The Guest House (1902 Building)

Construction

• Building designed by Providence based architects Ambrose Murphy and Franklin Hindle (a sketch of which can be seen below).

• Construction contract was given to a D.J. Shea of Valley Falls ("A Guest House", 1902).

• Work began March of 1902, and the monks moved in to the completed building on January 1st, 1903. A dedicational mass was held on March 21st, 1903 (Bertonière, 2005). 

• The 3 story building was constructed out of wood, yet the façade was made out of granite and field stone excavated from the monastery property. The fire of 1950 started in this building, and unfortunately, it was a known fire hazard and was supposed to have been demolished (L. Bourget, personal communication, n.d.) and replaced with a much larger guest house, the plans of which can be seen below (Our Lady of the Valley, 1933). Those plans never came into fruition.

• The basement was renovated in 1944, to "improve the food services of the monastery" by moving the monks' kitchen near the guest kitchen and expanding the vegetable scullery (Bertonière, 2005, p. 282).

• Destroyed in the 1950 fire and demolished

Layout

This building housed both members of the community and guests until the construction of later buildings: the church (1928), the west wing (1931), and the novitiate building (1937). The original building was said to be very cramped and loud due to the close proximity of guests. 

According to Fr. Laurence Bourget, in his descriptions of the photographs taken by Edwin B. McDermott, (which can be viewed here) 

[The Guest House building], besides the Porter’s Lodge, [was] the main entrance to the monastery. A large lobby was just inside the double doors seen at the head of the cement stairs leading up to the wooden porch-veranda. 

Besides this lobby, the main floor contained on the left two guest parlors and the guests’ dining-room and pantry. A wooden staircase led from the lobby to the second floor of the guesthouse and continued on to the third floor occupied by the monks.

To the right of the lobby, and within the monastery proper, was the office of the abbot’s secretary and his archives, the laybrothers’ chapter-room (until 1928 the monastic chapel), and a small dormitory for senior laybrothers in the shingled, wooden addition at the extreme right. Along the entire west side of this wing ran the cloister.

The second floor contained, from left to right, some ten private rooms for guests and/or retreatants and, within the monastic enclosure, the laybrothers’ novitiate and monastic library.

The entire top floor contained sleeping accommodations for about sixty monks.

The full basement running under the entire wing contained the guests’ kitchen and a meatless one for the monks, the bread-oven, the shoe-making and repairing shop, and the storerooms (L. Bourget, personal communication, n.d.). 

Guest Experiences

"The world has no kinder men than these monks. A visitor may spend several nights at their monastery and receive the best food and treatment that the Trappists can afford. Moreover, he can leave without being requested to pay a single cent for his board and lodging. That's hospitality carried to the highest degree" ("Trappist Monks Are", 1927, p. 8). 

Receiving guests has been a monastic tradition for centuries, and the Cistercian Order in particular was known for their hospitality. 

Upon arrival to the monastery, guests were welcomed by the Guest Master at the Porter's Lodge, where they were then shown to their rooms. From that point onward, the Guest Master would (according to a visitor's account from 1923), attend to the guests' every need: "he made our beds and served our food and washed our dishes and brought us water and towels" (Toye, 1923, p. 2). Guests were then free to follow the schedule of the rest of the community, if they so wished, and they were allowed to attend religious services (some chose to attend the 2 A.M. mass). 

Guests were reportedly served "bounteous" meals, and the portions were so large that "there was no such thing as a second helping, the first helping was so large that nobody could have asked for more" ("Trappist Monks Gladly", 1927, p. 8). From different visitors' accounts, some of the meals included: salmon, french toast, coffee, rhubarb, and vegetables ("Trappist Monks Gladly, 1927, p. 8); bean soup, roast beef and mashed potatoes, bread and butter, pears, tea, and whole milk from the monastery's herd of 50 cows" ("Impressions of", 1925, p. 16); "roasts of meat, perhaps a tender chicken, with eggs and pastry" ("Cumberland Monks Lay, 1925, p. F5); "two vegetable dishes... also ducks' eggs, bread, butter, and coffee (Allen, 1923), or "fruit cocktail, soup, salad, roast turkey, two kinds of vegetables, white bread, coffee, ginger ale, ice cream, and cake ("From the Monastery", n.d.). 

