The Monks of the Screw versuri

Versuri Irische Sehnsucht – The Monks of the Screw lyrics

When St. Patrick this order established
He called us the „Monks of the Screw”!
Good rules he revealed to our abbot
To guide us in what we should do
But first he replenished our fountain
With liquor the best from on high
And he said, on the word of a saint
That the fountain should never run dry

„Each year, when your octaves approach
In full chapter convened let me find you
And when to the convent you come
Leave your favourite temptation behind you
And be not a glass in your convent –
Unless on a festival – found
And, this rule to enforce, I ordain it
One festival all the year round

My brethren, be chaste – till you’re tempted
While sober, be grave and discreet
And humble your bodies with fasting –
As oft as you’ve nothing to eat
Yet in honour of fasting, one lean face
Among you I’d always require
If the abbot should please, he may wear it
If not, let it come to the prior

Come, let each take his chalice, my brethren
And with due devotion prepare
With hands and with voices uplifted
Our hymn to conclude with a prayer
May this chapter of joyously meet
And this gladsome libation renew
To the saint, and the founder, and abbot
And prior, and Monks of the Screw!”