“Let it be put into effect everywhere”

From the monastic choir Psalter at New Melleray Abbey, Peosta, Iowa

For more than 60 years, a man in Iowa has watched a tree grow up outside his window. Beginning in the late 1950s, when the man was a novice at the Trappist abbey of New Melleray and the tree was a sapling, both man and tree have grown to full stature in relative anonymity away from the public eye. Each day, both man and tree grew in imperceptible increments that flow into one another, yet when viewed over the course of decades, the growth is undeniable.

Beyond the now mature tree, when viewed from the window of the man’s office, one can see a field of uniform black iron crosses that mark the graves of the deceased brothers of the community, dating back to its founding in the mid-1800s.

“The Rule of Saint Benedict describes the monastery as ‘a school of the Lord’s service,’” the man says, “so these are our graduates. The iron cross is their diploma.”

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This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the documentary Into Great Silence, which depicts the daily lives of the Carthusian monks of le grand Chartreuse, high in the French Alps. To the surprise of many, the nearly three-hour movie