Amenities included (in the 1920s) "soft downy beds" ("Trappist Monks Gladly, 1927, p. 8), in large completely furnished rooms ("Cumberland Monks Lay", 1925, p. F5) central heating, two fireplaces on the first floor and two more on the second floor (one of which was double sided, so it could heat two rooms at once), two lavatories, and even a bathtub on the second floor, to the apparent delight of the visiting Abbot of l'Abbaye Notre Dame de Bellefontaine, Dom Chouteau (Bertonière, 2005, p. 211). 

An Urban Legend

A popular urban legend was that Bing Crosby stayed at the guest house for a time during the 1940s (Diehl, 1991). However, according to Fr. Laurence Bourget, who lived at the monastery at the time, "if Mr. Crosby was present, I didn't see him"! (L. Bourget, personal communication, as cited in Franko, 2003). 

The Church 

Construction

• Groundbreaking April 7, 1924, cornerstone laid July 6, 1925. Interestingly, an article in the Providence Journal describes how a time capsule was sealed inside the cornerstone. 

• Plans designed by Samuel Morino with aid from Fr. Michael, who "envisaged... [the church] years before the first stone... was taken" ("Dream of Cumberland, 1927, p. 10). The layout of the church was inspired by the European monasteries that Dom John O'Connor visited during his travels. 

• Fr. Michael "directed the artisans and outside contractor's employees" ("Dream of Cumberland, 1927, p. 10). 

• The church was made of pigeon blue granite excavated from the quarry on the grounds. Incredibly, 18,000 feet of granite blocks were excavated over the course of 22 weeks ("Dream of Cumberland, 1927, p. 10). 

• The church cost about $200,000 to construct- an equivalent of $3.5 million in today's money!

• Dedicated November 21, 1928 by the Bishop of Providence, William Hickey ("Church Recently Completed, 1928)

Layout and Interior

The interior of the church was divided into two sections: one for members of the monastic community and the other for outside visitors. There were three different entrances to the church, the main entrance for visitors was below the large front window (which can be seen below in the third postcard on the top row), while the monks entered via a smaller, narrower flight of stairs. A third, spiral staircase led to the visitor's gallery balcony, which held 200 people. The spiral staircase did not survive the fire, but the other two flights of stairs can still be seen on the property today (though they now lead to nowhere). The main entrance led to a vestibule, where a rood screen separated the public from the monks ("Dream of Cumberland", 1927, p. 10).  The large window and the rood screen can be seen below in the first Edwin B. McDermott photograph in the image carousel. 

The rest of the chapel nave was divided by a bridge like structure called a jube. "It served as an elevated platform from which lessons were read during certain services" (Bertonière, 2005, p. 251) and divided the choir monks' stalls from the laybrothers' stalls. The jube and laybrothers' choir stalls are pictured in the first photograph in the image carousel below, along with a small glimpse of the rood screen behind the jube. 

The transept divided the nave from the sanctuary altar. The bell tower was situated directly above the transept, and two bell ropes hung down to the floor. "This was the scene of a picturesque, albeit unitentional 'dance' by the two monks who rang the bells at the beginning of Offices" (Bertonière, 2005, p. 255). 

The altar lay beyond the transept, and was made out of a "wrought gray Carrara marble" ("Dream of Cumberland, 1927, p. 10). Interestingly, to the right of the altar was the 'infirm balcony', which connected the church to the third floor infirmary. From there, those who were in the infirmary could participate in mass. 

Along the sides of the church lay the ambulatory, which was filled with a series of smaller altars dedicated to certain religious figures. In 1942, when these photographs were taken, these altars were dedicated to Saint Patrick, Saint Alberic, and the Blessed Virgin, Star of the Sea (Bourget, personal communication, n.d.). These altars, which survived the fire of Petit Clairvaux, can be seen in the second photograph in the image carousel. 

The interior of the building was finished in plaster and scored to resemble Caen Stone blocks. The floor was a "light pine that was kept highly waxed" (Bourget, personal communication, n.d.). Cast plaster details lined the arched ceiling, and all wooden details were carved out of a "light-finish honey colored gum wood" (Bourget, personal communication, n.d.).  

Planned Renovations

After WWII, there was a flood of new novices at the monastery, and there simply was not enough room to house them all. To remedy this, a loan of $100,000 (about $1.5 million in today's money) was taken out to construct a new guest house and expand the existing church building. The architect chosen was Monsignor John C. Hawes, also known as Father Jerome, who was living in exile on Cat Island in the Bahamas. 

