Fall 2022
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The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of God’sPsalmhands.19:2
Félix Mencias Babian, O.S.B.
A
Psalm 119:116; Rule of Benedict 58.21
Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.
True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and everyKathleenperson.Norris,
Editorial assistants: Gloria Hardy; Patsy Jones, Obl.S.B. Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.
ISSN: 2332-2489 (online)
Editor: Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
ISSN: 2330-6181 (print)
Blueprint for a monastery, or hypothetical construct? Father Cyprian Weaver introduces the ninth-century Plan of Saint Gall (Codex Sangallensis 1092). Though never actually built, this ambitious floorplan has influenced monastic architecture for a thousand years.
Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B.
Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Tanya Boettcher, Debra Bohlman, Chantel Braegelmann
Printed by Palmer Printing
As schools across the country welcome young (and not so young) students to another year of classes, we learn from a Benedictine Volunteer how the abbey woodworking shop builds furniture and character; are introduced to the theology and wisdom of Thomas Aquinas; meet our new prior and learn of his a priori knowledge; and more.
If you live each day as it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.
I am in the fourth quarter of my life, determined to receive each day and make it count.
Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey
Growingdirection.up
By this time in life, the losses accumulate. There is grief for the absence of so many amazing confreres, including my four novitiate classmates: Brothers James Linn, Linus Ascheman, Dietrich Reinhart, and Paul Fitt. It is sobering as well to know that I am in the fourth quarter of my life, not knowing how many years God will give me. This awareness makes me more determined to receive each day and make it count.
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, 197
Cover:abbeybannerSubscriptionPhone:rathmannCollegeville,P.RuthChangesaintjohnsabbey.org/abbey-banner56321-2015ofaddress:AthmannO.Box7222Minnesota56321-7222@csbsju.edu800.635.7303requestsorquestions:@csbsju.eduOnhisgoldenanniversary of profession, Abbot John Klassen received the blessing of the monastic community and guests along with a ceremonial, wooden cane to support him in continuing to lead his devoted (if occasionally unruly) flock.
Along with Abbot John and the monastic community, the staff of Abbey Banner extends best wishes to our readers for an abundance of God’s blessings. Peace!
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s far as we know, the animal world does not celebrate anniversaries! Human beings do. We are aware of and mark the passage of time. As Psalm 90 prays so poignantly, “Our life is over like a sigh. Our span is seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong.” In July, I had the occasion to celebrate three anniversaries— each with its own significance—but I will focus on only one.
Steve Jobs
This Issue of Abbey Banner celebrates God’s grace and blessings as exemplified by the monastic profession of our Brother Travis Spillum and the milestone anniversaries of Father Gregory Miller (25), Brother David Manahan (60), Father Thomas Wahl (70), and Father Don Talafous (75). Abbot John Klassen opens our fall issue with a reflection on his own golden jubilee, offering thanks for the blessings and gifts he has received and for the “opportunities to use and develop gifts for others.”
Sustain me, O Lord, as you have promised that I may live, And disappoint me not in my hope.
Saint Benedict insists that the goods and property of the monastery be regarded “as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar” (RB 31). Caring for all of God’s creation was also the focus of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions, and it is wonderful how education can bring about real changes in lifestyle” (§211). Mr. John Geissler outlines how students, Abbey Conservation Corps volunteers, and the extended Schwietz family aid the monks in land stewardship, including the creation of pollinator gardens.
Fall 2022 Volume 22 number 2
Throughout human history, pilgrimage—a search for meaning, purpose, or healing, often accompanied by a journey to a foreign place—has been part of the spirituality of believers of all faiths. Jerusalem, Mecca, Santiago de Compostela, and Lourdes are visited by millions of the faithful each year. And Minnesota? Mr. Patrick Martin shares the experience of a pilgrim band walking together to south Minneapolis to promote racial justice, honor George Floyd, and learn from their hosts. We also visit the Stella Maris Chapel on the shores of Lake Sagatagan where for one hundred fifty years pilgrims as well as the merely adventurous have been gathering, praying, and even proposing marriage.
