Our Lady of Gerowval is home for the two monks, whose main occupation is contemplation. "Beware of a bull when you are in front of him, of a donkey when you are behind him, and of a monk wherever you are." So goes an old Russian proverb which aptly illustrates the distrust with which monks and monasteries have through centuries been regarded by many persons in the world "outside." But the man who greets visitors at Our Lady of Gerowval Monastery near Roase Hill, Mississippi, 25 miles southwest of Meridian, is apt to shatter such preconceptions.

Photo is dated 1973.

Photo measures 10 x 8.25 inches.