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Chapter 4: A Day in the Life of the Monks

(Written by 4th Class Bunclody National School)

Hello, my name is Brother James. I live in a beautiful monastery in Wexford. Every morning we get up early to feed our herds of goats and cattle, and our sheep.

Brother Cormac milks the cows while Brother Paul looks for some stray sheep up the hills. When we have finished our morning chores we go to Mass and say our prayers.

It is also our job to provide the food for our evening meal. Brother Kevin is very proud of his herb garden. We use the herbs to make soup and medicines to cure the sick monks and some people from the villages around the monastery. Brother Paul goes to the nearby field to dig vegetables while Brother Cormac and I go fishing to the river. One hour later we arrive home with a dozen fish. Brother Paul has two bags of vegetables. We deliver all the food to the cooks in the kitchen and we eat our evening meal in the refectory. It is getting late now so we all go to our own cells now for a well earned rest.

An account from a monk who works in the forge.
I have just awoken to the call of the rooster. Better go and start making ornaments. That's my job in the forge. Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Brother Kevin. I am a goldsmith and I mage golden chalices, ornaments and croziers. We make tools for the monks to repair things. We work very hard in the forge and it is very strict also. The things we make are very valuable so we keep them in the church. We have to fit a lot of things into our day and we fast a lot also. We work very hard in the forge and we try our best to make the most beautiful ornaments that anyone could ever make.

We go to the church every morning to pray and afterwards we visit the graveyard. Better go and work harder or I will get into trouble for not following rules of the monastery.