References:

Donohue, V. (1962, September 14). Why Massachusetts Trappists are busy liturgical artists. The Catholic Standard and Times, p. 13. https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cst19620914-01.2.95&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22holy+rood+guild%22-ILLUSTRATION------ 

Finest pigeon-blue granite quarried at monastery for novitiate of Cistercian Order in Cumberland (1936, August 7). The Pawtucket Times, 4. https://pawtucket.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=granite&i=f&by=1936&bdd=1930&d=08071936-08071936&m=between&ord=k1&fn=pawtucket_times_usa_rhode_island_pawtucket_19360807_english_4&df=1&dt=2 

Merton, T. (1953). The sign of Jonas. Harcourt, Brace, and Company.

Michaud, G., & Aynesworth H. (1990). If You Love Me You Will Do My Will. W.W. Norton & Company. 

Mitchell, H. (1977, May 21). The monk becomes a dentist. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/05/21/the-monk-becomes-a-dentist/06740fc2-6869-4109-8ee5-a8ffbe373ec8/ 

Perata, D. (2000). The Orchards of Perseverance. St. Therese's Press.

Restinas, J. (2000, July 27). Ben Grant: Monk, cowboy, magician, dentist, sculptor. The Cranston Herald, 34. https://cranston.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&d=01011885-12312020&e=monastery,ghost&m=between&ord=e1,e2&fn=cranston_herald_usa_rhode_island_cranston_20000727_english_34&df=1&dt=9 

Schrepper, L. (1947). Pioneer monks in Nova Scotia. St. Augustine's Monastery. 

W.D.B. (1928, May 16). Art needs more of the monastic. The Providence Journal. p. 15.

The monastery attracted people from all walks of life. Professors, veterans returning to the United States from the world wars, athletes, students, businessmen... all at one point called the monastery home. Joe Toye, columnist for The Boston Traveler, visited the monastery in November of 1923 and stayed at the guest house for a time. He described his experience and the monks who lived there in an article titled "Joe Toye Learns Trappist Monks are Real Men, Thoroughly Educated, Firm in Purpose, Disciplined, Most Hospitable". Here is what he said of the monks he met:

In the yard near the monastery a bearded monk of about 50 was swinging a pick. We learned later that he had been president of a college. There is a monk there, who used to be business manager of a big department store. His employers offered him partnership, but he preferred the severity of the monastery. There is a man who was a successful silk manufacturer. There were old men, who had been parish priests, and old men who had entered the order at the age of 17 (Toye, 1923, p. 2).

As for their reasoning why they sought to pursue the monastic life, it varied widely. It is impossible to list them all here, but here is a brief list of common (and unusual) reasons: 

• After the end of WWII, all Cistercian monasteries in the United States received an influx of new novices. There are many reasons to why this was, including a huge popularity in religious books and films, and the desire to escape the chaos of modern society after the war.

• For some, like in the case of Brother Leo Gregory, came to the monastery after drifting from place to place and came to the monastery to discover a sense of meaning. (Michaud & Aynesworth, 1990)

• Fr. Maurice Malloy entered the monastery after 20 years of being an English professor at Duquesne University High School.

• Fr. Alberic Crotty (born Charles Albert Crotty) was a successful silk merchant in New York City. At the age of 40, he sold all of his possessions and joined the Cistercian Order (From the scrapbook of Fr. Joseph Conaghan and Fr. Michael Holland).

• Dr. Kenneth Simon (who became Fr. Raphael Simon) was the monastery's psychiatrist and doctor. He wrote how he came to discover Catholicism and the monastic life in his 1948 autobiography, The Glory of Thy People. An advertisement for the book can be found in The Information Magazine: the Catholic Church in American Life in the April, 1948 issue, which can be viewed on the Internet Archive. 

• Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr., AKA 'The Great Impostor', ran away from home in Lawrence, Massachusetts at the age of 16, became a novice, and assumed the name Frater Mary Jerome. He lived at the monastery for two years, but ultimately the abbot and novice master deemed him unfit to stay any longer. He later said that he had the time of his life while at the monastery (Chricton, 1959). 

In Voices of Silence, Lives of the Trappists Today (1991), author Frank Bianco visits various Cistercian monasteries in France and the United States, interviewing their inhabitants. Similarly, in Orchards of Perseverance: Conversations with Trappist Monks About God, their Lives, and the World, author David Perata (2000) interviews a group of ten monks living at the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux to gain insight as to why they have chosen the monastic lifestyle.

Ranks and Positions at Our Lady of the Valley

• Abbot: superior of an abbey, and oversees the "temporal and spiritual affairs of the whole community" (Merton, 1949, p. 359). There was only one abbot during the time of Our Lady of the Valley, Edmund Futterer, who was elected abbot in 1945. 

