Stop the World Songs of Praise

-Right.

-Up and down the country...

Oops, forgot the drum.

I'm delighted to say we've got a new member.

Nice of them to let us out of the office.

Do you think they even know we've gone?

-This is lovely!

-It is!

It's Ampleforth Abbey, near York,

and listen...silence, it's so peaceful!

And it ought to be because the

monastery here is home to the biggest

Benedictine community of monks in the UK and they're,

kind of, experts at being tranquil.

Hmmm...and perhaps there's something in it for all of us.

I'm going to learn to Gregorian Chant,

which apparently can lower blood pressure and reduce stress levels.

HE SIGHS

And while he's chanting I'll be drinking, actually.

It's cider, this is a great cider making community here -

it's part of the monk's self sufficiency rule.

I definitely drew the short straw.

Also on today's programme,

it's the Songs Of Praise family's final challenge,

as the chatty Corrs spend hours in silence on a religious retreat.

And there are beautiful, soothing hymns to match the mood.

Monks have been here in Ampleforth since 1802,

when the estate was donated to the Benedictine community.

But their history stretches back hundreds of years before.

Here they live by the ancient rule of St Benedict,

a man who lived in a cave 1,500 years ago.

The thing about St Benedict is that even though

he decided to live his life like a hermit, like a monk,

people from far and wide sought him out to ask him

for advice for their walk with God and he responded.

But he found himself advising them not to do it alone

but to do it together, as a community.

So, he took his own advice, left the cave, founded his first monastery

and went on to establish 11 more in his lifetime.

His vision of how to live the monastic life is still

followed by the monks here today.

It's not all scripture and solemnity at Ampleforth,

there's also the chance to explore the ancient apple orchard

and even try the cider they make. Hello there.

Cameron Smith is the orchard manager at Ampleforth

and he's putting me to work, bottling the latest vintage.

-You could get a job...

-I'm enjoying this, I have to say!

It is funny, you know, though, to think of this being a monastery.

I mean, it shouldn't be if you know your history, I suppose.

It's so hi tech, isn't it?

-Yes...ish.

-Well, compared to the picture you would have of monks.

For an artisan production, which is what we are.

In terms of the monks,

the Benedictine Order has always had a history of being

commercially savvy and making sure they get the most out of what

they have and this is just another aspect of that.

-I think I'm outpacing your lid making.

-No, I've run out of caps!

LAUGHTER

Shortage of caps but that's super!

Yeah, great! Well, I think we should go outside

because I think I fancy a drink.

Right, let's go.

What on earth have you got for me here?

Before I find out, though, what's it like working with monks?

Well, I enjoy it because of the Benedictine values.

They've got some lovely values where, basically, treat

people like you'd like to be treated yourself.

The edict of half a day's prayer,

half a day's hard labour fits with this work and it's just

the natural coming together of their values and what I enjoy doing.

Tell me what I've got here.

I've got to warn you that I get very tiddly very quickly on

-very little, so, erm...

-This could be a headache then.

-Yes.

Right, we've got three sorts of cider.

We've got an 8.3 cider, a sparkling 6.5 and a still 6.5

and more than anything I'd like to know what you think of them,

-which would you prefer to drink if you were drinking cider.

-OK.

-Right, so...

-There we go with that one.

-So, this is the 8.3?

It's supposed to be a mystery but I'll let you cheat.

This is actually the one that you've just bottled,

only this is in its finished state.

-Yeah, that's quite nice. It doesn't taste too strong, actually.

-No.

-OK...right.

-Next one's sparkling.

-I like a bit of sparkle.

-Yeah.

Oooh, now, I'm liking that!

-You like that one?

-Yes, uh-huh!

That's lost a bit of bubble but it's still got some there.

Says she, gulping back another one.

I'm going to have to stop here, right.

Last but not least, something else that we can do with cider

and do do with cider, make it into cider brandy.

Yorkshire's Calvados!

Cameron, you know I have a programme to present here!

You can sleep later.

Oooh, boy, that's strong!

Yeah.

It's a fierce spirit but it warms you on a cold day in the North.

Cheers, David!

Morning mass at Ampleforth Abbey.

Gregorian chant is at the heart of their daily worship

and I wanted to hear it first-hand.

THEY CHANT

Monks have been singing like this for thousands of years

and it's something that Father Alexander, choir master

and Gregorian chant composer takes very seriously.

How important is Gregorian chant to the community here?

It is so important that we don't talk about it.

It's too deeply embedded in our culture, in our monastic culture.

It is something, I believe, that feeds souls...

it nourishes them.

