In This House of Brede

by Rumer Godden

‘They are dear, good girls,’ Dame Ursula often said of the novitiate – it did not matter which novitiate – ‘If only they wouldn’t be so ardent. They want to sleep on planks, go barefoot, which isn’t necessary, but they won’t use up a reel of thread, or make a pencil last, or darn or patch which is necessary,’ and, ‘what is the use,’ she said to Philippa, ‘of taking a vow of poverty if you look to the house to provide you lavishly with everything you need?’

That is the blessing of the liturgy, it wipes out self.’