Abbot Leo, retired abbot of St Benedict’s Abbey, Benet Lake, WI.
Abbot Leo is the director of the Benet Lake retreat house.
Tag: Benedictine
Saint Henry: Benedictine Oblate and patron of sovereign leaders
The Church recalls the witness of an emperor and a Benedictine Oblate, Saint Henry (972-1024), Duke of Bavaria. Henry was crowned king in Rome by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014. It is said that Henry was assisted by the saints throughout his life but especially at Mass when he was anointed king. He was an insightful leader, lay man who had concern for the discipline of the Church and who had love for the Benedictine monastic life. He was a supporter of Cluny’s reforms. It was through Saint Henry that the King of Hungary and later saint, Stephen, met Christ and was baptized.
Benedictine history tells us that he made a vow to the Abbot of Saint-Vanne in Verdun, thus, the tradition of Henry being an Oblate. (For more of what a Benedictine Oblate is, read this post).
Both he and his wife, Cunegunda were canonized by the Church and revered as saints.
A Benedictine’s art collection
Benedictine culture is very interesting. I find this to be true for 2 reasons: after 1500 years of Benedictine monasticism a refined style of humanity and relationship with God is constitutive and monasteries have interesting people as monks and nuns. The famous Rule of Saint Benedict encourages the monk to praise and worship God through a proper ordering of life and interest. Few Benedictines I know are not proficient in works of culture (in the true meaning of the word) like music, vestment making, bee keeping, keeping the library, preparing good lessons for the classroom, cooking, music writing, preaching, study and the like.
Aidan Kavanagh, monk, priest, liturgical scholar: 5th anniversary of death
Students of the sacred Liturgy are familiar with the scholarship and some would say “pioneering work” in the realm of adult baptism and the new (in 1972) Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) by Father Aidan Kavanagh, a Benedictine monk and priest of the Archabbey of Saint Meinrad.
Most of Father Aidan’s professional teaching life was spent away from Saint Meinrad having only taught a few years in his monastery’s seminary. In discernment with his abbot, Father Aidan devoted his energies to teaching at the University of Notre Dame and then for many years Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT).
Why mention this? Well, today is the fifth anniversary of Father Aidan‘s death. The necrology is always an occasion to express our gratitude to God for graces bestowed on his through his children. I am grateful for the books written by Father Aidan (he is required reading in the study of the Liturgy) and the countless peoples he taught and guided in the Christian life.
May God be merciful to Father Aidan and may his memory be eternal.
Thomas Frerking, Abbot, re-elected at St Louis Abbey
Today, the monks of Saint Louis Abbey elected for the third time, Abbot Thomas Frerking.
Abbot Thomas, 69, was first elected in 1995; he will serve for an 8-year term. The abbots of the English Benedictine Congregation have term limits: you can be elected indefinitely for 8 years each terms.
Abbot Thomas is a St Louis native. Harvard and Oxford University educated, Frerking studied Philosophy; he’s also a Rhodes Scholar. The Abbot is a noted Thomist.
Saint Louis Abbey operates the Priory School, Saint Anselm Church and the Oratory of Saints Gregory and Augustine. Abbot Thomas is the father of a monastic community which numbers 30 monks.
May God grant, through the intercession of Saints Benedict, Scholastica and all the Benedictine saints and blesseds, the graces needed to lead the monastic community of Saint Louis Abbey.
James Wiseman elected abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey, Washington, DC
Father James Wiseman, 66, was elected the new and fifth abbot of Saint Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, DC Thursday. Dom James will serve for an eight year term as abbot. He replaces the Prior Administrator Simon McGurk, a monk of Belmont Abbey in the UK.
The new abbot’s been called to serve his community in a variety of ways since his profession in 1966: priesthood (1970), abbot (1975-1983), novice master (1983-1994) and prior (1990-2006). In fact, Dom James has been elected as abbot for the second time; the first time around he was the second abbot.
Abbot James teaches theology at Catholic University of America, and has done so since 1985, and at the abbey’s school since 1969. Since 2007, he’s held the rank of ordinary professor at Catholic University.
He has served twice as chair of CUA’s theology department, and for a period of time as an associate dean. James Wiseman has written or edited six books and more than 30 published articles. He’s also chaired the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, a collection of monks and nuns interested in questions of interfaith relations. For 12 years Dom James edited the Bulletin of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.
Saint Anselm Abbey is one of three Benedictine abbeys in the USA of the English Benedictine Congregation, there are a total of 13 EBC houses of monks. The others being Saint Gregory the Great (Portsmouth, RI) and Saint Louis (St Louis, MO). The Benedictine monastic community was founded in 1923 Father Thomas Verner Moore and some companions. In 1961, Blessed Pope John XXIII gave the Benedictine community the rank of an abbey. Today, there are 15 monks at Saint Anselm’s.