In 1946, Dom Futterer and Father Alberic flew to Nassau, with the goal of "altering & extending their Abbey Church- to 200 feet long- stalls for their monks and 64 lay brothers- also a new guesthouse with 60 rooms- each pair having a bathroom & W.C.- exterior of grey granite" (Hawes, 1944, as cited in Taylor, 2000, p. 340). 

At first, the plan was to "extend [the church] to the east, and to build an entirely new monastery south of the old one, which itself would now become the guesthouse” (Bertonière, 2005, p. 295). Inside the church, plans were developed to "make the monk’s choir into the public nave, use the nave as the Lay Brothers’ choir, and add a new, very much loftier monks’ choir. The design called for eleven side altars, five of them around an ambulatory behind the high altar" (Anson, 1957, p. 232).  

In consultation with local architect Samuel Morino, it was determined that these plans were too ambitious. Alterations were made, and the final plan was 

...Instead of a new church a sixty-room guest house would be built to the south of the church. This would be linked to the church by a cloister-like area. The church itself would be lengthened to 200 feet, providing stalls for 130 monks and sixty-five lay brothers. The extensive renovation of the church still involved reversing its existing plan. The monks’ choir would become the space for visitors, the laybrothers’ choir would occupy the remaining portion of the church, and a new, elevated choir for the monks would be constructed beyond the existing eastern end of the church, which itself would receive a splendid new facade. The new interior was to be provided with ‘eleven side altars, five of them around an ambulatory behind the high altar..." (Bertonière, 2005, pp. 298-299). 

This massive project was never completed, as it was determined to have been beyond the monastery's means at the time. Only one architectural sketch by Fr. Jerome of what the completed structure would have looked like has survived:

The Sacristy

...off the right transept of the church, with the vestments and altar missals prepared for the following day’s private masses. These leather-bound and brass-mounted Missals also came from the Order’s printery at Westmalle in Belgium. As to the vestment cases, presses, and closets, these were constructed according to the monks’ designs from various hardwoods salvaged from the Providence County Courthouse when this was demolished in the late twenties. Some of these vestment cases are still in use at Spencer. The polychromed escutcheons on the far wall of the sacristy display the coat-of-arms of Bishops and Abbots who were friends of the Community. Thus, for example, at the extreme right are the arms of the Archbishop, later Cardinal, Spellman of New York (Laurence Bourget, personal communication, n.d.). 

The Chapter Room

In this large room the Community assembled each morning and evening. It also served as the Scriptorium (common-room) where the solemnly professed monks (two of whom can be seen here) did their reading, studying and writing. Here again the photo greatly diminishes, optically, the length of this chapter-room which is now the conference-room of the Public Library. This especially applies to the far end of the room where the chairs occupied by the Superiors are located. The Estey Organ..., seen in this photo, in readiness for a singing rehearsal which were held at least weekly. Between the windows can be seen the framed portraits of successive Abbots General of the Order on the left, and, on the right, those of the Abbots who conducted the annual Canonical Visitations (inspections) of the community. The paneling behind the dais came from the old Providence County Courthouse; the same material went into the two long library tables at which the monks are seated. The lectern (book stand) between the tables is a relic of the transfer of the Community from Nova Scotia in 1900 and survived the 1950 fire. It is only of recent years that the use of backless stools is no longer de rigeur!  (Laurence Bourget, personal communication, n.d.)

The top floor of the West Wing was taken up entirely by the infirmary, which was "fully equipped with sick rooms, dispensary, [an] x-ray room, refectory, common room, and chapel" (Bourget, n.d., personal communication). In an article published in The Pawtucket Times, Fr. Tarcisius wrote "amongst its features of interest, close to if not the foremost is the high-voltage x-ray machine and fluoroscope. Monks trained for it 'snap' and develop x-ray plates obviating the need of the bretheren leaving the monastery to seek this service elsewhere... In line with this an operating room has recently been set in functioning order at the monastery..." (Father Tarcisius, 1949, p. 10). 

This building survived the 1950 fire and now is a part of the Cumberland Public Library.

The Novitiate (1937)

• Groundbreaking took place on March 25, 1936, and the choir novices moved in April 5, 1937

• The building was dedicated to the memory of Frederick J. Quinn, the son of Thomas J. Quinn. Thomas was a contractor from Cumberland, who was a noted benefactor of the community ("Trappist Monks Rejoice", 1937, p. 3).

