Camino Photo of the Day: Monasterio de San Salvador

Francine stands in front ofthe tiny Benedictine monastery in Rabanal. Here, with four monks, you can pray Vespers, Compline, and the Mass, often on the same day. From my journal of the previous day:

… we’d hoped to find a Mass at Rabanal, as we had been told of a 7PM Mass, but in the event it proved to be Vespers by the monks – chanted in Latin, with the reading done in Spanish, English, and German. The monks, at least two-thirds of them, are from Bavaria. One of the German monks (Brother Marcus perhaps?) stopped by the albergue about an hour before Vespers looking for readers. So of course, Francine volunteered me.

There were three of us there, given no instruction, but sitting in choir with the monks.

It felt eerily familiar, and it felt right, if that makes sense.

Vespers was beautiful, and it was followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. This, we had no fore-warning of, so there I was in the monks’ choir with two other pilgrims who had read the reading from Hebrews, each in their own language, none of us having any idea what to do.

We improvised by just standing amazed and singing what bits of O Salutaris Hostia we remembered, which as it turns out wasn’t much.

Even so, a sublime experience.

Date: 22 April 2013
Place: Rabanal del Camino (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)
Today started: Rabanal del Camino (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)