The Current

November 1-7, 2020
- Saint David
- Cantate Domino: Bells of Portsmouth
  
  At Portsmouth, the main bell of the monastery is a familiar sound, heard throughout the campus, tolling “the signal for an hour of the Divine Office,” as well as Mass. The bell actually has a name: “Saint David” - or “David” for short. The name derives from its inscription, which recalls the psalms of the king whose psalter provides the principal content of the Divine Office and substance of monastic life. The inscription reads:
  
  ST. DAVID
  Presented by Charles Barney Wall
  October 1941
  CANTATE DOMINO CANTICUM NOVUM
  Our Archives section this month takes a look at the history of the bell, which has humbly rung out its message for nearly eighty years. We also note a Buddhist "standing bell" which has dutifully been serving within the enclosure of the monastery, a familiar sound to the monastic community though perhaps unknown to many others, who may on occasion have heard its resonant tone, which can be audible at times from the church.
  ( Read more on this)
- "Open" sign at night
- "The Prior is In"
  
  A new sign is now visible on campus, and visible from a great distance. It does for the visual what David does for the audible, sending its message out to the community. That message: welcome, come on in! Prior Michael has placed the sign at the his reception room entrance, to alert all to his availability for office hours. While its neon glow may not seem the stuff of monasticism, its signal of hospitality most certainly illuminates the Rule. The Prior notes with concern, "if location is one ingredient in success, the location is bad and the sign isn’t really visible from most of the campus." But an evening walk, particularly as our daylight shortens, reveals its light to be visible all the way down the walkway past the Burden Classroom Building, past Saint Brigid's, to the main access road. Students are sure to get the message.
- The Abbey Quad
- A New Calefactory on Campus
  
  Thanks to the generosity of a group of current parents, the campus is now demonstrating the spirit of calefactory. While visiting between dorms and within dorms is highly restricted due to present health requirements, the outdoors remain more hospitable. And now, visible at night with strings of lights and roaring campfires, the "quad" between St. Martin's and St. Brigid's dormitories has become a student calefactory. We find anew the monastic calefactory - a place to "make warm" (cale-facere, in Latin) - to gather around, foster hospitality. It has immediately become a popular evening meeting place for students, strengthening their cenobitic lives, making the time of pandemic somewhat less eremitic.
- The Abbey cemetery
- A Mass of Remembrance
  
  You are cordially invited to join the monks of Portsmouth Abbey virtually for a Mass of Remembrance, to be held on All Souls' Day, Monday, November 2, 2020, at 7:20 a.m. in the Church of St. Gregory the Great. If you would like the names of your loved ones added to those remembered in prayer by the monks of Portsmouth, please submit them directly to the monastery's webpage for prayers for souls. and they will be added to the silver box on the altar. You may also contact Stefanie Polgar in the Development Office at (401) 643.1269 for more information. Please do not send an offering, as this is the Abbey's offering for you.