Yesterday, Thursday, 17 June, the delegates to the General
Chapter elected Abbot Hugh Richard Anderson OSB to a six-year term as the
fifteenth President of the American-Cassinese
Congregation. The fiftieth general chapter was convened at St. Bernard Abbey, Cullman, Alabama, 13-18
June 2010. Abbot Hugh succeeds Abbot Timothy Kelly OSB offered his resignation for
reasons of health, midway through his second term as president which became
effective 16 June.
Abbot Hugh, 72, was First Councilor of the Congregation at
the time of his election, had served as the eighth abbot of Saint Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Illinois,
having served from 1985-2002. The Benedictine community of monks of Saint
Procopius was founded in Chicago in 1885, became a conventual priory in 1887, an
abbey in 1894; the abbey transferred to its present location in Lisle, IL in 1914.
According to process, Abbot
Hugh's election was confirmed by Archabbot Douglas Nowicki OSB, the Second
Councilor. In St Bernard's abbey church Abbot Hugh celebrated a Mass of
Thanksgiving and concluded the Mass with the singing of the Te Deum.
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