Tag: Sant’Anselmo

New Prior of Sant’Anselmo appointed

Fr. Mauritius Wilde, OSB Prior, Benedictine Retreat Center and Monastery.
Fr. Mauritius Wilde, OSB
until now Prior, Benedictine Retreat Center and Monastery assuming a new mission in Rome as the Prior at Sant’Anselmo.

The Prior of Christ the King Priory, Schuyler, Nebraska, Father Mauritius Wilde, has been appointed the next Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome. He will work with the recently elected Abbot Primate Gregory Polan.

Father Joel Macul is the new Prior of Schuyler community. His previous ministry saw him elected Abbot of St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, NJ, a monastery also part of the Missionary Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien.

Visit this link to attain more info on Nebraska’s Christ the King Priory.

Father Mauritius succeeds Abbot Elias Lorenzo as Prior of Sant’Anselmo who is a monk of St Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, NJ. Lorenzo was recently elected the Abbot President of the American Cassinese Congregation.

Blessings upon Fr. Mauritius and the Community in Rome!

Masters degree in GREGORIAN CHANT

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Following Saint Benedict’s direction to monks, we are to “sing with pleasure, sing with wisdom.” 
The Pontifical Liturgical Institute operated by the Benedictines in Rome at Sant’Anselmo, has initiated a Masters program in Gregorian Chant.

The new dean of the PIL, Benedictine Father Jordi Piqué spoke to CNA about the new program.
Contact Father Jordi: pilpresidepique@gmail.com.

Sant’Anselmo unveils strategic plan

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The Benedictine monks of Sant’Anselmo unveiled an impressive strategic plan for its work as an international university in Rome. 
Historically, the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo (Rome) was founded in 1687 by Pope Innocent XI and renewed and re-established by Pope Leo XIII in 1887 and given as a work to the worldwide Benedictines.
Read the first section of the Strategic Plan:
And, a most important part of the Plan,
The vital parts of the Strategic Plan are noted here.
Looking good and abundant blessings….

Congress of Abbots 2012 statistics

anselmo arms.jpglYou’re likely going to say big deal… there’s already been too much info on the 2012 Congress of Abbots on the Communio blog. Well, you’re correct. But a few statistics set a context.

Meeting at the Primatial Abbey of Saint Anselm in Rome for the September 2012 Congress of Abbots, there were:
  • 250 abbots
  • 380 monasteries represented: 205 abbeys, 45 independent priories, 130 dependent priories
  • 21 Benedictine Congregations of monks
  • 7,358 monks represented
  • 62 Benedictine Congregations of women
  • 13,650 Benedictine nuns and sisters represented.
Father Luke MacNamara OSB, a monk of Glenstal Abbey (Ireland) oversaw the simultaneous translation work of 5 languages.

Notker Wolf re-elected Abbot Primate for world-wide Benedictines

Ab Notker Wolf.jpgAbbot Notker Wolf, 72,  was elected for the third time by the world’s abbots and conventual priors who are at the quadrennial meeting currently in session at Sant’Anselmo, Rome.

Abbot Dr. Notker was the Archabbot of St Ottilien when he was elected the Abbot Primate in 2000. Abbot Notker professed vows in 1962, ordained in 1968, elected abbot in 1977, and elected the primate in 2000, 2008, and now in 2012. Abbot Notker will serve in the Office of the Primate for 4 years.

The election for the Primate’s Office happened today 9am Rome time following the singing of the Office of Terce. Typically the election for Primate is chaired by the Archabbot of Montecassino, but being sick, instead of Abbot Pietro, the Abbot of Subiaco, Mauro Meaci chaired the election. Each monastic superior was called forth to drop his vote. Dom Mauro announced the tally, and called on Abbot Notker seeking to know if he accepted election. He did accept. According to law, the re-elected Abbot Primate made a profession of faith and the oath of fidelity with his hand on the Bible. All assembled then sang the Te Deum followed by a solemn blessing imparted by the Abbot Notker. Noon Mass was celebrated at the nearby Santa Sabina Church and the normal work of the Congress continued.

As an aside, the Prince of Jordan was with the monks for lunch on the 20th.

May God grant him the graces needed to fulfill his person and work.

Abbot Notker is a very generous monk with great humanity. He’s travelled the world seeking to build and encourage the communion among the Benedictines, the local churches and society. I have nothing but praise for what Abbot Notker has done for the Confederation as the Chancellor of Pontifical Athenaem of Sant’Anselmo. Under his leadership very much needed repairs of the Sant’Anselmo building have been done as well as other needed bricks and mortar repairs and upgrades and are being made, the expansion of women religious receiving an education there, building of development offices in Europe and the USA to raise funds to endow the various schools of philosophy and theology at Sant’Anselmo and asking the monks who live and work at Sant’Anselmo to have a great fidelity to the life of the project. He’s been instrumental in the founding of a Benedictine priory in Cuba and has worked with the Chinese in securing the various freedoms needed for the Church.

