Cloister Cats. Richard Surman
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First published in Great Britain in 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright © Richard Surman
Richard Surman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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Source ISBN: 9780007232109
Ebook Edition © APRIL 2015 ISBN: 9780008144609
Version: 2015-04-09
For Blanca
Contents
Society of St Francis, Alnmouth Friary
Anglican Order of St Benedict, Alton
Anglican Order of St Benedict, Burford Priory
The Order of Preachers, Blackfriars Cambridge
Community of the Holy Name, Derby
The Community of St Mary at the Cross, Edgware
The Iona Community, Iona Abbey
Convent of the Poor Clares, Lynton
The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey
The Ty Mawr Community, Society of the Sacred Cross
The Society of Saint Margaret, Walsingham Priory
Oscar of St John’s, All Saints Convent
Cloister Cats are, on the whole, modest creatures: eschewing the high profile of Cathedral Cats, Cloister Cats do not bask in public view, neither do they get much attention from the public, for the simple reason that by the very nature of the cats’ surroundings, they are set apart.
The cloister cats featured in this book live in very distinctive surroundings: some live in monasteries with fine traditional cloisters – others are part of communities that remain entirely set apart from the outside world. Yet others live in places that only used to be monastic buildings. But for the most part they are united in the sense of being part of a community in which there is an element of religious seclusion and contemplation. The places in which they live are extraordinarily varied; from modest surroundings like St Monica’s Priory in London’s Hoxton, to the grandeur of Mottisfont and Forde Abbey, and from the rural simplicity of Holy Hill Hermitage to the antiquity of Iona: places as different as the cats who live in them.
Many of the cats featured herein are foundlings, who, like pilgrims of old seeking sanctuary, have come in need of help, shelter, food or companionship (and sometimes all four). Often the cats have chosen the communities. Others, Leo at Blackfriars in Cambridge for example, have been sought out by the community. Other cats have arrived at a community with their human companions, like Bonnie at Walsingham Priory, and Splash at the Iona Community.
Life in a religious community can be very intense. Pressures of harmonious co-existence, of following vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, all have to be dealt with. Looking in from outside, many people have a rather rosy perception of the monastic religious life, but in some ways it must be pretty tough. Maybe