To the Vicomtesse de Turenne, palais des Papes, Avignon, as Epiphany approaches, in the year of Our Lord, 1348.
My dear Countess, I write to you as one much changed, whose day is filled with labour and singing the offices faithfully to Our Lord. I have found refuge in this harsh order, with its fierce rule of silence. Here, our hands do the work of our mouths. I have prayed and slept and eaten in my solitary hermitage. I have worked in the fields until I have collapsed in exhaustion. Can you imagine how difficult this silence has been for me, for whom talking is life? … read more