Abbots and Priors and Monks, Oh My
"The Beautiful Mystery" explores brotherhood and betrayal — in multiple plot lines
Hi friends,
Bonus essay! We’re sharing an essay about The Beautiful Mystery (Elizabeth’s favorite in the series), which brings Inspectors Gamache and Beauvoir to a remote monastery, Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups.
The essay’s author Robert Siebenaller is a Benedictine Oblate of the venerable monastery of St. Meinrad Archabbey, architect and sustainability advocate. All this means he is the perfect person to comment on this story.
— Aya and Elizabeth
“I can’t hear you. I have a banana in my ear. I am not a fish.”
As tightly as the lifeless fist of Frère Mathieu clutched these words, so must Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir embrace the charism, the grace of God, that calls these men to a life of prayer and to abandon modern secular life in Louise Penny’s eighth book The Beautiful Mystery.
As the book opens, Armand and Jean Guy are the first non-religious to enter the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups, finding themselves encompassed by monks worshiping God in a ubiquitous plainchant. Armand and Jean Guy are foreigners here; in search of a murderer, who is in search of God. The Scene of Crime is like no other; faith and tradition have been sewn together over millennia in a cenobitic lifestyle. St. Benedict of Nursia, the Father of Western Monasticism, has deemed this type of monk, the cenobite, as the strongest, those who live in a monastery, under a rule and an abbot.
In a nonspiritual way, Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir live under the rule of law as members of the, and under their superior, Chief Superintendent Francoeur. They have pledged their secular lives to Service, Integrite, Justice to the Sûreté du Québec. But they will need to consider closely the spiritual vows that these monks have taken before God, if they intend on solving the murder. These Gilbertines have vowed lives of stability, fidelity to the monastic life and obedience.
The setting adds a layer of complexity to the breakdown of the relationship between Gamache and Beauvoir, which collapses at the end of the book. The deterioration of the bond between Chief Inspector and Inspector has been foreshadowed in the failure of the vows between Abbot and Prior.
A Life Apart
When the two detectives enter the monastery, they walked into an age-old society, with a rich history. Dom Clement, abbot and architect of Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups, drafted the plans of the monastery in 1634, and laid a cornerstone in the wilderness of the New World built on monastic foundations that stretched to the desert of Egypt. Stone upon stone he built upon a litany of monastic traditions: St. Gilbert of Sepringham, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Basil, and St. Pachomius. And the bed of this majestic foundation rests on St. Antony of Egypt (251 – 356 A.D.) who established the blueprint for religious life: to follow the command of Jesus Christ to sell everything and to be dedicated to a life of prayer separated from society.
Dom Clement, in childlike innocence, not only transported an ages-old cenobitic tradition to Nouvelle-France, but he also bore the Beautiful Mystery. They are the cantillations in plainchant that were divinely authored and appear in Western Christianity as mysteriously as Melchizedek appears in Genesis. Unrecognized, the Gilbertines make these the center of their liturgical worship.
Gamache and Jean Guy view the monastery, monks and their plainchants with a temporal vision. Armand is mesmerized; Jean Guy, dismissive. The Chief Inspector is lost in the cultural substance of the recordings and the Inspector simplifies millennial-old practices to “Up and down. Bow. Sit. Stand.” Together they will begin the investigation searching for the means, method and opportunity of a modern criminologists: the monastery’s hidden rooms, the corporate power struggle between the abbot and prior, and the incalculable wealth of the second recording.
Hidden Walls and Secrets
Dom Clement’s towering walls and barred entry provide a sense foreboding and are juxtaposed against the soaring and acoustical perfection of the Blessed Chapel’s roof, the dappling prismatic light arrays and the fertile gardens. Peace can be found here.
But not all is as it seems. A moveable bookcase conceals a hidden private garden for the abbot and artwork conceals the Chapter House entry. These discoveries force Gamache and Beauvoir to consider other hiding places. Places for people and for rumored treasure. What their sleuthing discloses is that this historic monastery has been the subject of renovations. There is a new roof, solar panels, geothermal system, electricity and a renovated kitchen and infirmary. These monastery modernizations soothed the monks’ ascetic lifestyle.
However — despite long gesticulating rumors — there are no hidden treasures or passageways. Dom Phillippe’s garden was not a clandestine rendezvous, but a place to recharge the one responsible for the souls of the other 23 monks. The Chapter House was not a surreptitious meeting place either, but a place for the monks to gather, as one body, and attend to the business of the monastery, both the mundane and the sacred. Its disguised entry added intrigue but its location in the Blessed Chapel put the entrance in plain sight
Inspector Beauvoir does discover that these portentous walls that were thought to be locking something out, or someone in, were failing their protective duty. Their foundations could not withstand the advance of the forest, rotting from the outside-in. Moreover, they could not keep out the rot of Francoeur either.
