**1. Introduction**

Monastic practices turn out to be attractive for many abbey visitors, even in a secularised country like the Netherlands. Although the majority of the Dutch are not affiliated with any denomination and do not participate in ritual practices regularly or not at all (Bernts and Berghuis 2016, pp. 21–29), guest houses of abbeys are full and often have long waiting lists. People who are not necessarily practising Catholics participate in the prayer services; groups are formed at various places who practice sacred reading; and professional organisations benefit from applying a monastic time rhythm to organise work and leisure time (Quartier 2015, pp. 115–17). All these practices are originally constitutive for the ritual form-of-life led by monks and nuns (Quartier 2017a, pp. 61–63). In recent years, philosophical analyses have pointed out once again that monastic life is ritual in its very essence, as there is no practice conducted by monks and nuns which is not determined by a rule that provides life with structure and meaning (Agamben 2013, pp. 65–72). However, there is a shift going on. As monastic communities are crumbling rapidly in the Netherlands, the appeal of the form-of-life for people who are not monastic is growing. Monastic convents often play an active role in promoting parts of their lifestyle (Jewdokimow 2020, pp. 207–24). The impact of the spiritual tradition might be different for those who do not live within the overarching context of a monastery but still engage with the ritual lifestyle. The structure of the practices might be experienced differently, and they may also have a different meaning (Quartier 2017b, pp. 97–99). For a better understanding of this spiritual shift, exploring experiences of rituals with those who actually perform them can prove an appropriate lens (Post and Sparks 2015).

The meaning of the form-of-life for monks and nuns is determined by their Christian faith, based on Holy Scripture. In Western monasticism, St Benedict of Nursia (480–547), wrote a rule that became extremely influential and aims at a life according to Divine commandments. The purpose of this form-of-life is: "Never swerving from his [God's, TQ] instructions, but faithfully observing his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom" (Fry 1980, Prol 50). This theological meaning aims at a different ritual context than the context of guests participating in monastic practices. The structure provided by the secluded space of monastic life has a different character when moved to life in a profane setting. The practitioners conduct a "ritual transfer". This concept has been established to analyse "the transfer of a ritual from one context to another, or—more generally—a change of context surrounding the ritual. Processes of transfer can take place within time or space" (Langer et al. 2006, p. 1). What does the ritual transfer of monastic practices exactly entail and who conducts it?

It is important to realise that monastic life in particular has turned out to be especially capable of ritual transfer in its history. Already by the Middle Ages, members of religious orders were engaged in a twofold exchange with the world: first, they "incorporated, investigated and criticised the knowledge of the world within their search for God", as Melville points out in his excellent summary of studies on medieval monasticism. Examples include "scholastic techniques that helped to proof the validity of rational argument and to break it open with mystical experiences, at the same time" (Melville 2012, p. 311). Second, they enriched their religious way of life by striving for a good education for monks and nuns: "Education helped religious persons to deepen their path to salvation". Here the examples of "grammar, rhetoric, and logic or dialectics" are mentioned (*trivium*), which coloured monastic life intensely (Melville 2012, p. 314). The interrelatedness of monasticism with its cultural context led to very different forms of monastic observance. The need for religious experience changed prayer life, and the possibility for study was interwoven with sacred reading. One interesting example of how this weave with culture influences monastic life is termed "monastic experiment" by Evans: "By the end of the eleventh century, suddenly, adults were choosing to enter monasteries which had previously received many of their future monks as child-oblates". That led to significant "changes which were social as much as spiritual" (Evans 2016, pp. 134–36). The changes strengthened monasticism in that time, as those who were familiar with recent developments in the world joined communities. Still, you need to be aware that "the relationship between monasticism and culture is inherently complex, since it is universally characterised by a degree of separation from ordinary human activities (*fuga mundi*)", as Pfeifer summarises investigations of the relationship from various disciplines (Pfeifer and Nouzille 2013, pp. 12–13). You should by no means get the impression that the contemporary shift going on with regard to the social position and identity of monasticism is a new phenomenon in its history. For this reason, monastic groups form a particularly interesting case in today's secular society.

However, there is a certain shift that has also been important for the dynamic development of monasticism. This is in its relationship with "lay spirituality", a form for which "historical research has not developed a framework in the sense of a 'secularised spirituality'", as Waaijman states (Waaijman 2007, p. 42). Again, it was in medieval times that oblates were not only small children (*pueri oblati*) but also those in the world who offered themselves to God by affiliating their life to a particular monastery (Koller 2009, pp. 98–100). Today, the word "oblate" has a different meaning to the one Evans mentions. It refers to groups in the "Order of St Benedict" (OSB) who live a life under guidance of the rule of the founder, without taking monastic vows in the strict sense. They number over 25,000 worldwide (Koller 2009, pp. 283–84).

