Life Under Lockdown Part 1
Our greatest sadness since the lockdown has been the loss of Br Raphael. Although increasingly frail, his death was hastened by the virus. Restrictions meant he was not able to return home to Belmont as he wished in his last days, and we were not able to be physically with him.
Br Raphael was a talented and cultured man, a musician, but also interested in philosophy, architecture and design. As a practical craftsman he repaired and restored many things in the monastery: tables, chairs, lampstands, shelves. His largest legacy is the new organ pipes in the church that he designed to be built over the memorial to Bishop Hedley.
But he was also a great community person who showed a great love and care for the practical needs of his brothers as Refectorian. I looked for a photo of him to put on the website. The only one I found was with a glass of wine in his hand. It summed up his joie de vivre: he would often be ready with a humourous remark. As Refectorian he was in charge of the wine to be put out on feast days, but also looked after the more mundane things like filling pepper pots and clearing dishes away well into his late 80s. In this he fulfilled St Benedict’s advice that the Cellarer “regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected”
Chapter 31.