Intuitively, Francoeur understands that these walls establish the edge between monastic life and secular modern life. He first lures Jean Guy across the threshold to fill him with contempt and rage. Outside the walls Beauvoir is committed to breaking his pledge and he calculates his opportunity to murder the Chief Superintendent. It is also beyond the walls that Jean Guy allows himself to be filled with the empty lies of Francoeur leaving him wounded and vulnerable, questioning not only his pledge to the Sûreté du Québec, but his pledge of fidelity to Gamache.
Francoeur also lures Gamache beyond the walls into this secular wilderness to enable another broken pledge. While Gamache wishes great harm on Sylvain, he cannot follow through. Armand would not allow the walls that concealed the murder of Frère Mathieu to conceal, or witness, his pledge to the Ministere de la Justice de Quebec, to his team, to Reine-Marie and especially, to Jean Guy.
Gamache comes to recognize that the walls are symbolic of the Gilbertines’ vows, a reminder when they enter and leave the enclosure, of their vow of stability, to remain rooted in this monastic community and remain separated from the outside world. But not all at Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups cherish the vow of stability. Like Jean Guy, Frère Mathieu is willing to risk his vows to a life beyond the walls. The empty promises beyond the walls leaves him wounded, and he does not recognize the healing balm of patience offered by Dom Phillippe. Breaching his vow of stability brought acrimony on the community and divided it.
Brotherhood and Betrayal
This schism between the abbot and prior was readily apparent to Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir. Dom Phillippe’s men were obedient to the abbot, and Frère Mathieu’s men sided with the prior’s desire for another recording. The prior’s men know that the prior gets what the prior wants. As the choirmaster, the prior’s self-assurance is stoked by the abbot’s unyielding position. Life under a rule and an abbot had lost its appeal.
The prior gambled everything to get the abbot’s blessing for a second recording, including his friendship. Dom Phillippe was Frère Mathieu’s friend and confessor; the private garden a witness of their closeness and rapport. At a stalemate with his friend and abbot, the prior asked Dom Phillippe to assign Frère Antoine as his confessor. Yielding to this request, the schism between abbot and prior further divided the monastery.
Armed with their scientific understanding of criminal behavior, Gamache and Beauvoir recognize that the abbot had the means, a hidden garden; motive, his authority being challenged; and opportunity, he summoned Frère Mathieu. But faith and tradition shed a new light on Dom Phillippe. According to the Rule of St. Benedict, the abbot holds the place of Christ in the monastery. Thus, his title, Dom, an abbreviation of Dominus, of Lord. The abbot is the shepherd of this flock and is responsible, and will be held accountable to God for their actions, corrections and healing.
Gamache observes that Dom Phillippe has been consistent in his fatherly approach. He calls the Sûreté, from the secular world, not to solve the murder, but to protect the innocent. In humility and fatherly love, he grants Frère Mathieu another confessor. And after Frère Mathieu’s murder he appoints Frère Antoine, one of the prior’s men, as the new choirmaster based on his musical and spiritual maturity. These are the actions of a shepherd, of a man living the vow of fidelity to the monastic life. In retrospect it seems odd that Dom Phillippe, knowing that the murderer is in their midst, maintains the regular hours of worship together, takes meals together. It's clear that his effort at solving the crime is to maintain the community’s commitment of fidelity to monastic life.
In a similar way, Gamache remains faithful to all of his agents but in an especially intimate manner with Jean Guy. He gave Jean Guy a vocation, and elevated him to Inspector. He never lost faith and saw Jean Guy through his addictions and respected the privacy of Jean Guy in his relationship with Annie. In the monastery that is filled with the elemental fragrance of stone and wax and baking, Jean Guy walks its halls with the malevolent stench of Francoeur emanating from his pores. Always faithful Gamache picks up his infected brother and prepares to take him back to Quebec, to abandon the scene of crime, to save one of his men.
Within the monastery the abbot is easily identifiable as he is the only one that wears a large cross around his neck. I imagine that Jean Guy is the cross that Gamache bears. Dom Phillippe’s and Gamache’s lives are living examples of fidelity to the men that they lead in life, and in prayer.
Wicked Zeal
This life of prayer is an outward sign of their obedience to God through their devotion to the Divine Office prayed in plainchant throughout the day. It is the life blood of monastic life and their connection to King David and the messianic promise. The plainchants bound them together as one body in brotherly mutuality. They accepted each other’s voice and life in the community because God had deemed it good for them to be together in His worship.
But Frère Mathieu’s veiled desire to modernize the plainchant into something that would reach a broader audience had little to do with worshiping the Eternal. The second recording of plainchants would bring him acclaim and make them rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Frère Mathieu failed to realize that his disobedience to the abbot was disobedience to God.
