Have you ever known someone who took a vow of silence--and kept it?

Let’s say for thirty days or more.

I’m not talking about “the silent treatment”—silence as a social weapon—or about someone who lacks the power of speech. I’m speaking of something more like a monastic vow of silence taken for spiritual reasons and kept for some significant length of time, perhaps even for a lifetime.

And someone you know or knew personally.

Or perhaps yourself?