Labor Link 7

Labor and Work in the Monastery

Check the Life of Ceolfrith, paragraph 4:

"While he held the office of baker, he was careful in the midst of sieving the flour, lighting and cleansing the oven, and baking in it the loaves, not to omit to learn and also to practice the ceremonies of the priesthood. At this time also he was ordered to take under his charge the instruction of the brethren in the observance of the rule, that by virtue of his innate learning, as well as the fervour of his divine zeal, he should teach the ignorance restrain the stubborn."

Clearly there is more going on here than a discussion of Ceolfrith's work as a baker.

1. First, what details about baking do you glean from the admittedly sparse discussion of the operation here? What else can you learn about baking techniques in this period?
2. What other functions besides feeding the monks does Ceolfrith's work as a baker serve--what's the point of his performing this office? Does it simply show that he did his part? That he was humble? What links are there between this work and other work that Ceolfrith combines with it as a leader (as well as a feeder)?

In the Restoration of Perfection George Ovitt question asks: "How does one reconcile monastic asceticism with worldly attitudes and material achievements?" (90). He doubts that this seeming paradox, between the material and the spiritual, is really a contradiction. He suggests instead that monasticism directly served the cause of material progress and proposed links between monasticism and material culture that, in fact, we see many times--e.g., in the ability of monks to travel, to mill, to produce expensive books.

What makes it possible for Ovitt to arrive at his thesis? Use the New Catholic Encyclopedia to find out more about the relationship between monastic traditions of self-denial and the demonstrable success of monasticism in improvising technological change in the West. How would self-denial and technological improvement be related in our own culture?

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