Frère Luc found himself caught up in this rebellion of Frère Mathieu who coerced him with the role as soloist. He would become a co-conspirator to profane the word of God and the voices of God. The most beautiful and harmonizing voice of the monastery, could not allow this grace or his proficiency in Ecclesiastical Latin lead him to be disobedient to God. This would be blasphemous! Somehow, his childish mind abandons his monastic formation and finds a resolution to his predicament: he can be soloist and remain faithful to God by removing the catalyst of the insurgency that plagues the monastery. To slay Frère Mathieu would be a just murder and protect the potential of a second recording.
In the sixth century, St. Benedict’s rule warned his monks of two kinds of zeal: the wicked zeal of bitterness that leads to hell and the good zeal that leads to God and everlasting life. In this wilderness Frère Luc had chosen the wicked zeal. And he is not alone. Jean Guy is overcome by the wicked zeal of Francoeur that will separate him from his pledge to Service, Integrite, Justice, and his fidelity to Gamache and Annie. Just as Frère Luc sought relief from the pain of blasphemy, Jean Guy sought relief from his shooting in the numbing effect of the pills.
Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups had ceased to be a place of peace; it had become a place of disobedience not only between the abbot’s men and the prior’s men, but between Francoeur’s men and Gamache’s men.
Rebuilding a Rotting Foundation
Dom Phillippe and Armand stand together in the breach holding back the imposing forces, the wicked zeal that was captivating minds, hearts and souls of the monks and Beauvoir. The abbot responds by remaining faithful to the Rule of St. Gilbert of Sepringham, to continue an acetic and prayerful life in community. In like manner, Gamache abandons his approach as a criminologist to solve the crime through prayer. As the abbot had sought to repair the foundations through prayer, Gamache seeks to solve the murder through prayer in plainchant, to expose a grieving soul.
“I can’t hear you. I have a banana in my ear. I am not a fish.”
In an unheard of plainchant form, Frère Sebastien’s voice filled the Blessed Chapel. This unusual prayer was responded to by a groan from Frère Luc who would have felt the testimony of a litany of saints: St. Gilbert, St. Bernard, St. Benedict, St. Basil, St. Pachomius, St. Antony; Pray for us. Part interrogation, part inquisition, the Sûreté du Québec and the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith exposed Frère Luc. It was plainchant that lead to murder and plainchant that solved the murder. While Gamache had elicited the confession, it was Frère Sebastien who summarized the means, motive and opportunity that gave way to the murder of Frère Mathieu; “modern times” had come upon Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups.
The modernization of plainchant would have damaged their vow of stability. The Canadian wilderness would no longer be their home. It would become a retreat from their worldwide performances, not the place that grounded them to one another.
Their vow to fidelity to monastic life would be compromised as they suspended the vow, or practice of silence. Their dedication to their cantillations would be compromised by filling part of their time with empty words of their temporal needs as they busied themselves with travel plans, musical arrangements and other performance matters.
And finally, their vow of obedience, to God, and to one another would be forfeited to their cultured admirers. The word of God in the voice of God would become anachronistic.
At the end of the day we observe that their vows are intact.
As dusk settles in on Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups we find our two shepherds Dom Phillippe, in choir, and Armand in the gallery of the blessed Chapel, reflecting on the day and their lost sheep. The abbot rests peacefully knowing that he has held off the forces that would modernize their spirituality and bring an end to this Gilbertine order as he, or St. Gilbert, knew it. Frère Luc had been absolved of his sin and the Beautiful Mystery had been solved. And with it, Dom Phillippe’s prayers to repair the rotting foundations had been answered.
Armand, however, is left to repair the rot that has disfigured his and Annie’s relationship with Jean Guy. He knows that as St. Gilbert stood between the wolves, so he must stand between Jean Guy and Francoeur. I imagine that he cannot slow his tactical mind and is unaware that Compline is progressing until he hears those twenty-two angelic voices chant the Canticle of Simeon: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace.”
Bob Siebenaller has extensive leadership experience in all aspects of planning, design, and construction of healing and learning environments. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, holds a National Council of Architectural Registrations Board certificate and is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional with specialization in Building, Design + Construction. Over the past 30+ years, Bob has been providing creative design solutions and insightful project leadership to clients. A Miami University graduate with a Bachelor of Environmental Design and a Master of Architecture, Bob is an advocate for sustainable practices. His passion for architecture and connecting practical experience with theoretical ideas is reflected in his intuitive designs and engaging presentations. Bob’s understanding of the deep connection between our physical and spiritual being has led him to become a Benedictine Oblate of the Venerable Monastery of St. Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Through the support of his wife and two children, he has been on this journey for 10+ years.
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Great essay - thanks for the in-depth explanations. This is one of my favourite books in the series, so it’s really helpful to have this background insight to the different themes.