Students' taste of monastic life

Students were able to join in daily worship

Cistercian monks living in a small community off the coast of west Wales have allowed a group of students to join them for a taste of monastic life.

A group of around 25 students from Lampeter University visited the monks on Caldey Island for a six-day course last month.

Lampeter University launched the course this year

Caldey is famous as the site of one of Britain's earliest monasteries, and more recently has become the home to the Cistercian brothers.

It has always been open to visits from tourists, with thousands visiting each year.

But this was the first time that students had been invited to whole-heartedly join their way of life.

The students - all postgraduates and including some from overseas - lived in the guesthouse attached to the island's monastery.

As well as undergoing a series of lectures on monastic life, the visitors were able to join the monks at the cycle of seven daily services.

Lecturer Dr Thomas O'Loughlin said the collaboration between Lampeter University and the monks had been a great success.

"There was a clear synergy between the monks being able to give lectures to the students and the students join in the offices of the monastery," said Dr O'Loughlin.

The chance to get up at 3am and say psalms was just magical

Student Ruth Dyer

One of the students who took part in the visit was Ruth Dyer, an MA student in Celtic Christianity.

"I found it absolutely marvellous," said Ms Dyer.

"The Cistercians showed us a life of great simplicity and stability where they decline wealth and live a life devoted to God.

"It was so different from my normal day-to-day life.

"The chance to get up at 3am and say psalms in the simple monastic church along with the monks was just magical."

The six-day module is designed to be repeated next May.

The monks have often shown their readiness to embrace 21st Century life.

After launching their own website and mail order business, last autumn they set up a "webshop" selling everything from perfume and chocolate to CDs and books about island life.

Another venture to help bring an income into the island community was in selling organic meat.