“Check your sources, check your sources…” Emily sat up suddenly. She looked about her
and for a second, forgot where she was. She was in the middle of the country
near old York
Emily laughed quietly. Language has not changed much, she
thought. Mary Wuldreda brought a large goblet of the frothy ale to her. Emily
looked at it and wondered if she could drink this without getting drunk. She
decided to sip the ale. It tasted like scrumpy.
“Mary Bega will be back. She is napping with the Abbess’
permission.” Mary Wuldreda turned back
to the meat. “It is venison, as I can tell you are wondering. Have you had
venison, my dear?”
Emily answered in the affirmative. The nun opened a small
basket and took out some rye bread. The nun took a small knife off her belt and
cut the bread. Emily thought that it was dangerous carrying a knife about one’s
waste, but then, Emily saw something which took her breath away. The handle of
the knife looked like solid silver, carved with two dogs facing each other-the
ancient pattern of the Celtic hounds.
How wonderful to see something which would end up in the British Museum
“Now, dear, do not cry. You are well and Lady Abbess will
help you. She told me that God had put you here for a reason. I believe that as
well. Do you, now?”
Emily looked at the sunny, but wrinkled face. Mary Wuldreda
did not resemble Lady Abbess at all. This nun was short and stocky, not tall
and graceful. And her coloring was strangely dark. Emily suddenly had an
inspiration. “Sister, are you from a Roman family?”
Mary Bega smile was so big that the entire room seemed
wrapped in sunlight. “Why yes, my dear. My ancestors settled in the West
Country, now the place of the West Saxons . My
father’s people were tin merchants and my mother’s family was of the patrician
class, from Rome
Emily smiled as well. Here in the wilds of what would be Yorkshire , a small, Roman ancestor told of her ancient
family with pride and interest. Just then, Mary Bega entered the room as
silently as possible.
“Our guest may go out tomorrow, Lady Abbess indicated. We
can take her for a walk about the monastery and the hills.”
Emily felt excited but nervous at the same time. She did not
know how she would feel looking at the countryside which became her town. She
really did not know if she could cope. But, deep down, she really wanted to see
what this part of England ,
before England
“I would love to go out. I feel a bit, but, she struggled
for a Latin word describing claustrophobia, a word which did not exist in the 7th
century.
Mary Bega whispered something to Mary Wuldreda. Then, the
two came over by the bed where Emily was sitting straight up.
“Would it be proper, I mean, could we look at your Christian
symbols? We would like to see something from another world which is of our
faith. It is truly exciting.”
Emily smiled again. These two women were like curious
children. She took the Benedictine cross on the steel chain, which she had
bought in Malta
Mary Bega looked at the tiny replica of the brown scapular
made out of silver. It was so small and so fine. She turned it around and noticed
the wording on the back, so small, so tiny. “Italy
There was no Italy ,
and there was Malta
Emily wondered at how she could explain these items. Then
she turned the cross around to the back.
“On the back of this one, there are tiny letters which read
‘Rome ’-Rome Rome , how long would Rome
Mary Wuldreda sighed and gave the cross back to Emily.
“Would you be able to keep these, “Emily almost whispered? She wanted these two
servant-hearts to have these medals. If and when Emily returned to her world,
she would buy duplicates.
“We take a vow of poverty, my dear. No, you keep these.”
Emily put the necklaces back on and took the plate of meat
and bread from Mary Wuldreda. The meat proved to be delicious, with some herbs
cooked in with a strange sauce. Then Emily recognized the ale taste in the
gravy. She would learn to like this ale.
The next morning, after a small breakfast of ale and bread,
Emily found her shoes, clean placed next to her bed. Her 21st
century clothes had not yet appeared. Emily was given new underthings, like a
long, linen shift, but nothing else. Then, a heavy brown and green nubby gown
was pulled over her head. The nuns then insisted that Emily wear a green and partly
red scarf, which tied tightly around her forehead and was fastened in the back
with a pin.
“These clothes come from the dowry of Lady Abbess herself,
from her kinfolk. These are the clothes of a princess. Emily stood up and felt
a bit light-headed. She was not use to ale for breakfast.
The nuns stood on either side of her and brought her through
the room to a door Emily had not noticed before now. This door opened into a
long hallway, dark, without windows, except for two or three slits high up in
the roof. The nuns guided Emily down the hallway to another door, and then to
the outside. There, in the morning sun, Emily could see miles around, as the
monastery had been built on a hill. Beyond this hill, were several other hills.
The green of the grass astounded Emily. She saw a forest in the distance to the
west. And, to the east, she thought she could smell cut hay. Nothing seemed
familiar to her.
The nuns took her by the hands and walked behind the
monastery, where a small park-like circle of trees and a bed of flowers greeted
her. The birds singing in the trees sang
like it was the first day of creation. Emily had never heard as many birds as
she did on this day. Her heart swelled in thanksgiving for this experience
alone.
After walking down a little path, the nuns showed Emily a
tiny chapel at the end of the dirt road. The shrine was about a mile from the
monastery. There, in the gloom of a copse of trees, in a stone building, was a
small icon of Mary and Jesus. The icon looked as if it were made out of oak.
Emily gasped. She moved away from the nuns’ arms and knelt down. Here, in the
earliest days of Christianity, was an icon of Our Lady of Tenderness. Emily
wept. Despite the fading colors, this icon was almost exactly like a modern
reproduction of one she had in her room at home. Her room at home….where would
her home be? Which hills remained and which had disappeared in the years of
building and decay of her town?
The nuns stepped forward. “We must take you back. This walk,
was perhaps, too difficult for you. Let us go back.” Mary Wuldreda helped Emily
back to her feet. The little Romano-British nun had great strength.
Back in her small, kitchen like room, Emily did feel tired.
She felt emotionally drained. She needed to sleep. Mary Began brought Emily
another herbal drink and in minutes, Emily was sound asleep.
Mary Wuldreda opened the door and a small white dog walked
into the room. Mary Bega gave the dog some scraps. Mary Bega sat down and began
to pray, and Mary Wuldreda joined her. If Emily was awake, she would have
noticed that the nuns managed to pray the exact words of Evening Prayer and
Night Prayer without books. The art of memorizing formed a large part of the
training of the nuns. They chanted the psalms in a strange combination of
Gregorian chant and Celtic chant. Emily slept well, beyond the voices of the
nuns.
To be continued…