Especially in the secularised Netherlands, where membership of religious communities seems to be diminishing, the number of oblates affiliated to the three male Benedictine abbeys in the country is growing.1 This is surprising, as, although they do not take monastic vows, oblates still commit lifelong to one and the same abbey. Societal trends are exactly the opposite: flexibility and variation. Only a very small minority of these lay members live within the cloister ("regular oblates"). The majority spend their lives within society, often with a family and a job, just like any other citizen ("secular oblates"). They receive spiritual guidance from the abbey, visit regularly, and—most significantly—share in the monastic practices of Benedictine life. These groups illustrate the dynamic development of monasticism and its paradoxical interrelatedness with its cultural context.

The Archives of the Benedictine Confederation describe this form-of-life as follows: "Oblates of St. Benedict are Christian individuals or families who have associated themselves with a Benedictine community in order to enrich their Christian way of life. Oblates shape their lives by living the wisdom of Christ as interpreted by St. Benedict. Oblates seek God by striving to become holy in their chosen way of life. By integrating their prayer and work, they manifest Christ's presence in society" (Archives OSB 2020). The context in society seems to contradict the context of the cloister, which exists to give shelter from societal mechanisms and duties. To be able to participate fully in this contemplative life according to the Gospel, you need to transform your identity, as Casey points out: "It asks us to take on a new identity and to be reshaped according to a different culture. This refashioning must come from within" (Casey 2005, p. xi). Although the transformation is not necessarily bound to the territory of the monastery, you can ask whether a performance of monastic practices outside this context is not at odds with the basic idea that monastics are "strangers to the city", as Casey puts it.

It might be that the form-of-life of oblates is "out of place", happening in unexpected places and moments (Grimes 2006, pp. 101–2). Not only do oblates usually not live in an abbey, they are also engaged in social networks which monks and nuns, ideally speaking, are not. The Constitution of Italian Benedictine Oblates from 2000 provides the following description, taking into account the societal embeddedness of oblates: "The Benedictine oblate is a lay or clergy Christian man or woman, who, leading a normal way of life, acknowledges and accepts God's gift and His call to serve Him in conformity to the potentialities of baptismal consecration and to the needs of his social status" (Constitution 2000, article 2). Of course, this is a different way of life than Casey's view on culture. Still, the otherness of life might be established by ritual practices: mainly prayer, reading and everyday practices.

In recent years, research has been carried out on the structure of monasteries, their presentation to the world (Jonveaux 2018), the internal organisational processes within contemporary abbeys (Hochschild 2013) and the perception of liturgical services by monks, nuns (Quartier 2016) and abbey guests (Quartier 2014). Yet, until now, there has been no data available on the ritual practices of oblates. For this reason, this article will explore the experiences of Benedictine oblates in the Netherlands with ritual practices of spirituality. The key question is this: which monastic ritual practices do Benedictine oblates in the Netherlands perform, and how do they transfer these to their personal context?

To answer this question, a qualitative questionnaire was disseminated among Benedictine oblates in the Netherlands. It contained open questions on the chief practices to be found in the Rule of St Benedict (Quartier 2011a) and provided space for the oblates to give personal answers and to describe individual experiences. There was no theoretical or empirical evidence on how oblates perform these practices, what their attitude is, or how they experience the ritual transfer to their own personal context from the specific context of the abbey to which they are affiliated. Therefore, the chosen method is as open as possible (Grimes 2014, p. 47). We did not use theoretical concepts and operationalize them in the questionnaire, but rather chose to ask about major topics and let the respondents freely share their personal experiences. A total of 53 respondents shared their experiences and attitudes by returning the

<sup>1</sup> The focus is on the male abbey, as the female abbeys in the Netherlands do not have oblate groups. However, the groups mentioned here consist of both men and women.

questionnaire.2 Their answers have been divided into quotes and coded. In a first step, specific topics the respondents mentioned in their answers were translated into sensitising concepts. An example of this is 'morning prayer' or 'evening prayer'. In a second step, these sensitising concepts were merged into codes on a more general level—in the example mentioned, into 'Liturgy of the Hours'. After that, the major categories within the codes were distinguished, for example, 'Prayer', to form a code group. This allowed the experiences of the respondents to be compared, whilst keeping the codes from the earlier round visible. In what follows, the general code groups will be shown and, later, the codes that were the result of merging the sensitizing concepts.<sup>3</sup> As a result, codes and quotes were found to shed light on the following research questions, which will hopefully be answered in the following sections:

