It is hard to know which is more wonderful: the fact that Pluscarden Abbey survives at all, or the fact that the way of life of its community today is almost exactly as it was when Pluscarden was established in the 13th century.
Either way, anyone fortunate enough to attend its daily offices soon finds themselves reflecting that if one of the brethren present at its foundation were to wake from his tomb and find himself once more in choir, he would know exactly where he was both in terms of geographical place and in terms of place within the liturgical day. The hours observed by the Benedictines of Pluscarden are just as he would have known them: chanted in Latin and in the order prescribed in the original sixth-century Rule. The only thing he would find different would be the form of the Mass itself.