The new building was greatly needed, as moving various facilities to the new building freed up space in the basement of the church building and the 1902 building. The Novitiate had three floors. The washing and changing rooms along with various workshops were located on the first floor. The novices' common room, the Father Master's office, and the chapel (which can be seen below in the first photograph in the second row) were on the second floor. The entirety of the third floor was taken up by the dormitory, which was a series of 24 wooden cells. 

The Novices' Common Room and Scriptorium

From Fr. Laurence: 

This bright common-room in the novitiate building contained a pair of wooden library tables from a gentleman farmer’s horse barn in South County, Rhode Island and are still rendering good service at Spencer. The oak ‘throne chair’ under the crucifix was one of three donated in the early 1900s by the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Francis Xavier Academy in Providence. It would be occupied by the Novice Master when giving his thrice-weekly ‘repetitions’-conferences- to his novices (personal communication, n.d.). 

The Chapel

As described by Fr. Laurence,

This chapel, part of the novitiate wing completed in 1937, was for the use of the choir novices, and like the monastic church itself, underwent successive liturgical and artistic renovations. Here the altar, now reduced to a simple table, echoes the simplification effected elsewhere. The four brass candlesticks are relics from Nova Scotia and are now in Spencer. 

The Novitiate Building survived the 1950 fire, and today holds the Office of Children, Youth, and Learning. 

The Porter's Lodge (1937)

• Last major building constructed on the property

• Again, the building was designed by Samuel Morino

• The large wooden doors of the Porter's Lodge, measuring 10' x 12', were taken from the old Superior Courthouse in Providence ("Portals at Monastery", 1937, p. 3). 

• The building survived the fire and can still be seen on the property today, though it is unfortunately closed to the public. 

Here is a description of the building written by Fr. Laurence Bourget:

Over the central Gothic archway is a niche which then contained a cast-stone statue, now at Spencer, of Saint Benedict. Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-543) wrote the Benedictine Rule which is strictly followed by Cistercian Monks, more popularly known as Trappists. Under the niche was a cast-stone tablet with the inscription: PAX INTRANTIBUS (Peace to those who enter) and MONASTERY OF OUR LADY OF THE VALLEY- CISTERCIANS OF THE STRICT OBSERVANCE. This inscription was effaced by the Friars of the Atonement when they became the new occupants. The door to the right of the archway led to the Gift Shop where books and religious articles were on sale, and to accommodations for the Brother Porters. The door to the left opened on to a corridor giving access to three guest parlors (L. Bourget, personal communication, n.d.). 

The Laundry Building (1944)

Constructed in 1944 by Br. Leo Gregory (who was at the time serving as the Monastery's cellarer). To save money, the building was constructed using cinderblocks and without the use of formal architectural drawings. During construction, an explosion shattered the church's windows "as the monks were chanting Vespers, to the consternation of Dom Edmund and the monks, who came running out to see what had happened" (Bertoniere, 2005, p. 284). 

Despite the questionable construction, the laundry building ended up surviving the fire of March 21, 1950, and another fire the following day on March 22nd. The fire was discovered by Br. Philip, who was returning from tending to the monastery's herd of cows. Upon entering the building, he saw that the boiler was malfunctioning and glowing "white with heat" (Bertoniere, 2005, p. 342). He quickly disconnected the power, saving the life of Br. Placid who was somehow asleep inside. 

References:

A guest house: Contract awarded for building for the Trappist Fathers (1902, January 25). The Providence Journal, 4. 

Allen, H.A. (1923). A week-end vigil with the Trappists. The Month, 166(707), 394-403. https://archive.org/details/month_n7070149unse/page/394/mode/2up 

Anson, P.F. (1957). The hermit of Cat Island: The life of Fra Jerome Hawes. P.J. Kennedy & Sons. https://archive.org/details/hermitofcatislan000028mbp/page/n7/mode/2up 

Chenot, R.M. (1969). The History of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley. 

Church recently completed at the Cistercian Monastery in Cumberland is dedicated by high church officials (1928, November 22). The Providence Journal, 3. 

Cumberland monks lay chapel cornerstone to-day. (1925, July 5). The Providence Journal, F5.

Diehl, C. (1991, May 13). Senior center plan evoked memories. The Cumberland Evening Times, 14. 

