c. 2007 Religion News Service

CULLMAN, Ala. _ When Brother David Bryant, garbed in the traditional black robes of his Benedictine order, breaks apart pieces of wax, his actions take on the rhythm of a priest breaking Communion bread before the Lord’s Supper.

While the wax isn’t holy, for Brother David, 29, the work itself is holy.

“When things are running smoothly, work is definitely a prayer,” Brother David said recently as he worked in the candle shop at St. Bernard’s Abbey, where he has been a member for several years. “Not much needs to be said.”

St. Bernard’s follows the rule of St. Benedict, the sixth century monk who formulated some of the first guidelines for Christian monastic life. The traditional motto for Benedictine monks is “Ora et labora,” “Work and pray.”

Brother David said he often finds the Psalms running through his mind as his hands pour fragrant wax into molds or roll beeswax sheets into candles.

The candle shop is part of the self-sufficient tradition of the Abbey, established in 1891 by German-speaking monks from Pennsylvania. The Abbey has achieved some fame and a listing in Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” for the Ave Maria Grotto, a collection of 125 miniature reproductions of Christian shrines and historical buildings from around the world.

The Grotto grew out of the creativity of a monk, Brother Joseph Zoettl, who turned fragments of stone and glass into works of art.

Brother David would never compare his candles to Zoettl’s masterpieces, but his industry comes from a similar desire to make use of leftovers. Services at the Abbey Church generate baskets of candles burned too low to be re-used.

So a couple of years ago, Brother David began experimenting with the leftover wax, melting it and adding color and fragrance to be poured into new candles. As his operation grew, he took over a room in the Abbey’s dairy barn. He works near the laundry and the tailor shop, where Brother Peter Le sews bolts of black wool suiting into the hooded robes that have 74 careful pleats to remind the monks of the 74 rules of their order.

In the candle shop, old cafeteria equipment and trays have been converted into candle-making equipment. The squares of wax broken apart become chips of color in candles that look like a stained glass window when they burn. Demand for the candles means that Brother David buys new wax in addition to re-using candles from the church.

Brother David enjoys experimenting with new techniques, adjusting the wicks to get a clean-burning flame, playing with temperatures of the wax to achieve different effects. A palm-wax candle he is making for Christmas comes out of the mold with a surface that looks like it’s covered with the lacings of a fresh winter frost.

Raised a Baptist in Knoxville, Tenn., Brother David was drawn to the liturgical and musical formality of the traditional Catholic service. When he joined the church as a young adult, he found in the quiet rhythms of monastic life a harmony with his own prayers.

He enjoys the idea that the formed cylinders of wax he sells through the Grotto’s gift shop and online (http://monasterycandleshop.com) could become part of someone else’s prayers. Each candle carries with it the promise of light and a hint of the peace of the Benedictine day.

Brother David held a candle, picturing it lit with a tiny dancing oval of fire.

“It’s almost possible to see the eye of God in it,” he said.

Photos of Brother David are available via https://religionnews.com.

KRE/PH END CAMPBELL