A flourishing, ecumenical, male and female monastic community in the northern Italian village of Bose offers the Church a model of how to integrate an uplifting spiritual rhythm with a busy daily work routine, a community life and hospitality to visitors. Joseph Grech was recently one such guest.

My alarm rang at 5.30am. I dragged myself out of bed, dressed quickly and ventured out in the cold, semi-darkness and drizzle. As I made my way to the modern church of the monastery in Bose, Italy, the church bells began ringing incessantly, calling the community of male and female monks and their guests for the liturgical celebration.

I and some 40 other visitors from Malta were staying at the monastery for six days as part of a group organised by the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) Oratory in Birkirkara, led by Fr Martin Cilia. Sitting in the dimly lit church with just a solitary candle alight near the tabernacle, I could make out the silhouettes of several members of our group as well as other visitors who had also managed to wake up on time.

The first monk, dressed in the community’s cream-coloured hooded gown, climbed up a flight of side stairs. He lit a wick from the candle and proceeded to light a series of other candles all around the altar and ambo. One by one the other 60 or so monks filed in. They bowed before the altar and took their places on either side, the men on the left, the women on the right, and reflected in silence.

The last monks arrived just in time before the bells stopped ringing and the lights turned up. The monks started singing in Italian the hymns and psalms that make up the perfectly choreographed half-hour liturgical celebrations that mark life at the monastery every day at 6am, 12.30 and 6.30pm. The male and female monks alternate singing verses. Occasionally a solitary male and female monk will sing solo parts. In between the beautifully sung hymns and psalms, a monk will read the Biblical reading of the day or an excerpt from some other spiritual book.

The celebration ended with the Benedictus, and we emerged ready to face a new day, our souls refreshed. The monks disappeared down the stairs, quickly removed their gowns and started their working day. We visitors proceeded to a large dining room for a simple breakfast – a bowl of coffee and slices of home-made bread baked by the monks with jam produced from the monastery’s garden.

The monks each have 8am to 5pm jobs – the manual workers in workshops in the monastery grounds – growing fruit and vegetables, making artisanal pasta, icons, crosses, candles, ceramics, pottery and other items sold in the monastery’s souvenir shop; some conduct scholarly research or write books; a few are doctors working outside the community. The money earned from the monks’ work and from hosting guests helps the monastery be financially self-sustaining. There is a weekly roster for tasks such as cooking lunch or dinner, washing dishes, cleaning guest rooms and manning the reception desk.

But thanks to the daily rhythm of liturgical celebrations all the monastics are reminded that their respective jobs and tasks are a service for a long-term goal. Br Matteo Nicolini-Zani, who serves in the monastery’s publishing house, tells me: “The fact that we live by a Rule and our day is strictly scheduled is a tool to guide us, to help us remember the main focus of our life, and not get lost in our daily occupations. The regularity helps us to remain faithful to our vocation.”

He added that by integrating their spiritual and working lives with living as a community and welcoming guests, the monks offer a model for all Christians seeking to integrate all aspects of their life. “Monastic life offers insights on how to live as a true Christian. It’s not just attending Mass or obeying moral duties; faith transforms one’s whole life.”

In Bose Monastery’s church.

Monastic life offers insights on how to live as a true Christian

He remarked that if people are skipping Mass because they find it boring, it is good to be questioned by this. “A Christian life should not be boring,” he stressed.

Nor should a Christian life be individualistic; so besides sharing their lives within a community, offering hospitality to visitors plays a major part of the monks’ vocation at Bose Monastery, which has about 80 comfortable bedrooms and can accommodate up to about 120 guests. The bedrooms are spacious, each equipped with showers, temperature-controlled radiators, double-glazed windows, a balcony and solid wood furniture. In fact, the only obvious differences from a hotel room is the absence of a television and mini bar. The whole monastery grounds are also covered by internet Wi-Fi.

There is growing demand from guests wishing to spend time at the monastery, which is often fully booked. Asked whether there are plans to expand the accommodation further, Br Matteo said: “Maintaining the spirit and quality of our hospitality is more important to us than increasing the number of guests. Having more guests could overwhelm the community and hinder the personal encounters between the guests and monks,” he stressed. The monastery even stops hosting guests completely for some weeks during the year. This enables the community not only to undertake periodic maintenance of the buildings but also allows the monks to dedicate more time to personal reflection and the inter-community spirit.

