human
In a year or two the building which shelters us, and for want of money we have been unable to repair, will tumble down, but if God then allows generous souls to come to our aid, perhaps we shall be in a condition to build a monastery, which is the wish of all of us; for indeed this hovel with its rooms in confusion, and its rotunda-chapel, is painful to us.
gpt
It cannot be denied, a convent which has not the look of a cloister is an obstacle to vocations; the postulant has need--and this is quite natural--to mould himself in surroundings which please him, to encourage himself in a church which wraps him round, in a somewhat sombre chapel; and to obtain that result you want the Romanesque or Gothic style.
human
Ah, yes, indeed. And have you many novices?
gpt
We have especially many subjects who desire to feel the life of Trappists, but the greater part do not succeed in supporting our way of life. Beside even the question of knowing whether the vocation of the beginners is imaginary or real, we are from the physical point of view clearly fixed after a fortnight's trial.
human
Eating vegetables only must crush the most robust constitutions; I do not even understand how, leading an active life, you can bear it.