A day in the life of a monk
Saint Benedict wrote that a monk should prefer nothing to the work of God - the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours. The monastic day is therefore built around set times of prayer and begins at 5.40 a.m. when the rising bell is sounded and the monks then gather in the Abbey church for the first prayers of the day, Matins, at 6.00 a.m. This is followed by a period of quiet prayer before Lauds (Morning Prayer) at 7.30 a.m. and then breakfast. The third set of prayers, Little Hour, are said at 8.45 a.m.
The rest of the morning is dedicated to work, with Conventual Mass celebrated in the Abbey church at 12.35 p.m. (9.00 a.m. outside the school term). After lunch the afternoon is devoted to Manual Labour. A period of work and spiritual reading follows in the early evening before the celebration of Vespers at 6.30 p.m. This is followed by half-an-hour of lectio divina, with supper at 7.30 p.m. Compline, or Night Prayer, is at 9.00 p.m. After Night Prayer the Summum Silentium, the Great Silence, begins and is observed throughout the monastery until Morning Prayer.