Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Sisters of Arden: on the Pilgrimage of Grace > Status Update

“Before I left Arden, I never knew there was so much... so much world outside the cloister. I’ve met so many different people. I hadn’t realised before that there was such a variety of faces or so many differing opinions, so many shades of right and wrong... At Arden, it was unchanging; the people I saw, the chores I carried out, the prayers I heard”

‘Rumour runs across the country like a plague, reaching even the cloisters. We hear that parish churches have been robbed of plate and taxed heavily, unaffordable levies for marriages, christenings and burials. Wilder rumours circulate of a new tariff placed upon white bread, goose and capon, and every man in the realm forced to give account of his property and income.’

‘Our lack of beneficiaries is bringing our house down, stone by stone; our fields and outbuildings cry out for maintenance and our tiny church is almost empty of plate. There is far too much work for the three remaining able-bodied woman to carry out, so we pray and bide our time in the faith that, one day soon, God will notice our plight and send salvation.’