The Benedictine Convent
of Our Lady of Invisble Joy
Situated within the town walls is this proud and ancient monastery, where the Black Monks of the Benedictine Order labor, both in contemplation of the Divine, and in the production of wondrous illuminated manuscripts on both secular and religious topics. Abbot Udo, a wise, scholarly man, sees to it that the brothers labor hard to preserve the works of the wise in the monastery’s scriptorium. The monastery also adjoins the cemetery, where the good folk of Vanished Wood are laid to rest by the priests of the Church of St. Edward of Dover.
Beyond the town walls, in the rural countryside of the Shire, there is also a Convent of Our Lady of the Invisible Joy, which is held by a Benedictine sister Order. According to legend, this convent was the site of several miracles that occurred while the Round Table knight, Sir Percival, paused to rest there during his quest for the Holy Grail and is now thought to be haunting the convent in the form of an oracle. After leaving the Crown’s service, the Shire’s old seneschal, Katherine von Schlosserwald fled ...er... retired from public life, to this convent. Although it is debatable if the convent has grown in piety with Sister Katherine’s arrival, visitors report that the quality of both the sisters’ habit and table has prospered indeed.