Dream of Cumberland monks is on eve of full realization. (1927, March 20). The Providence Journal, 10. 

Father Tarcisius. (1949, February 9). The machine age serves the monastic age at Cumberland Abbey. The Pawtucket Times. https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&d=01011825-12311972&e=machine%20age%20serves&m=between&ord=e1&fn=the_pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19490209_english_10&df=1&dt=1 

Franko, V. (2003). Nine men's misery part two: the historical research. http://www.bucklinsociety.net/pdf/NINEMENresearch.pdf 

From the Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley (n.d.). [Newspaper clipping]. 

Impressions of monastery life (1925, July 11). The Providence Journal, 16. 

Merton, T. (1949). The waters of siloe. Harcourt, Brace and Company. 

Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley. (1933). Floor plans of completed buildings and proposed additions to the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley, Valley Falls, RI. Providence Visitor Press. 

Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley (1938). Cistercian Monks of the Strict Observance. E.L. Grimes Printing Co. 

Portals at monastery open for first time to admit prior (1937, October 8). The Pawtucket Times, 3. https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=monastery%20construction&i=f&d=01011930-12311940&m=between&ord=k1&fn=pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19371008_english_3&df=1&dt=10 

Taylor, J. J. (2000). Between devotion and design: The architecture of John Cyril Hawes 1876-1956. University of Western Australia Press. https://archive.org/details/betweendevotiond0000tayl/mode/2up 

Thomason, R. J. A. (2015). Hospitality in a cistercian abbey: The case of kirkstall in the later middle ages [Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds]. White Rose eTheses Online. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13442/1/Thomason_RJA_Hospitality_in_a_Cistercian_Abbey_Medieval_Studies_PhD_2015_Vol._1.pdf 

Trappist monks are to dedicate new chapel at Easter (1927, February 26). The Pawtucket Times, 8.  https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=monastery&i=f&d=01011900-12311933&m=between&ord=k1&fn=pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19270226_english_8&df=1&dt=10 

Trappist monks gladly give up worldly pleasures to devote lives to god (1927, February 26). The Pawtucket Times, 8. https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=monastery&i=f&d=01011900-12311933&m=between&ord=k1&fn=pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19270226_english_8&df=1&dt=10 

Trappist monks rejoice on completion of new house for novices (1937, March 27). The Pawtucket Times, 3. https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&d=01011825-12311976&e=trappist%20monks&m=between&ord=e1&fn=pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19370327_english_3&df=1&dt=6 

Trappist monks shown silently laboring in quarry at Cumberland Monastery drilling stone for new chapel under construction (1925, July 11). The Providence Journal, 16. 

Buildings and Grounds Today

Unfortunately, not much remains of the old monastery. The 1902 building, which was the source of the fire, was almost completely destroyed and was demolished on March 26th, 1950. Most of the chapel was destroyed, and the parts of the building that did survive sustained too much smoke and water damage and were deemed unsafe to re-inhabit. "The Gothic Structure, according to a spokesman for the Very Rev. Dom Edmund F. Futterer, O.C.S.O., will be razed to a point three feet above the first floor" ("Abbey's Blackened Walls", 1950, p. 17). 

The Porter's lodge, the 1931 Chapter Building, and the 1937 Novitiate Buildings are virtually the only buildings that are still standing on the grounds today. The Porter's Lodge is closed to the public, the Novitiate Building today holds the Office of Children, Youth, and Learning, and the 1931 Chapter Building is now a part of the Cumberland Public Library. The 2nd floor hallway of the Chapter Building looks virtually the same as it did when the monks occupied the building (see below). The Chapter Room has been converted to be a large meeting room called the Community Room, and the walls that once held the stations of the cross now hold artwork created by community artists. 

The staircases to the church building survived, but now lead to nowhere. On the walking trails behind the library, one can still see some abandoned stone carvings (see below) in the remnants of the monks' quarry.

References:

Abbey's blackened walls to be razed. (1950, March 28). The Providence Journal, 17. 

Bertonière, G. (2005). Through faith and fire: the monks of Spencer 1825-1958. Yorkville Press.

Futterer, E. (1947). The Cistercian Monks of the Strict Observance. Abbey of Our Lady of the Valley. 

Murphy, J. M. (1905). The Cistercian Order: Its object- its rule. The Riverside Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=aYsxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false