• Prior: the acting superior of a monastery that does not have an abbot, or the superior of a monastery with "more reduced numbers or limited means" (Bertonière, 2005, p. xxiv). The previous priors of Our Lady of the Valley were Dom John Mary Murphy (from 1900 to 1913) and Dom John O'Connor (from 1914 to 1943). 

• Cellarer: responsible for a variety of duties, but mostly oversees the "materialities" (Bertonière, 2005, p. xxiv) and provisions of the monastery. For example, past cellarers at Our Lady of the Valley constructed new buildings, oversaw the dairy operation, and renovated the old 1902 building (Bertonière, 2005). Appointed by the abbot. 

• Novice Master: in charge of overseeing the novices.  

• Guest Master: responsible for welcoming and taking care of visitors to the monastery's guest house via the Porter's Lodge. 

• Infirmarian: in charge of the monastery's infirmary, and took care of ill or infirm members of the community

• Postulant: new candidates to the Cistercian Order. "Follows the community in all regular exercises" for one month, and if accepted, becomes a novice (Futterer, 1947, p. 32). 

• Novice: Following a period of two years as a novice, a community vote would take place. If accepted, the novice would then take his first vows (Futterer, 1947). He would then take on a period of religious study. 

• Lay Brother: a professed member of the community, who supports the monastery by performing physical labor. Examples include "the care of the household, the work of the farm, the raising of stock, [or] the cultivation of the garden" (Futterer, 1947, p. 24). 

• Choir Monk: a professed member of the community who "sing[s] the divine office" (Futterer, 1947, p. 24). Receives the title of Frater instead of Brother (Bertonière, 2005, p. xxv). They wear white habits (see below). 

• Family/Household Brother: someone who lives at the monastery, does not follows the Rule of St. Benedict, and does not take religious vows. They also do not wear a habit. "They simply bestow their labor on the Order, and in return are made sharers in the prayers and merits of the community" (Murphy, 1905, p. 68). 

• Oblate: someone who follows the Rule of St. Benedict and wears a "modified habit" (Murphy, 1905, p. 68). However, they do not take religious vows and are able to leave whenever they like. 

Everyone slept in one dormitory hall in small 'cells' that were divided by a thin wooden wall and a curtain, with the exception of the sick and the "aged or infirm" (Levesque, 1986). For those who snored, a sound-proof room was provided. Beds were extremely simple, nothing more than "plain boards supporting narrow single mattresses of straw filling" (Murphy, 1905, p. 57). In the summer, repose was 7 PM, while in the winter it was 8 PM. They rose at 2 AM every day for Matins, and during the day, there was allotted time for a 1 hour rest.

The monks were strict vegetarians, and could not eat meat or fish. There was an exception, however, for those who were sick in the infirmary, who were allowed to eat meat. 

The ordinary food of the monks consist of bread, vegetables and fruits of all kinds, cereals, and the products of the dairy. Eggs may be served in the refectory, but as a supplementary dish, and only to those who may have a special need. The food may also be seasoned with oil or butter (Futterer, 1947, p. 22). 

In the morning, tea or coffee was served, along with bread. There were two dishes that were served at dinner, and fruit was eaten for dessert. This contrasted wildly from what the guests of the monastery were served. 

In the refectory, “readings from the sacred scriptures, the lives of saints, and other religious writings accompan[ied] the meal” (Loveridge & Scheer, 1944, p. 2).

The monks at Our Lady of the Valley, in keeping with the Benedictine Rule, were not permitted to speak unless absolutely necessary. However, there were some exceptions to this rule:

1. "Silence could be broken if one were in need of asking for something that required the use of speech" (Barakat, 1975, p. 15). Incredibly, however, during the 1950 fire, "some [monks] tried to communicate in sign language or in a subdued whisper" (Bertonière, 2005, p. 336)! 

2. Speech was permitted when the whole community gathered together. The Chapter Room (depicted above) was used for this purpose, as it was where the monastic community assembled each morning and evening to impart news and air grievances. 

3. Monks were always allowed to speak to their superiors, and public-facing positions, such as the Guest Master and the Cellarer were allowed to speak.

To communicate during day to day life, a sign language was used. Interestingly, each monastery has invented their own signs that supplement any that are included in the official list, and some signs have risen and fallen out of use to reflect the passage of time. For example, words such as sickle or shoemaker have fallen out of use, while words such as computer or bulldozer were invented more recently. 

For a dictionary of signs that were used by the monks at Spencer Abbey in the 1970s, (signs most likely have changed since then) see Cistercian Sign Language: A Study in Non-Verbal Communication, by Robert A. Barakat. It is available on the Internet Archive, or at the library in the Rhode Island Room (non circulating). 

Manual Labor is one of the main tenents of the Benedictine Rule that "every religious should secure his living by his own labor. The universal decree of the creator is here fully recognized– ‘that man must live by the sweat of his face’" (Murphy, 1905, p. 48). Additionally, manual labor was considered to be a penance as well as a prayer. The duration of work depends on a monk's position. For choir members, it is 3 to 5 hours per day, while lay brothers had to work 8 hours per day. 

