ESSENE is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organizational priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules, work, worship, values, love, and play.

The last three monks at a monastery have their lives enriched by the presence of children flying kites outside their walls.

"We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home. In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils...

The sleepy little town of Crozet, Virginia has seen its share of mischief and mayhem, but nothing like this. While visiting the Mt. Carmel monastery, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen witnesses a statue of the Virgin Mary cry tears of blood. Legend says this fortells crises, and soon a monk is found frozen to death near the statue. Before long the monk's body disappears, another Crozet citizen dies, and a shocking revelation to an ages-old mystery surfaces....

Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is...

Sister Agatha has to track down John Gutierrerrez's estranged niece. All she has to do is find the woman and the monastery's financial worries will be over. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Sister Agatha's investigation quickly lands her in the midst of a deadly situation.

The Grande Chartreuse, considered one of the world's most ascetic monasteries is based in the French Alps. This documentary shows life in the Grande Chartreuse monastery, home of the Carthusian Order. Using extended shots, no interviews, and no music other than that of the monks' own chanting, looks at the monks' days centered on contemplation, work, and study.

Follows the adventures of sixteen-year-old Thomas, one of thousands of imprisoned youths being trained in combat by warrior monks who becomes aware of his secret destiny after a daring escape.

Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.