Monks’ Retreat Has a Wild Side

In his 40 years at the New Camaldoli Hermitage, Father Bruno has endured wicked winter storms, landslides that closed the roads and, in recent weeks, a massive wildfire that forced most of the monks to flee their beloved sanctuary.

But the 68-year-old monk said such struggles are a small price to pay for the solitude of this rugged corner of California.

“If you are going to live in one place all your life, you may as well choose a beautiful place,” Father Bruno said. “Monastic life is about achieving a certain harmony with nature. It is easier perhaps here.”

Last week, the monks got word that it was safe to return to their simple and orderly life at the monastery overlooking the Pacific Ocean south of Big Sur.

As the fires moved north, Father Bruno and the others settled back to their familiar rituals, the church services four times a day and the chores that include making brandy-soaked cakes to sell on the Internet for the Christmas season.

“Praise be to God, we’re back,” said Father Romuald, the monastery’s business manager and acting prior.

“It was quite stressful. We thought they would be gone a night or two. We never envisioned they would be gone for two whole weeks.”

Father Romuald and a small contingent of monks stayed behind when the other monks evacuated to the Carmel Valley and Pebble Beach. Thirty monks and 10 lay people live at the hermitage, and there are as many as 15 paying guests staying at any given time.

In late September, the monks and other Big Sur residents evacuated as fires threatened the area. Firefighters helped turn the flames away from the monastery’s lush canyon, but haze and the sound of helicopters last week were reminders that the fire continues farther north along the coast.

Being prepared for fire and other natural disasters is a part of life in the remote hills and canyons near Big Sur.

In 1998, winter storms pounded the area, and winding California 1, which hangs precariously over the ocean at times, was cut off from the outside world for weeks.

In 1988, wildfires forced the monks to evacuate. They also had to leave because of a fire years earlier but the monks could not recall when.

Like other Benedictine monasteries, New Camaldoli is self-supporting. The most profitable venture is renting out guest rooms and trailers to visitors for $45 and $55 a night, including vegetarian meals. The rooms are reserved by men and women from all over the world months in advance.

“We have guests who frequently are apologetic and say they don’t believe in God or that they are not Christian,” said Father Romuald. “That’s OK. We offer them the simplicity to explore what they are.

“Inevitably, it’s so boring here that they have to do something interior, an internal journey of discovery. That is what monastic life is all about.”

The monks also sell theological books and gifts from a small store at the monastery and sell their fruitcake and date nut cake through their Web site at www.contemplation.com.

“Most monasteries make a confection of sorts,” said Father Romuald. “Fruitcakes work for us because they are preserved in alcohol, easy to make and the persons making them can engage in a little solitude while doing it. It doesn’t require a lot of thinking to make fruitcake.”

The Big Sur monks are Camaldolese Benedictines, a congregation founded by St. Romuald that emphasizes solitude.

The church is the focus of the compound and features a majestic rotunda whose centerpiece is a wooden artwork directing light down to a simple granite altar. At services, the monks wear white habits and face each other to sing. Away from services, some monks wear the white habit. Others who do chores, such as tending the garden, wear a denim work habit that the monks make.

They spend much time alone in individual residences called “cells.”

The community includes veterans such as Father Bruno and younger men like Martin Evans, 31, a postulant studying to become a novice.

“I’m getting used to the simplicity, all the non-stimuli,” said Postulant Martin, from Toronto.

“It was a big transition to come here,” he said. “But I’ve had a wide spectrum of life experiences and work experiences. I’ve given everything else a good shot. But in the end, it is really difficult to live a spiritual life out in the world.”