86, 87, 100, 117, 172, 177, 213, 216 asceticism 4, 7, 8, 9, 15, 28, 57, 78, 88–91, 93, 97, 101, 105, 106, 107 Austria 2, 3, 4, 22, 25, 26, 27, 32, 33, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 67, 70, 82, 83, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 110, 114, 119, 125, 126, 127, 130, 132, 133, 135, 137, 138, 144, 151, 153, 156, 160, 165, 166, 168, 169, 170, 173, 174, 176, 177, 178, 181, 182, 183, 185, 187, 188, 195, 198, 215 Austrian Benedictine Congregation 25 Autarky 9, 17–20, 183, 195 beer 18, 19, 22, 58, 70, 116, 119, 123, 125, 129–132, 148, 177, 195 Belgium 3, 4, 19, 22, 32, 56, 58, 61, 70, 75, 76, 82, 83, 131, 132, 140, 143, 148, 158, 168, 174, 177, 183, 191, 192, 203, 215 Benedictine 3, 11, 13, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 46, 50, 53, 55, 62, 66, 72, 82, 85, 86, 87, 88, 92, 93, 94, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 109, 112, 113, 114, 117, 119, 120, 121, 125, 126, 127, 137, 140, 141, 142, 145, 152, 153, 154, 156, 160, 169, 171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 182, 188, 189, 195, 198, 200, 202, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 215, 216

Benin 4, 19, 21, 23, 25, 31, 43, 44, 61, 62, 66, 80, 82, 83, 97, 99, 100, 103–105, 117, 120, 125, 137, 141, 144, 151, 152, 155, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 173, 174, 200–205, 216 body 37, 44–48, 61, 63, 64, 66, 141, 147, 176, 199 bookshop 136, 138, 139, 143, 165, 166, 196 Břevnov 49, 87, 169, 177, 187, 215 Burkina Faso 2, 4, 20, 97, 119, 163, 216 Camaldoli 29, 30, 55, 71, 79, 83, 87, 88, 90, 127, 130, 136, 145, 150, 159, 170, 172, 174, 175, 176, 189, 197, 212, 215 capitalism 2, 17, 134 Carmel 64, 67, 111, 215 Carmelites 37, 55, 56, 60, 64, 66, 109, 111, 112, 119, 121, 122, 135, 155, 171, 188, 203, 215 Cistercian 3, 12, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 26, 33, 41, 46, 49, 50, 56, 85, 86, 91, 93, 99, 110, 111, 120, 130, 144, 152, 166, 178, 181, 189, 194, 198, 215 Clairlande 215 congregation of Solesmes 120 congregation of St. Ottilien 3, 201, 208, Congregation of St. Ottilien 207 Congregation of the Annunciation 203 Cormontreuil 23, 216 Czech Republic 2, 3, 4, 26, 27, 32, 33, 49, 61, 78, 86, 87, 92, 132, 167, 169, 178, 182, 187, 189, 215 division of labour 13, 18, 48, 94, 109, 114, 116