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But with all this very good work done by the Primate and his staff, there’s much work to do. Not all is complete and Abbot Notker can’t rest on his laurels. Several things, in my considered opinion need attention: getting name recognition of Sant’Anselmo better known, especially in the USA, the greater cultivation of benefactors, the attraction of new monks, nuns and laity to teach at the Anselmo, to develop more dynamic programing in the constituent academic areas, to attract talented people –not necessarily monks, perhaps the utilization of the Oblates– to work there. Plus, it is reasonable to say that he and his staff ought to use technology much better to communicate with the world’s monks and nuns but also with the laity. There are a great amount of Oblates who love the love the Benedictine way of life and would appreciate being included more for the effective advancement of what is proposed by the Rule and the Church. It is disappointing that the Confederation doesn’t use technology viz. the Primate’s office and the school. The Curial offices on the Aventine Hill don’t need to feed the media monster but they do need to communicate more effectively using the internet, especially in the renewed emphasis the Church has placed on the proclamation of the Word of God. For example, the OSB website, Wikipedia and Confederation websites need a serious overhaul. Perhaps doing more work with the interface of monasticism and evangelization would be good as well as forming an international group of Oblates to live, work and pray as a community for the good of the Confederation.

Abbot Wolf can’t do this work all alone and in a short amount of time. He is 72 with realistically a term to work as Primate (4 years is not a long time). Abbot Notker needs our sincere prayer, fraternal and financial support.

On the Confederation, etc.

“The Benedictine Confederation was formed those monastic Congregations which, while preserving their autonomy, entered the union sanctioned by Pope Leo XIII in a the Papal Brief “Summum semper” and regularly approved by all of his successors. By order of Pope Pius XII precise legal prescision was made for this union in a Lex propria which was reviewed after the Second Vatican Council (1),”

The Benedictine Confederation was constituted and continues to exist in order that led by the Gospels, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and directed by the Church, monastic life according to the Rule of Saint Benedict and the wise traditions of each Congregation and monastery adapted to the conditions of time and place may be fostered and fraternal assistance between Congregations in the areas of personnel, goods and works be encouraged in every way” (16).

“The Congress is not intended to be a Chapter General nor does it possess any power at variance with the autonomy of the Congregations or of monasteries; rather it serves the good of the Confederation with the limits described above (nos. 16-17)” (20).

All Benedictine saints and blesseds, pray for Abbot Notker, the Benedictine curia, and for us.

Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event

PIL cinquanta logo.jpgThis 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.

Continue reading Rome’s Pontifical Liturgical Institute celebrates 50 years, Pope marks event

Sant’Anselmo: home to Benedictine monks, Rome

Thumbnail image for IMGP1279.JPGFor a number of years now, when I am in Rome, I stay at the Benedictine Abbey of Sant’Anselmo on the Aventine Hill. The Benedictine monks have been on the Aventine since property was purchased from Pope Leo XIII in the late 19th century. Technically, Sant’Anselmo is not a functioning abbey as other abbeys with a stable monastic community but it’s a house of studies for monks and others.  There is an order for the day of prayer, Mass, study, and work but one does not become a monk of Sant’Anselmo as you would become a monk of Saint Vincent’s. At the Anselmo you’ll find a “permanent” faculty and staff, and a group of monks who work in the Abbot Primate’s offices and some monks who work at other universities or at the Vatican, but no monk vows stability to Sant’Anselmo.

Sant’Anselmo serves as the home of several entities: the Abbot Primate (Abbot Notker Wolf), the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, the Mabillion Institute, and the College of the Theology and Philosophy.
On Ash Wednesday the pope begins the season of Lent by starting with prayer at Sant’Anselmo before making a procession with the Benedictines and Dominicans to the nearby Santa Sabina for the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Two videos will give you sense of the Anslemo: video 1 and video 2. Sorry, the first one is in Italian but the images are good and it gives a good walking tour of the house, while the second gives a sense of other places on the Aventine but video footage includes the Anselmo.

Pope visit monks of Sant’Anselmo to begin Lent

B16 Notker Wolf & Elias Lorenzo.jpgMy friend Dom Elias Lorenzo, monk of St. Mary’s Abbey
(Morristown, NJ), is currently serving as the Superior and Prior of the Abbey
of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, Italy, the headquarters of international Benedictine
Confederation and home to the Pontifical Liturgical Institute.


In his capacity
as Father Prior of Sant’Anselmo, Dom Elias recently (February 17, 2010) welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to Sant’Anselmo
on the Aventine Hill. The Pope’s visit to Sant’Anselmo is an annual event to begin the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday with a procession from the Abbey Church to
the Church of Santa Sabina, the headquarters of the Order of Friars Preachers
(the Dominicans) where the Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated.

The Holy Father was greeted by Abbot Primate Notker Wolf (also German) and
Dom Elias, who escorted him into the basilica where he prayed before the Blessed
Sacrament. There the Pope stopped for a brief prayer, before beginning Mass at
the chair. Dom Elias said, “This is a unique liturgy in that the Pope
intones a penitential litany and the monks, visiting bishops and cardinals
process from Sant’Anselmo to Santa Sabina for the rest of the Mass.” The
pope vests for Mass at Santa Sabina.

Sant’Anselmo gets new Prior

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Dom Elias R. Lorenzo, a monk of the Abbey of Saint Mary, has been appointed the new Prior of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, the international house of studies for Benedictines. As prior Dom Elias will be working with the Abbot Primate, Notker Wolf, as the man in charge of the daily running of the monastic community, the superior of the monks and he’ll work on special canonical projects for the Benedictine Confederation, especially with the Holy See. His competence, insight and humor will be well-received in Rome as it has been at his home abbey (as I can attest) and in his other ministries.

Dom Elias succeeds Dom Michael Naughton, a monk of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN.

May God abundantly bless Dom Elias!