Figures de moines by Ernest Dimnet
QR code
"Figures de moines" by Ernest Dimnet is a collection of essays and travel sketches written in the early 20th century. It offers intimate portraits of monastic life and places—English Benedictines in Douai, Trappists, and Pyrenean abbeys—blending memoir, history, and spiritual observation. Dimnet’s narrator moves between cities, cloisters, and landscapes, lingering on ritual, architecture, and character. Readers should expect reflective prose, vivid atmosphere, and a cultured, gently nostalgic voice. The opening of the
book follows the author’s memories from Cambrai to Douai, where his early love of English letters leads to a fascination with the English Benedictines: their secluded college, Pugin’s chapel, solemn Gregorian vespers, a humane and demanding educational ethos, and finally the blow of expulsion under anticlerical laws. It then shifts to a quiet visit at La Trappe, where a sparse meal and a long, delicate conversation with an elderly hospitaller reveal theological anxieties, love of language, and the human texture of cloistered life, before a brief tour of cloister, dormitory, brewery, and cemetery. The narrative next turns to the Roussillon: train and coach into the Tet valley, the Catalan cadence of speech, the fortified charm of Villefranche (its church, streets, and a failed 17th‑century plot), and the small, beautiful Cadi valley running toward Vernet and the Canigou. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
Kobo, Nook etc → Transfer via USB
Phone, tablet or computer → Open in a reading app
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Dimnet, Ernest, 1866-1954 |
|---|---|
| Title | Figures de moines |
| Original Publication | Paris: Perrin et Cie, 1909. |
| Credits | Laurent Vogel (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 74.1 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | French |
| LoC Class | BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements |
| Subject | Monasticism and religious orders |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 76608 |
| Release Date | Aug 1, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 259 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!