Do Monks Wear Pajamas?

Yes, I was researching this tonight (monks wear their clothes to sleep in, according to St. Benedict) because my sixth grade daughter is so in love with the story of Gregory the Great in our new Medieval History / Middle Ages main lesson block, she has decided to spend one entire day living -- as closely as possible -- an authentic Middle Ages Benedictine monk's schedule.

She's going to write a guest blog post about her experience, but here are some of the things we've had to research to make this happen:

the daily schedule (winter version)

the unfamiliar terms in the schedule (I was ok on Vespers and Compline, etc. but had to look up "collatio")

what monks wore (and yes, she wants to wear a belt with a knife stuck in it all day)

what monks ate

some authentic medieval recipes (and then go shopping for the ingredients)

the jobs in a monastery and the order of authority in a monastery

We are lucky in that our local paper came this morning and -- amazingly -- there's a concert tomorrow of monastery music at 4 pm. Just in time for Vespers! So we will be going to that. I'm also taking her to a Catholic church for Mass at 8 am. And making her "Pottage" and "Salmon with Wine and Ginger Sauce." She will be getting up at 2:30 am and going to bed at 6:30 pm and she went to bed at 7 pm tonight in preparation for her early morning. She plans to follow the prayer schedule, listen to Gregorian chants, and read the Bible and do housework. I promise we will share how it goes!!! She could NOT be more excited, and wants us to call her Brother Ben tomorrow instead of Becca.

Some resources:

Chant: Music For The Soul
by The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz

The Life of a Benedictine Monk - Winter Schedule / Summer Schedule

The Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church illustration

Life in a Monastery (PDF)

Food in the Middle Ages: Pottage recipe

Food in the Middle Ages: Salmon with Wine and Ginger Sauce recipe