Main duties mostly included field work, (as agriculture was considered to be a specialty of the Cistercians) (Murphy, 1905), general upkeep of the monastery's buildings and church altars, and other household duties. While some came to the monastery with specialized skills (for example, Brother Leonard O'Dowd was an electrical engineer who regularly inspected the wiring on monastery buildings, Brother Hugh was a civil engineer, Fr. Benedict was a trained mason who cemented the stones on the Nine Men's Misery cairn, Br. Dominic was trained in animal husbandry and was in charge of the monastery's dairy, and Br. Blaise Drayton once was an interior designer who furnished the new Spencer Abbey), "all are expected to take part in the field work whenever called upon" (Murphy, 1905, p. 61). 

One of the first 'facts' I remember learning about the Cistercian Order was that the monks dug their own graves and even slept in their own coffins. I later found out that this is in fact a myth! 

Interestingly, this myth is mentioned as far back as 1896, when an article published in The Providence Journal describes a visit to the Abbey of Oka in Oka, Québec, Canada. In describing the lifestyle of those belonging to the Cistercian Order, the author writes

Between the Brotherhood signs pass for language, except when comes the ever-ready salutation of greeting, ''Memento Mori!' 'Remember death!'... When a monk dies he is buried in the cemetery attached to each monastery in a grave already dug... This was one of the rules of de Rancé, who further planned that each monk should spend some time each evening digging his own grave, and should sleep on straw in his own coffin ("The Silent Monks", 1896, p. 12). 

The "de Rancé" the author spoke of was Rev. Père Dom Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé, abbot of La Trappe and the founder of the Trappists. While he did introduce strict reforms to the Cistercian Order, digging and then sleeping in one's grave was not one of them (de Rancé, 1878). In fact, in Règlement de la Trappe du Révérend Père Dom Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé, which lays out the rules of La Trappe under Dom Armand, multiple chapters are devoted to funerary procedures. In fact, this quote:

Le même jour, le cellérier charge quelques frères convers de faire la fosse, et il leur indique l'endroit où ils doivent la creuser. Elle doit être suffisamment large et longue, et avoir deux mètres de profondeur. En la creusant, les frères jettent la terre assez loin du bord pour qu'on puisse circuler autour (de Rancé, 1878, p. 218)

disproves this claim entirely, by stating that "on the same day (of the death), the cellarer tasks some brothers with digging the grave, and he tells them where to dig it" (translated from above). 

The dissemination of this myth continued into the early 20th century with the publication of one of the earliest articles written about Our Lady of the Valley. It was published in The Providence Journal on March 4th, 1900, and the author sought to educate residents about the then little well known Cistercian Order whose members would soon be building a new monastery in Cumberland. The article starts out innocuously enough, until "...This was one of the rules of the founder of the Order, who further planned that each monk should spend some time each evening digging his own grave, and should sleep on straw in his own coffin" ("Local Monasteries", 1900, p. 11). It is important to mention that the original text of St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries can be viewed online, and it is not mentioned anywhere.

Interestingly, in a later article published in The Pawtucket Times, on March 27th, 1937, it again addresses this misconception, which apparently was "erroneously expressed some months ago by a radio orator" ("Trappist Monks Rejoice", 1937, p. 3). The author writes, 

Trappists do not dig their own graves as many believe. True, they do not fear death but look upon it as the beginning of their real life. But their life is far too active to be given to such a task as digging their graves. When the time comes that they depart this life the task is done by the members of the community duly appointed by the prior ("Trappist Monks Rejoice", 1937, p. 3)

It would be interesting to know who said radio orator was.

Thanks to the efforts of Fr. Joseph Conaghan (1853-1926) and Fr. Michael Holland (1889-1967), we have a clear look into what the funeral and mourning practices at Our Lady of the Valley looked like. They created a scrapbook filled with correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, and illustrations that documented the lives (and deaths) of the monks of the Valley, including 

1. Br. Aloysius Van Enschot (d. 1902)

2. Fr. John Mary Murphy (d. 1913)

3. Br. Michael McCool (d. 1913)

4. Fr. Augustine Herran (d. 1917)

5. Br. Sylvester Deagan (d. 1918)

6. Fr. Stephen Ahearn (d. 1923)

7. Br. Francis Fitzpatrick (d. 1925)

8. Br. John Mary Ryan (d. 1926)

9. Br. Joseph Gilmartin (d. 1926)

10. Fr. Joseph Conaghan (d. 1926)

11. Fr. Francis Xavier Mulligan (d. 1929)

12. Fr. Bernard Demers (d. 1930)

13. Fr. Aloysius Connelly (d. 1932)

14. Fr. Remi Baron (d. 1934)

15. Fr. Alberic Crotty (d. 1935)

16. Br. Leo Beale (d. 1936)

17. Fr. Kevin Cafferty (d. 1941)