Monks (and dogs) to stay

"We will not abandon the cradle of our Order", Fr. Charles Giroud, Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustine told rue here. We spoke at his Order's 8.1 141t. hospice under which a 3f-mile tunnel is being completed to link the two nations. The tunnel, some 3,000ft. below the hospice, started four years ago to take care of traffic between Switzerland and Italy, will be opened this autumn and, it is expected, will be used by an estimated 300,000 motorists during its first year of operation. When the project was first announced it was feared that the monks would leave their 1,000year-old mission because travellers would no longer cross the Pass. Also, few, if any, travellers now need the help of the famous Si. Bernard dogs whose skill saved more than 2,000 lives over the years.
"We know now," said Fr. Giroud, "that heavy traffic will continue to cross our Pass except during the depths of winter when the surface of the road is impassable."
Although there is a chairlift from the hospice to the very top of Chenalette Mountain affording tourists a magnificent view of Mont Blanc, other Alpine peaks and 27 glaciers, the dogs in their kennels remain the greatest attraction.
"We keep them only for breeding purposes," said Fr. Giroud, "fourteen of them here, seven at our Simplon Pass hospice." The hospice now serves principally for the summer holidays of the monks. whose mother house is in Martigny, and whose seminary is in nearby Econe. The novices go up for part of their training. but only four priests remain during the winter when the temperature falls 20 degrees below zero and snow falls to a depth of some 36ft. Although modern electric lighting, central heating and telephones make life more bearable to-day, what things must have been like in the past may be gathered from a look at the bronze finger warmer in the chapel sacristy which was once used by priests to thaw their freezing fingers during Mass.
Rescue work these days when skiers can usually take care of themselves is a rare occurrence, but there are 400 beds available for travellers and some 20,000 people stay at the hospice each year. From Fr. Placid, Jordan, OS.B, Great St. Bernard Pass
THE famous "Monks of St. Bernard" arc not to abandon their hospice on the Great St. Bernard Pass between Switzerland and Italy.