THE CHRISTMAS FEAST

 THE CHRISTMAS FEAST




Champagne was invented by a French monk of the order of St Benedict, Dom Pierre Perignon, born in 1640, who was the cellarmaster at the Abbey of Hautvilliers. The authors of The Bad Catholics Guide to Wine, Whisky and Song describe the sensation of Champagne as “always something quixotic, fine and fair. The delicate balance of sweet and dry, the tap-dance of bubbles against the palate, …it’s no surprise that champagne is called the beverage of love. It’s fitting then, that the Church had a hand in its creation.”
In true Catholic tradition, the Christmas meal can be followed by a sip of Chartreuse, the liquor crafted in a monastery by the Carthusians, the strictest order in the Church. Named for its mother house, the Trappist monastery, “La Grande Chartreuse”, the liquor is made from 130 local herbs and flowers collected by the monks and distilled in the cloister. The formula has never been written down and is passed down orally to three trusted monks. The monastery was the subject of a documentary, “Into Great Silence”. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Groning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, in 2,000, they responded. Groning filmed them in their daily life of prayer, in a marvellous poetic chronicle of spiritual life, with no voice-over or score.
The authors of The Bad Catholics Guide to Wine, Whisky and Song state that: “Unlike most religious orders that have slogged through so many centuries, the Carthusians never sowed their wild oats. You won’t find jolly Carthusians romping through Chaucer’s pages, or fat ones depicted in tapestries quaffing ale. The only Carthusians to emerge from their cells in England were those dragged out in 1535 by Henry VIII for refusing the accept his divorce- and tortured to death for their faith. Pope Innocent once wrote that the order ‘need not be reformed, for it has never been deformed.’ The Carthusian spirit approaches perfection- which for most of us, is best consumed in small doses, out of little hand-blown glasses.”
NB. The learned author is referring to John Haughton and his fellow monks at the London Charterhouse, who were tortured and executed by Henry VIII (see post herein by Venite Prandete, dated 21 October 2000).

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