The Disappointing Cloister and the Nave that Didn’t

In Girona there is a chapel attached to a convent for cloistered nuns. Ana knew of it from a previous trip. We went for a noon service. An iron gate separated us from the nuns. We expected beautiful music. We were disappointed.

First, the flowers were plastic, not beautiful. Worse, the candles were LED lights. When I dropped a coin in the offering box, some of the candles lit up and a tinny hymn played. On that trip, I had an intention to light a candle in each religious place visited.  I was surprised and angry. My intention needed real fire. Cloistered nuns should have real flowers in their chapel.

The nuns filed in, ten or twelve of them. We saw many, many layers of white.  Bleached sack cloth, soft aged linen, or a practical polyester? Only their hands were visible and some shoes. They processed slowly, maybe from the weight of their habits.

The organist was closest to us. Her hands and movements were of an older woman doing what she always does. They began to sing, and the singing hurt. Their voices were as unlovely as the tinny music of the LED candles. Joanna, with an acute sensitivity to beautiful music, left in despair.  I prayed to let go of hating plastic flowers and fake candles and tinny, unlovely music.

Later, the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona did not disappoint at all.  There the nave embodies awe.  It is huge, dark, quiet, a holy space. Here, as fate would have it, I found a real candle sitting at the base of a pillar. I lit it and placed it at one of the altars, my faith revived; I love that nave.  

Photos of organist by Ana Luisa Cardona. Photos of candles and Cathedral of St. Mary of Girona by P. Mathews. Girona, Catalonia, Spain, September 2017.