It brings people into a much closer relationship with God.

How important are the acoustics of this abbey to Gregorian chant?

Well, the acoustics of this abbey serve

the purpose of Gregorian chant better than any I've ever

been in really because it has this amazing echo,

-which lasts, believe it or not, six seconds.

-Six seconds?!

-Shall we try it?

-Go on, show me, show me!

OK, erm...

# La. #

NOTES ECHO

You're right!

With the sound still ringing in my ears,

I wanted to know just how the choir master wrote this sacred plainsong.

I start with the words first.

Everything starts with the words, with the text.

-So, you don't need a bass clef, you don't need a treble clef?

-No, no.

-You don't need to have a time signature?

-No, you don't.

You read these notes because they all represent pitches,

particular pitches, F...

'And then he began to compose,

'in a way completely different to anything I'd ever seen before.'

So, the text here,

"The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy,"

I have in my mind...a particular

mood that I want to create.

Intimacy, a sense of closeness and you've got to find

the notes that will reflect these particular divine qualities.

And within a few minutes, the line from Psalm 103 was coming together.

So, the architecture of the thing is that you've got a phrase that

actually moves out into the world and then moves slowly back.

# The Lord is compassion and love

# Slow to anger and rich in mercy

# The Lord is compassion and love

# Slow to anger and rich in mercy. #

-Wow!

-That was brilliant, congratulations!

-It's beautiful!

-That's your first ever, isn't it?

That is beautiful! I can't believe you just wrote that.

# The lord is my shepherd

# I shall not want

# He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

# He leadeth me

# Beside the still waters

# The lord is my shepherd

# I shall not want

# He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

# He leadeth me

# Beside the still waters

# Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

# I will fear no evil

# Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

# I will fear no evil

# For you are with me

# You will comfort me

# You are with me

# You will comfort me

# Comfort me

# Surely goodness and mercy

# Shall follow me all the days of my life

# And I will dwell

# In the house of the Lord

# For ever

# For ever

# For ever

# For ever. #

The Corrs, a Catholic family from Essex.

Earlier this year, they responded to our appeal for a family to

take part in some of our programmes over the summer.

The idea is that we set them some challenges, so that you find

out how their Christian faith is woven into their lives.

This week it's their final challenge and we're really putting them

to the test.

The gadget lovers are off on a religious retreat

but they don't quite realise it yet.

So this is Aylesford Priory

and I'm guessing you don't know why you're here.

-No.

-No idea.

-No idea, whatsoever?

-No.

You, for the next 24 hours, are going to enter into a time of retreat.

And not any old retreat, a tough one.

So, if you've got a mobile telephone,

can you put it in there, please?

With a no-screens weekend ahead...

Phone amnesty.

..the family were split up into sparse separate rooms,

including Mum and Dad.

When we arrived we were a little bit anxious about the challenge ahead.

Before they knew it,

they were thrown into a situation quite alien to such a chatty family.

So, here we are in the peace garden

and the hour of silence is about to begin.

The idea of silence is a very good idea for any person,

simply because it confronts us with something very real.

And for the Christian person it's an opportunity to be open to

something which is greater than ourselves.

Although initially there were a few moments of Sam and Sophie

bending the rules, the family seemed quickly to embrace the challenge.

After the first hour in the peace garden

the silent challenge continued.

Silent prayer in church, silent prayer through dinner

and even back in their rooms.

The rules were to stay apart and to stay quiet,

while reflecting on their faith on paper.

But they kept it up right up until bedtime prayers with Father Brendan.

Our God, you search me and you know me.

All my ways lie open to your gaze.

On their weekend retreat, the Corrs had spent much of their first day

in silence and the next morning they were in reflective mood.

It was really hard but actually it really made you think,

"Hang on a minute, there's more to life than just talking."

Sometimes, you just need to sit and reflect.

And the girls, with a new-found relationship with a proper friar,

decided that they wanted to know

more about life in the habit, so they put him in the hot seat.

As a friar, why do you wear funny clothes?

You think my clothes are funny?

I noticed last night

when we had our night prayer that you were all in your onesies.

Erm, this is my threesy, OK.

So, it's actually three pieces of clothing

and actually underneath I've got normal clothes.

I'm wearing my jeans underneath.

This is called the tunic but if you think back to when we started,

it was back in the 13th century, people wore tunics

and friars really wanted to be amongst the ordinary people.

Do you wish you had a family of your own? Do you ever get slightly lonely?

Yes, it would be lovely to have my own family

and I feel that especially when I see my sister's family

and my brother's family.