228 Index donations 2, 3, 30, 31, 61, 14, 70–71, 86, 120, 154, 160, 202, 203, 209; economy of donation 23 ecology 187, 188–199, 209–210 e-commerce 153–158 employees 4, 12, 15, 39, 42, 56, 57, 79–83, 94, 114, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 202 enclosure 20, 22, 55, 64, 80, 81, 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 128, 153, 154, 157–158, 169, 170, 171, 175 extramundan 18, 31, 101, 169, 183 Farfa 45, 53, 54, 83, 135, 177, 184, 192, 215 Fondation des Monastères 31, 91 forest 22, 33, 41, 97, 160, 189, 194, 195 France 2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 45, 48, 53, 55, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 82, 83, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 99, 111, 112, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 124, 128, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 159, 160, 165, 166, 167, 168, 170, 174, 178, 182, 183, 187, 189, 191, 193, 194, 196, 199, 214, 215 Gaudium Mariae 100, 117, 172, 216 Germany 3, 4, 29, 34, 42, 46, 72, 83, 92, 115, 119, 120, 138, 148, 168, 175, 185, 193, 196, 199, 203, 215 guesthouse 3, 19, 20, 21, 27, 30, 81, 91, 115, 136, 141, 153, 154, 160, 165, 167, 168, 171–176, 196, 207, 211 Heiligenkreuz 22, 41, 46, 110, 138, 153, 165, 166, 176, 178, 181, 194, 198, 215 host 2, 37, 53, 60, 61, 63–67, 111, 112, 117, 118, 121, 128, 146, 147, 155, 160, 175 innovation 116–120, 185–187, 191, 192, 193, 210, 212 internet 4, 18, 87, 90, 91, 103, 121, 153–158, 160, 166 Italy 2, 3, 4, 8, 13, 26, 28, 29, 45, 50, 53, 55, 79, 82, 83, 87, 88, 113, 130, 132, 135, 140, 145, 150, 159, 160, 171, 173, 174, 175, 176, 182, 184, 189, 196, 197, 200, 215

Jędrzejów 21, 28, 33, 37, 42, 49, 51, 91, 98, 101, 144, 176, 215 Joseph II 26, 32, 33, 49, 93, 183 justification 10, 11, 36, 53, 55, 59, 69, 134, 141, 157, 201, 212 Karen 36, 96, 102, 104, 105, 200, 202, 206, 216 Kenya 4, 19, 36, 96, 100, 102, 115, 163, 181, 201, 202, 206, 207, 210, 216 Keur Guilaye 113, 117, 162, 216 Keur Moussa 4, 20, 23, 90, 97, 113, 123, 133, 154, 155, 156, 157, 165, 167, 175, 178, 179, 202, 204, 205, 206, 209, 210, 216 Kokoubou 19, 21, 25, 31, 43, 61, 62, 97, 120, 125, 144, 151, 152, 155, 159, 173, 203, 204, 205, 206, 216 Koubri 97, 119, 120, 216 Kremsmünster 22, 32, 55, 58, 70, 83, 94, 114, 135, 137, 144, 165, 169, 177, 178, 187, 215 La Pierre-qui-Vire 24, 28, 30, 37, 40, 44, 45, 47, 48, 60, 62, 67, 68, 73, 83, 91, 92, 99, 101, 127, 128, 138, 139, 140, 143, 144, 145, 149, 150, 183, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 198, 215 L‘Écoute 66, 100, 103, 104, 117, 152, 160, 202, 216 leisure 6, 7, 10, 11, 45, 46, 47, 88, 165, 177 L‘Étoile 23, 61, 62, 80, 103, 105, 117, 120, 137, 151, 152, 161, 162, 201, 204, 205, 216 manual work 11, 37, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 56, 63, 68, 109, 111, 204 Maredsous 58, 61, 83, 127, 136, 138, 139, 140, 143, 168, 174, 177, 183, 191, 192, 215 Marienkron 57, 110, 119, 215 monastic products 3, 18, 59, 74, 75, 121, 123–163, 165, 196, 199 money 6, 14, 23, 30, 31, 33, 39, 40, 46, 53, 54, 55, 59, 61, 69–72, 73, 76, 79, 92, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 110, 121, 134, 146, 147, 149, 151, 171, 174, 181, 183, 186, 191, 193, 201, 202 Muri-Gries 55, 215 Niño Dios 177, 216 Our Lady of Mount Kenya 100, 201, 207, 215

