Catherine Coldstream
speaker
329 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 24 Jul
Catherine Coldstream’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Well, it's a really strange thing because we, when I say we, the Carmelite order is often described as a silent order.
And of course, there's a huge amount of silence in the daily life.
But if you look at it another way, words are absolutely woven through the texture of your life because you are either chanting or reading or meditating on the Psalms, for example, for hours every day and other sort of theological books.
So there are a lot of words that go through your head.
And in fact, you know, a lot of prayer bounces off words or has resource or recourse to words.
So, yes, we were very silent, but in another way internally.
Words were very important.
Oh, gosh, that's a very good question.
It wasn't speech itself that was taboo.
I think I mentioned that certain subjects were taboo when we did talk, say in community meetings or recreations.
So speech itself wasn't taboo, but there were loads of things taboo.
that you weren't supposed to talk about.
But there was a very strong culture of silence, which could feel like it was anti-speech because the Carmelite order originated in the hermit ideal.
So this goes right back to St.
Anthony of Egypt.
And in the Alexandrian desert, people went out and lived in caves.
And then a few centuries later, you find people living in caves on Mount Carmel.
And these were people who wanted to dedicate themselves to seeking God in solitude.
It's called the desert monasticism or desert spirituality, which is like a sort of a subgroup within Catholic spirituality that's very much dedicated to seeking God through silence.
Wow, that's the million dollar question.
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