In This House of Brede

by Rumer Godden

‘Are you going to stay here for ever?’ asked Philippa of Philippa.

but then Dame Ursula always underlined.

‘I can imagine you living with ninety men,’ Richard had told her, ‘but not with ninety women.’

curiosity was unmonastic

‘We go on as if nothing had happened.’ ‘No, we don’t,’ said Dame Clare. ‘We just go on.’

‘All my grown life, it seems to me now I have been – acting in authority … yes, acting,’ said Philippa, ‘because I wasn’t a full person. I was so busy,’

‘I don’t think the Rule is meant to clamp down on one’s life. It has to fit everyone, to be able to bend, not break. That is its gift. It’s not meant to be rigid.’

Yet the paradox remained: only by giving completely was there any hope of finding.

To deny your gifts would be cheating. We can overcome our second natures, my dear, but not our first, and you were born to take responsibility, to lead.’

Stefan Duranski saw the woman. And we are women, thought Abbess Catherine. How many people forget that? How we forget it ourselves!

Philippa felt, for the first time, what it meant to be at odds with her community; she felt, as she told Abbess Catherine

‘Be more aware of the other person,’ said Abbess Catherine. ‘Put yourself in her place. That’s the answer, Sister, then you can nip it in the bud … don’t let things reach this stage.’

attachment of spirit to spirit is far stronger than between bodies