Index  229 Pachomius 10, 48, 119 Parana 117, 172, 215 parishes 21, 22, 27, 32, 43, 49, 51, 66, 93, 114, 147 pensions 23–25, 28, 30, 113, 213, 214 pilgrimage 14, 15, 144, 165, 176, 177 Plankstetten 20, 42, 46, 53, 83, 92, 115, 127, 148, 168, 185, 193, 195, 196, 198, 215 Poland 3, 4, 21, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 36, 42, 49, 51, 91, 98, 99, 111, 144, 165, 176, 215 Poor Clare 23, 24, 36, 55, 61, 64, 84, 85, 86, 99, 111, 160, 194, 215 poverty 3, 8, 13, 20, 23, 30, 39, 70, 75, 78, 84–107, 110, 120, 146, 151, 162, 199, 202 Praglia 19, 50, 83, 158, 159, 160, 170, 171, 172, 176, 181, 182, 197, 200, 215 priest 7, 28, 32, 46, 47, 48–51, 64, 73, 98, 109, 112, 114, 115, 116, 120, 121, 131 properties 13, 22, 26, 27, 33, 113 Rein 26, 215 Rule of St. Benedict 10, 18, 19, 20, 34, 81, 85, 182, 195 Saint-Wandrille 28, 39, 42, 69, 71, 73, 76, 78, 88, 101, 124, 125, 136, 145, 153, 155, 158, 159, 166, 168, 171, 182, 187, 215 salary 38–39, 98, 101, 118, 151 Sankt-Paul 93, 128, 198 school 1, 22, 32, 40, 41, 43, 93, 94, 101, 114, 115, 121, 122, 152, 169, 182, 193, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209 Séguéya 83, 187, 202, 203, 216 Séguy, J. 5, 6, 7, 18, 39, 40, 63, 70, 101, 129, 194, 195 Seitenstetten 43, 67, 165, 170, 183, 188, 215 self-sufficiency 17–20 Senegal 4, 20, 23, 90, 97, 113, 117, 124, 133, 154, 155, 156, 157, 162, 163, 165, 167, 175, 178, 203, 205, 210, 216 shop 3, 4, 14, 18, 20, 30, 32, 38, 42, 53, 56, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77,

113, 114, 117, 126, 127, 130, 133, 146, 149, 152, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 167, 170, 171, 172, 177, 195, 206, 212 social contributions 28 Solesmes 120, 153, 165, 175, 178, 181, 215 stability 23, 25, 127, 186, 187, 189, 195, 204, 209 Steinerkirchen 45, 100, 101, 115, 182, 215 stress 45–48; stressed 21, 77 Tamié 19, 38, 42, 67, 77, 83, 92, 136, 142, 145, 160, 174, 183, 184, 191, 192, 193, 215 taxes 14, 26, 27 Tigoni 206, 216 Toffo 25, 62, 66, 83, 95, 117, 151, 152, 200, 205, 209, 216 Togo 4, 37, 66, 87, 91, 97, 117, 141, 144, 162, 163, 173, 175, 204, 207, 208, 209, 216 tourism 135, 143, 164–179, 180 Trappist 3, 15, 19, 22, 25, 37, 41, 43, 56, 61, 70, 76, 80, 84, 86, 92, 103, 104, 116, 120, 124, 125, 129, 131, 132, 133, 137, 148, 151, 152, 153, 163, 173, 201, 204, 206, 215, 216 Utopia 6, 9, 16, 18, 29, 30, 36, 38, 39, 52, 53, 55, 59, 63, 68, 70, 72, 79, 80, 81, 82, 91, 101, 121, 136, 138, 140, 141, 142, 149, 158, 159, 171, 172, 175, 176, 182, 184, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 199, 213 Venio 89, 92, 98, 99, 215 virtuosi 7, 68, 81, 93 virtuoso 7, 8, 10, 130 Vyšší Brod 49, 61, 78, 86, 87, 165, 167, 178, 182, 189, 215 Weber, M. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 28, 29, 36, 37, 40, 41, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 78, 79, 108, 129, 133, 134, 186, 188, 213 Westmalle 19, 22, 45, 56, 57, 70, 75, 76, 81, 83, 124, 131, 132, 148, 158, 215