Through the intercession of Saints Benedict, Scholastica and Anselm, and Father Luigi Giussani, may the Blessed Trinity give Abbot James the wisdom and love to serve well and prudence. Especially offer your prayers for the monastic community as it continues the work of deepening their faith and giving clear witness to monastic witness of the Gospel. There’s is an unique vocation in the Nation’s heart.
From Swiss Guard to Benedictine monk
Pilgrims to the Vatican notice a few things: the pope, the architecture and the Swiss Guard. The Guard, in their colorful uniform, are quite identifiable because of the closeness to the Pope. These young men in the service of protecting the Holy Father are Swiss, Catholic, unmarried and fulfilling their military requirement.
Occasionally, a vocation to protect temporalities leads to a vocation to protect and to proclaim the divine as a priest or vowed religious. Not long ago Marco Rudolf Honegger entered the Einsiedeln Abbey becoming Brother Mauritius; Brother professed solemn vows in 2010. As part of his formation to be a priest Brother Mauritius went to Saint Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary to further his education.
The Criterion, the Indianapolis Archdioceses’s newspaper, records the story.
Thanks to Dom Francis de Sales of Saint Meinrad Archabbey for the story. He writes The Yoke of Christ blog.
Hugh Gilbert: Benedictine abbot elected bishop of Aberdeen
Pope Benedict XVI nominated as the new bishop of Aberdeen (Scotland) the Right Reverend Dom Hugh Gilbert, OSB, 59. This appointment was made public today.
Until now, Dom Hugh has been the abbot of the Pluscarden Abbey, a position he’s held since 1992. He’s been a Benedictine for 37 years. In the monastery he’s held several positions of service as well as serving as a member of the Union of Monastic Superiors and on the Abbot Visitor’s Council for the Subiaco Congregation of monasteries.
Pluscarden Abbey is the under the patronage of Our Lady and Saints John the Baptist and Andrew. It was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II; the monks were under Carthusian rule of life at the time of the colonization and later adopted the Rule of St Benedict while following Cistercian customs. By 1599, the abbey closed due to the Reformation. Providence saw to it that property was purchased for the monks in 1897 and the community formally was re-founded in 1948; it became a conventual priory in 1966 and an abbey in 1974. The community numbers 16 with a couple novices.
The Diocese of Aberdeen dates to the 6th century and was organized in 1063; it has 70 parishes. Due to the Reformation the Catholic diocese ceased until 1878 when it was restored. Today, the overall population of the Diocese of Aberdeen is 718,000 of that 18,600 are Catholics. There are 49 priests, 11 permanent deacons, and 45 religious.
Dom Hugh is the author of Unfolding The Mystery: Monastic Conferences on the Liturgical Year (2007).
The news article from BBC online can be read here.
May the Lord bless Dom Hugh as he assumes his new ministry as bishop.
Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event
This week the Pontifical Liturgical Institute centered
at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm (AKA Sant’Anselmo) held the Ninth International
Congress on the Liturgy in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Institute’s
foundation. The theme of the congress was “The Pontifical Liturgical Institute:
Between Memory and Prophecy.” In the Clementine Hall, the Pope met with Abbot Notker Wolf, Abbot Primate and Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum, Dom Juan Javier Flores, professors and participants in the Congress. The Italian version of the Pope’s talk is here; he English translation: Benedict XVI to Pontifical Liturgical Institute May 6 2011.pdf The Pope said several noteworthy things, among them:
“Blessed John XXIII, recognizing the requests of
the liturgical movement that sought to give new impetus and a new spirit to the
Church’s prayer, shortly before Vatican Council II and during its celebration,
asked the faculty of Benedictines on the Aventine Hill to establish a center
for study and research to ensure a solid basis for conciliar liturgical
reform,” said Pope Benedict XVI.
the liturgical movement that sought to give new impetus and a new spirit to the
Church’s prayer, shortly before Vatican Council II and during its celebration,
asked the faculty of Benedictines on the Aventine Hill to establish a center
for study and research to ensure a solid basis for conciliar liturgical
reform,” said Pope Benedict XVI.
Continue reading Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event
Portsmouth Abbey Monks face future with internet help
Benedictine monasticism has a beautiful way of adapting, in a sensitive and intelligent way, to the times. Being contemporaneous doesn’t mean trendy. It means, in my mind, taking seriously the fact of the Incarnation: that in all things God may be glorified. Pope Benedict has been advocating the prudent use of social media, a point for this blog!
Continue reading Portsmouth Abbey Monks face future with internet help