So, sometimes, I wouldn't say I'm jealous but I think,

"Mmm, that would have been nice."

The girls were preparing for their upcoming confirmation

and so they also wanted to get to the bottom of something that

had been really worrying them.

Can you give me some advice on going to confession?

Rule number one, always be yourselves.

You don't have to be at confession cos you're holy.

Be honest, there's no point going in and pretending and there's

absolutely nothing we can do in our lives that God can't forgive.

I think it was a really good idea for us to have silence

and to have solitude

because actually my pace of life is too fast and sometimes I do need to

slow it down and to think of having some time with just me and God.

Well, there is this phrase, isn't there,

"If you're too busy for God, you're too busy."

# When I survive the wondrous cross

# On which the Prince of glory died

# My richest gain I count but loss

# And pour contempt on all my pride

# Forbid it, Lord

# That I should boast

# Save in the death

# Of Christ my God!

# All the vain things

# That charm me most

# I sacrifice them

# To His blood

# Were the whole realm of nature mine

# That were a present far too small

# Love so amazing

# So divine

# Demands my soul

# My life, my all. #

BELL RINGS

MONKS CHANT

Back at Ampleforth, I was really getting

stuck into Gregorian chanting.

Father Alexander, I can't believe you said you were going to teach me

and you have! That's brilliant!

Hang on a minute, David, there's a little bit more to this.

Why don't you come and join us at vespers

if you want to sing some more plainchant? That's the real thing.

And I could teach you a nice little phrase that you would get used to.

Singing with you and the other monks?

And the other monks...would you like to do that?

I'd love to, I'd love to, I'd love to!

But then it dawned on me that what he wanted me

to learn wasn't English Gregorian chant,

it was Latin!

Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius.

As you can probably tell,

there wasn't a big call for Latin in East London when I was growing up.

I think you're doing very well.

What does it mean?

It means, for - quoniam, for ever - in aeternum,

misecordia eius - His love.

So, His love lasts or endures for ever.

I'm going to have to work at that, aren't I?

Oh, by the way, I forgot, there are notes to it as well, aren't there?

There are notes as well.

-I think the time has come, don't you?

-Yes.

Are you prepared for this, ready?

OK, so...

# Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus...#

Now this is your phrase.

# Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius.

# Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius...#

Essentially it is, yes.

# Corida eius. #

Two notes on the A, those two notes go on the A.

And although it was only one short line, it did take a bit of practice.

# Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius. #

MONKS CHANT

Later, at their evening service, as promised, Father Alexander gave me

the chance to be part of an ancient monastic tradition

that has been sung for centuries.

I felt quite nervous.

At least there was a familiar face in there too.

I only knew one line and I didn't know when it was coming exactly

but luckily it was a phrase that was

sung over and over and over, giving me plenty of chances to get it right.

# Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius. #

And it's true what Father Alexander says, it does feed the soul.

# Quoniam in aeternum misericordia eius. #

THE MONKS CHANT

Well, how was it?

It was really kind of strange and then beautiful.

It was actually very moving, I found.

I think it shows that if something's sung with sincerity, you don't

necessarily have to understand the words to be touched by it,

cos I was really touched by it.

-You did very well.

-Thank you.

# Pie Jesu

# Domine

# Dona eis

# Requiem

# Dona

# Dona eis

# Requiem

# Pie Jesu

# Domine

# Dona eis

# Sempiternam

# Requiem

# Dona eis

# Requiem

# Dona eis

# Requiem

# Dona eis

# Requiem. #

I don't know about you but I'm beginning to feel quite relaxed

after my day at Ampleforth but before I go I had to show you this.

Look at it, the Millennium Cross, isn't it splendid?

It's on a little hill, just above the abbey

and it towers over North Yorkshire for miles!

This cross, four and a half tonnes and 50 foot high,

is dedicated to the life of the late Cardinal Basil Hume,

former leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The Cardinal lived here in Ampleforth, man and boy,

eventually becoming the Abbot.

The cross began life outside Westminster Cathedral, in London,

where Basil Hume was Archbishop but a few years after his death,

it was winched by helicopter here, to stand beside his old home.

-Wow!

-Amazing, isn't it?

Yeah, it's fantastic! It's time for us to get on the road.

-It is.

-I'll drive.

-Probably very wise.

-We've had such a good day at Ampleforth, haven't we?

-We have.

-Hope you've enjoyed it too, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

Next week, it's carnival time in Leeds and Pam's there to meet

some of the participants and explore the city's vibrant cultural life.

She also introduces soloist Christina Miles

and there are toe-tapping hymns from our congregation.