When Graham Greene sought peace in a Galician monastery

While navigating the roads of Orense at the wheel of a Renault 4, accompanied by his friend, the priest Leopoldo Durán , Graham Greene must have recalled the life of perdition he was leaving behind. It was 1976, and at the Oseira Monastery, silence awaited him, instead of the bustle of his beloved Saigon; contemplation, instead of the debauchery of his wild days; and a chance at redemption, after decades of addiction and a journey toward self-destruction.

Room 14 of the monastery where Greene stayed has been renovated, but it's still possible to imagine the author of The Power and the Glory sitting at his desk, fulfilling his maxim of writing 500 words a day . Not one more. Not one less. The British author arrived in Spain hailed as the world's most celebrated living author . His books had been adapted into films by the greatest directors of the time , after achieving the elusive dual acclaim of both audiences and critics.

And yet, his greatest merit had been another: surviving himself.

Greene never had a special appreciation for his existence. In his youth , he had attempted suicide several times and played Russian roulette, unable to enjoy life without risking "its total loss." He was bipolar and manic-depressive, conditions that destroyed his relationships with friends, family, and lovers . His flight from himself led him to frequent brothels in Africa, Asia, and Europe—he kept a list of his 47 favorite London prostitutes—and opium dens in the East, where he could consume up to eight pipes a day. In addition to his infidelities, he also consumed alcohol and any drug that would transport him to places more peaceful than his tormented inner self.

This detachment from life made Greene perfect for the two jobs he made a living in before becoming a successful writer: correspondent for The Times and Le Figaro and spy, serving under MI6, the British spy service. Incapable of spending too much time in the same place or with the same person, he admitted to being a terrible husband and an unpredictable traveling companion. “Life is a mixture of desire and resistance,” he said. And, in his case, the balance always tipped in favor of desire. In Saigon, the city that would become his most stable love, he gets lost among clouds of opium, exotic dancers , geopolitical conflicts, and expatriates in search of second chances. He portrays it all in The impassive American , his great novel about Indochina. It was at the confines of the human condition, challenging its boundaries, that he found the literary inspiration that led him to write his greatest works.

When the writer arrived in Oseira, his inner demons had begun to subside. He had turned 70 and was traveling through Spain guided by Leopoldo Durán, his friend and close confidant of his later years. The priest was an educated man, holding a doctorate in Theology from the Angelicum in Rome, a doctorate in English Literature from King's College London, and a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the Complutense University of Madrid. They met in August 1975, after Greene became interested in the priest's doctoral thesis on the priesthood in the writings of Graham Greene. A year later, they set out from Madrid on the first of fifteen trips through Spain and Portugal.

Oseira is one of the first stops, and after spending a few days at the inn , Greene writes about the experience in the guestbook: “Thank you so much for this moment of peace and silence. Please pray for me.” Accustomed to the sound of bullets in Indochina, impossible journeys through African deserts, and crazy adventures in South American jungles, after decades of escaping from himself, he finally finds the peace of mind he had only found in writing. “How,” he had asked himself years before, “do those who do not write, paint, or compose escape the madness, melancholy, fear… inherent in the human condition?”

Travels in Durán's company would inspire Greene to write Monsignor Quixote , which recounts, among other things, his stops at the As Regadas winery (Beade), an immersion in the festivities of the Virgin of Mouriscados (Avión) or the breaks in the Oseira monastery , where her presence is still felt within its walls.

By the time he arrives in Oseira, his inner demons have begun to subside. He's turned 70 and is traveling through Spain, guided by Leopoldo Durán.

"Some visitors ask for Greene's room," says César Mañueco , a 37-year-old monk who arrived from Palencia a decade ago determined to stay until his final days. "The hardest thing is living with yourself , the solitude," he says as he guides visitors through their voluntary confinement. Greene saw an invisible and profound reward in the monks' choice to live in isolation and contemplation. "Solitude is the price you pay for freedom," he said.

The British writer's stories in Oseira have been passed down from one generation of monks to the next, fading over time . For younger monks, like Mañueco, Greene is a distant presence, remembered when passing by Room 14 where he stayed, when showing tourists the Graham Greene Room, whose walls are hung with photographs of his visits, or when entering the Monumental Library, presided over by an image of the author. It's easy to imagine him, with his British phlegm, sitting in the room, pierced by the spotlights that penetrate through its windows, and surrounded by the smell of old books that still envelops the place.

Throughout its eight centuries of history, Oseira has been a refuge for monks, an orphanage, a prison, and these days a must-see for those who come to Ourense , where its Cistercian construction stands as a symbol of resilience after overcoming human greed, fires, sieges, abandonment, and reconstruction, in an effort to rise from the ashes that recalls the life of Graham Greene. Although it took a while for them to find each other, the author and the monastery were made for each other.

In 'Monsignor Quixote', Greene describes the monastery as "a home in the ruins of a bygone civilization."

In Monsignor Quixote , published in 1982, six years after his first visit, Greene describes the monastery as "a home in the ruins of a bygone civilization." He would return some time later, for the filming of the movie version of the book , along with his inseparable priest from Orense. "Oseira was alive in his soul until his death," wrote Leopoldo Durán in Graham Greene, friend and brother (1996), the work where he portrayed the unlikely friendship between a priest and a writer.

Greene spent the last years of his life living in a humble apartment in Antibes , on the French Mediterranean, writing 500 words a day. Not one more. Not one less. After leaving his days of adventure and frenzy behind, he devoted himself to writing the second volume of his autobiography, where he would summarize his life in the first sentence: "What a long road it's been." On April 3, 1991, on his deathbed, he was visited by his inseparable Leopoldo Durán, who gave him the last rites.

Greene said goodbye surrounded by the peace that, in life, he only found in the Oseira monastery.

**Excerpt from the book 'Ourense, very close', edited by Moncho Conde Corbal for Ediciones El Cercano in collaboration with the Ourense Provincial Council.