The Miracle at St. Bruno's

"But why should monks and nuns suddenly become depraved?”

"They've been so for a long time and only just been foundout.”

She couldn't wait to see Bruno. She wanted to taunt him with what she had learned.

"So it seems you're not so holy in your abbeys," she said as she lay in the grass kicking her heels in the air.

Bruno watched her with a strange expression in his eyes which I had seen before and never been able to understand.

"This is a plot," he cried hotly. "It's a plot to discredit the Faith.”

"But the Faith should not be in a position to be discredited.”

"Any lies can be told.”

"Are they all lies? How could they all be?" "Perhaps there are faults." "So you admit it!”

"I admit that perhaps a few of these stories may be true but why should monasteries be discredited because of one or two evil ones?”

"People who pretend to be holy rarely are. They all do wicked things. Look at you, Holy One, who took us to see the Madonna.”

"That's not fair, Kate," I said.

"Little children should speak only when spoken to.”

"I am not a little child," I said hotly.

"You don't know anything, so be silent.”

I knew that Bruno was very uneasy and I guessed this was due to the state of tension within the Abbey. My father told me of it. He was very unhappy.

"Life is full of trials," he said sadly. "One does not know when to expect the next thunderclap nor from what direction.

"It all seems to have changed when the King changed wives," I said. "Before that it seemed so peaceful.”

"That may have been so," admitted my father, "or it may have been that you were too young to be aware of troubles. Some people never are. I verily believe that your mother is unaware of these storm clouds.”

"She is too concerned whether or not there is blight on her roses.”

"I would have her so," said my father with a tender smile. And I thought what a good man he was and how content he could have been if he could have lived happily with his family, sailing up the river to his business, dealing with his cases and then corning home to hear of our domestic affairs. We could have been a serene family surely. I had my differences with Kate; I saw all too little of Rupert; and Simon Caseman although he was so adaptable and did his utmost to please everyone did not somehow make me fond of him; my mother sometimes exasperated me by her absorption in the gardens, as though nothing were of much importance outside them; and there was my father, the center of my world, of whose moods I was always aware, so that when he was uneasy so was I. I was therefore very disturbed at this time. I was fond of the servants and some of our neighbors. My mother was the lady bountiful of the place and she always saw that her needy neighbors were supplied with bread and meat. No beggars were ever sent away empty-handed. Our house was noted for its liberality. All could have been so happy but for the murmurs which surrounded us and the fact that Sir Thomas More had lost his head and his household was disbanded.

These were signs that even my mother found it difficult to ignore. She did mention to me once that she thought Sir Thomas should have considered his family rather than his principles. Then he would have signed the Oath and all would have been well.

And then St. Bruno's was threatened.

My father talked to me about it. I was fast becoming his confidante in these matters.

He talked with Rupert and Simon now and then and they discussed affairs but I believe he spoke more freely of his innermost thoughts to me.

As we walked to the river he said to me: "I fear for the Abbey. Since the miracle it has become very rich. I believe it is one of those on which Thomas Cromwell in the name of the King has cast covetous eyes.”

"What would happen to it then?”

"What has happened to others? You know that some of the smaller monasteries and abbeys have already been seized.”

"It is said that the monks in them have been guilty of unmonkly behavior.”

"It is said... it is said..." My father passed his hand wearily across his eyes. "How easy it is to say, Damask. It is so easy to find those who will testify against others-particularly when it is made worth their while to do so.”

"Simon Caseman was saying that only those monasteries whose inmates had been guilty of abominations have been suppressed.”

"Oh, Damask, these are sad times. Think of all the years the monasteries have flourished.

They have done so much good for the country. They have provided a sobering influence.