Camaldolese settling back in

The prior of the hermitage in Big Sur, Father Raniero, came up to Berkeley on Monday, as the other monks hosted by the Franciscan sisters at Soquel headed back down the coast to Big Sur. We also welcomed the abbot of the Camaldolese, Bernardino Cozzarini, arriving at SFO with his assistant Ivan Nicoletto, in California on visit to our two monasteries. Our constitutions require these visits or “visitations” of our communities in the months leading up to our chapters, held every three years. This year’s chapter is a mid-term meeting, a bit less formal and with no elections. But in any case, the climate is always more fraternal than formal, given the generally smaller communities we have, compared with other Benedictines.

Raniero filled us in on the Big Sur monks’ stay at Saint Clare’s Retreat in the Soquel redwood forest. They did have opportunities to work in the kitchen, especially on the days when the sisters’ regular cook was off duty, and they also washed dishes and pans and laundered sheets and towels. Raniero’s fifty-ninth birthday fell in the middle of last week, and was duly observed with a turkey (a rarity for the usually vegetarian monks) and a cake. But they were eager to return to the hermitage, grateful for the firefighters and the brothers who stayed back to watch over the place. Raniero, Bernardino, and Ivan left Berkeley for Big Sur this morning.

[The photo shows Prior Raniero with friends at the Big Sur hermitage.]