When Brother Chip has dim memories of living with his parents and his brother when he was very small. They all lived in a tiny 1 room house.
When Chip was but a small boy he was chosen to be Boy Bishop. This is a special honor. The clergymen would choose a boy in the kingdom to be the Boy Bishop for a time. He would be the honorary Bishop and would be in charge, along with his closest friends.
Chip didn't know why he was chosen over his brother Dale. Chip was the naughty one. Perhaps that is why...perhaps Father Abraham Wiseman had wanted to teach him a lesson. He had. At first he had found it funny, Father Abraham and the other monks humbling themselves before him! The monks had worked like slaves.
From sun up to sun down they cleaned, gardened, cooked. And when they weren't doing that, they worked for the upper class. They did all kinds of things for them! Gardened, took care of their animals, cleaned, all kinds of stuff. The monks worked harder than the peasants, Chip could hardly believe it. And he set back like a king. There was a part of this that confused young Chip. He approached Father Abraham.
"Father? May I speak with thee?"
"As you wish Bishop Chip."
This time Chip did not giggle at this title.
"Please, sit with me Father."
"Thank you Bishop. It does me good to rest my old bones."
"Father? Am I working you too hard? I don't want to wear out your bones."
How the good Father had smiled!
"My bones are worn with age. You are doing a fine job."
"Am I Father? I..." Chip had trailed off. Father Abraham had waited in silence. "Am I supposed to be leading you and the monks...in...God stuff?"
"God stuff?"
"Well isn't the monastery supposed to be all about God?"
"Ah...we monks worship in everything we do."
"How is working as servants worship?"
"It is our way of serving our fellow man. We try to be examples to others, doing good deeds."
"Oh...is that all being a monk is, doing good deeds?"
"We also pray. We strive to pray all the time. With every waking moment if possible."
"I don't hear ye all praying all the day."
"We often pray in silence."
"Is that why ye are all quiet all the time?"
"Yes."
"And what of the Bible?"
"What about it?"
"I thought monk read it all the day."
"We do read the Bible...and we spend a great deal of time thinking on what it means and how to apply it to our lives. And on the Sabbath day, I try to teach others about the word of God."
"Father Abraham I think all but the little babies know the word God."
"The Bible is called the word of God."
"Oh."
"As Boy Bishop you will be preaching from the pulpit on the Sabbath day...do you know what you will say?"
"I think I will tell them what ye told me. I bet I am not the only one who could use some clearing up."
"And that is what being Father is about, clearing things up."
"Father, I wish that when I was done being Boy Bishop I could just stay here with you and the monks and learn stuff."
And he had. Father Abraham made arrangements with his father and he became Brother Chip.
Not long after 2 very sad things happened. First Father Abraham died. The monk had been very old. Before he passed he made Brother Patrick McGreggor the new Father. Before the grief had passed Chip's mother died.
As the youngest monk a lot of work fell to Brother Chip. At first he had hated that. It was worse than chores in his peasant upbringing. But as he went through his earthly trials he became grateful for his tasks. It helped him to grieve. By the time he was a young man he used his work to tune out his life's sufferings and ponder the Lord instead. With each task he did he was grateful for the lesson Father Abraham had taught him when he was a young boy. He sank himself into his work when his brother Dale died of illness not long after boyhood.
Brother Chip had expected the majority of his days would be spent this way. He was wrong.
Not long after Patrick McGreggor became Father, Brother Chip's life changed. It started off rather ordinary.
The brothers had eaten a plain but nourishing breakfast. Then they had gone out to the garden. He remembered Father Patrick kneeling before a pepper plant, to pray to God that the peppers become as mouthwatering as the other vegetables in the garden.
Chip joined brothers Michael and Gargamel harvesting.
Chip had been wondering in that moment if God felt as good harvesting souls from his garden as he felt harvesting eggplants from the monastery garden. This work had barely begun when they heard hooves and wheels come to a stop.
Father Patrick whispered "amen" and went to "shepherd the flock" as he liked to call it. He came back surprisingly fast.
"Brother Chip, come with me please."
"Yes Father."
Oh Chip can still remember the excitement. Someone in need of spiritual guidance and Father Patrick had picked him!
"Brother Chip, please attend to those two."
Chip approached the boys uncertainly. He knew he should take them inside, but he could not leave one out here alone...Father Patrick was clearly occupied. But how to get both in at once? As he pondered he heard bits of what Father Patrick's conversation with the wagon driver.
"You can not leave the girl here. Take her back."
"I cannot take her back, her mother is dead."
"Dead? Oh my."
"So ye see, ye must take all 3."
"This is a monastery. I cannot permit a girl to live among us."
"I was told to take 'er to ye and so I have."
"Take her to the convent."
"But she said-"
"I know what she said. You told me that already. The decision is mine. She will be raised at the convent. Please take her there right away."
"I have a lot of deliveries to make today Father."
"The convent is the nearest building. You can see it there behind you."
"I deliver these fast and I get me tips."
"Son, this is a charitable place."
"I accept charity."
"'Tis better to give charity than to receive it. Be a charitable man and deliver the girl."
"Father ye try me patience, but I am a God fearin' man. I will deliver the girl - but not 'til I have delivered all these."
"And where will you put the girl? Without the packages in place she will fall off the wagon and be killed."
"If I have to I will put the lass in me lap."
"Take care that you treat the girl decent."
"Ye know what her mother was."
"She is but a child!"
"I have no interest in her! What sick man do ye take me fer? Why don't ye jest take her Father?"
"I cannot. Now mind that you don't leave her on the grass like you tried to do with the 3 of them here."
"Then tell those nuns to be waitin' for me. I won't be kept waitin'."
"I will send a scroll."
With that they had left. Chip never did get a look at the girl. He was too occupied with the little boys. He would spend a great deal of time with those boys.
He taught them that cleanliness is next to Godliness...or rather they taught him. And when they were naughty, it was Chip who set them in the corner.
Father Patrick helped him with the boys more than the others.
As they grew it was Father Patrick who taught the boys the ways of God, but it was Chip who tucked them in at night.
Indeed, the boys would surely miss him more than even his own pa, Kenneth Woods. For in the end it wasn't his pa and if he spent time with the gypsy woman that mattered. It was these boys. Which is why they were the last people he thought of.
One asleep upstairs, the other pattering down the hall.
It was Father Abraham that had called him home. All around now there was wailing.
For a moment Brother Chip felt lost. Who was this dark robed creature? It was that sin, wasn't it? Oh forgive me God! The dark robed creature pointed. Brother Chip crept forward. The monastery fell away. Before him stood a welcome sight.
"Are you going to crawl to heaven? Stand up Chip. Elle and Dale are eager to see you.
"Ma and Dale?"
"Yes Chip. I missed you child. They did too."
"I missed you too Father Abraham."
Chip's earthly worries fell away, and heaven rejoiced.
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