Caring for the surrounding countryside’s natural beauty is also an important way of showing hospitality, he added, and there are strict controls to restrict additional buildings at the site. Walking around the monastery grounds and beyond is simply a pleasure. The area is surrounded by lush, green meadows and dense forest, and in the distance, the snow-capped mountains of the Alps beckon. The air is pure and fresh, birds constantly chirp in the trees, whose leaves rustle in the breeze, and beds of brightly coloured flowers grace the shade below them.

The monks’ hospitality is reflected during the meals served daily at 1pm and 7pm in small rooms hosting about 12 guests each. The meals are ample and wholesome. Two monks accompany guests in each room – one helping to serve while the other engages the guests in conversations that help everyone get to know each other better while raising topical issues in the guests’ respective countries. Only one person speaks at any one time, ensuring attention is focused on the person speaking. No one even dares use their mobile phones during mealtimes.

The guest rooms (left) and church in the beautiful countryside setting.

Every day from 5 to 6pm, guests are invited to attend a lectio divina session in which a monk analyses the Gospel reading of the day in detail, giving the participants a more in-depth understanding of the richness of the texts concerned.

Spending a few days at Bose Monastery and sharing aspects of the monks’ rhythmic monastic life can be a very enriching experience for people who wish to break away from the superficiality and often soul-eroding routine of daily life to reawaken their human spirit, deepen their faith, renew their desire to encounter others and be a true Christian.

Humble beginnings, plentiful harvest

The Bose monastic community traces its origin to December 8, 1965, the day Vatican Council II ended, when Enzo Bianchi, at the time a Catholic layman and economics graduate from the University of Turin, decided to start living alone as a monastic. He rented a single-roomed house without electricity, a sewage system or running water, in Bose, a small, quiet, rural village an hour’s drive from Turin.

Enzo Bianchi

Here, Bianchi lived alone for almost three years, leading a life of prayer and offering hospitality to visitors seeking quiet reflection and the Word of God. During this time, he deepened his understanding of his monastic vocation by visiting various Catholic monasteries, such as the Cistercian-Trappist monastery of Tamié, France, the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos, Greece, and the ecumenical monastic fraternity in Taizé, France, among others.

Besides the challenge of living in solitude and simplicity, on November 7, 1967, the local bishop banned Bianchi from hosting public liturgical celebrations, largely because his guests often included non-Catholics. But he persevered, convinced that the seed he had planted would grow and acquire meaning within the Church.

On June 29, 1968, Cardinal Michele Pellegrino, who had come to the nearby village of Magnano to lead a conference, visited Bianchi and lifted the prohibition, celebrating Mass with all who were present that day at Bose. Finally, in October 1968, Bianchi was joined by two young Catholics, a Protestant minister from Switzerland, and a Protestant sister from the ecumenical monastic community of Grandchamp, Switzerland.

Bose Monastery has a particular vocation within the Church – members may be men or women and come from any Christian denomination. There are roughly the same number of female monks as male. The community now has about 80, mostly Italian lay monks – only a handful are ordained priests. And besides the main monastery at Bose it has opened four other monasteries at Ostuni, Assisi, Cellole and Civitella. So the community offers the Church a strong witnessing of gender equality, Christian unity, vitality and the contribution of lay people.

Asked why the Bose Monastery seems to be flourishing while other monasteries are closing, Br Matteo said its openness and willingness to embrace change in response to contemporary challenges may have helped. “We are not closed on our own tradition,” he said. “Having both male and female monks is a huge richness, as men and women see things in different ways,” he says, while admitting it is a challenge to remain open to, and respectful of the differences.

Bianchi, now 76, resigned as community prior in 2017 and was succeeded by Luciano Manicardi, but he continues to preach in local, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches and communities worldwide. Videos of him delivering talks and giving interviews can easily be found on the internet. He is also an avid writer, having authored over 300 books besides being a regular contributor of articles on religious and contemporary issues in various Italian and French newspapers.

Over the years he has been involved in various general assemblies of bishops’ synods, and as a papal consultor. In 2018, Pope Francis appointed him as an auditor of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops dedicated to young people, faith and vocational discernment.

To view Bose Monastery’s website, visit https://www.monasterodibose.it/en.

To view a short video of Bose Monastery, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCD88NW0gIU.

Bose Monastery