University archivists: Peggy Roske, Elizabeth Knuth
On 11 July, the feast of Saint Benedict, I celebrated fifty years of professed monastic life. Compared to my brother Father Don Talafous, who celebrated seventy-five years of vowed life, I felt like a rookie! A first observation: I looked at the photographs from profession 1972—heavens, we were young! And many of us had a lot of hair! It is not difficult to conjure the paradoxical feelings of uncertainty and eagerness that I felt in making profession fifty years ago. It may have been first profession, for only three years, but it was a decision. It was a
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I am also grateful for the many opportunities to encounter life-giving friendships among faculty, staff, and other coworkers. There were leadership and exploration opportunities, in our schools and in the monastery. With each one, I learned more about personal strengths and also about matters that I needed to develop and be a lot better. Failures that smart and humble are often the most effective teachers.
as a farm kid, I discovered what I was good at. In the monastery, I had to make new discoveries—and in a very different environment. As I reflect on those early years, I feel an enormous sense of gratitude: for the seasoning and depth of human relationships; for the generous gifts that the community has given to me, including lifegiving education and opportunities to use and develop gifts for others. I never imagined myself as a teacher, but in responding to a request from Saint John’s Prep School, I found my vocation.
Abbey archives
This Issue Anniversaries
Published three times annually (spring, fall, winter) by the monks of Saint John’s Abbey.
Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B.
Saint John’s Abbey 2900 Abbey Plaza Box 2015 Collegeville, Minnesota
Photo: Félix Mencias Babian, O.S.B.
In the presence of friends and confreres, he renewed his vows and accepted the blessing of the community and congregation for
Monastic Profession and Jubilees
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Father Greg Miller
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Travis Spillum, 28, was born and raised in Little Falls, Minnesota. Though he lived just forty miles from Saint John’s, he recalls knowing “little about this place as I was growing up. I only became acquainted with Saint John’s University when I began searching for prospective colleges,
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Newly professed Brother Travis Spillum (left) and monastic jubilarians
For sixty years Brother David Manahan, O.S.B., has served the Church as a Benedictine monk.
renewed his profession of vows as a Benedictine monk. Three decades before joining this community, he had been ordained a priest for the Diocese of Davenport. Because of his interest in Hispanic ministry, he had been assigned to work with the Spanish-speaking community throughout the Iowa diocese—serving migrants and administering the sacraments in parishes where the pastor did not speak Spanish. Though he found his priestly work fulfilling, he discerned the need for more community support for his prayer life—such as he found while pursuing his theological studies at Saint John’s Seminary in the 1970s. Now, as a Benedictine monk, he continues to
Simon-Hòa Phan, O.S.B.
Brother Travis Spillum
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Father Thomas Wahl
wonderful friends along the way, I involved myself in campus ministry’s various programs, through which I met several members of the monastic community. A few monks spoke highly about the Benedictine Volunteer Corps, so after graduation (2017), I set out for a year of service in Tanzania, East Africa—living with the sisters of Saint Gertrude Convent Imiliwaha was my foretaste of monastic life. I carried with me their peaceful countryside, vibrant community life, and prayerful atmosphere when I returned to America and began working in Minneapolis.”
Diamond (60) Jubilarian
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Silver (25) Jubilarian Twenty-five years after the conclusion of his novitiate, Father Gregory Miller, O.S.B.,
and at Sant’Anselmo, the international Benedictine house of studies in Rome. In Collegeville, Brother David spent many years designing and crafting furniture in the abbey woodworking shop. His artistic sensibilities found an outlet at Liturgical Press, where for twenty-two years he worked as a graphic artist, designing book covers for hundreds of publications. David has also curated the abbey art collection and was part of a team of monks responsible for the artistic environment of the church for feasts throughout the year. His care and affection for his community are further expressed when he shares freshly baked bread with his confreres.
Seventy years after professing his first vows as a Benedictine monk, Father Thomas Wahl, O.S.B., joined his confreres on
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
long with many friends and family members, Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey celebrated the feast of Saint Benedict, 11 July, rejoicing in God’s blessings as they welcomed Novice Travis Spillum into the community and honored confreres on the occasion of their twenty-fifth, fiftieth, sixtieth, seventieth, or seventyfifth anniversaries of monastic profession. “To discover one’s vocation after a long and arduous search,” observed Abbot John, “truly is like finding a treasure, a beautiful pearl!”
and, as I am an avid outdoor recreationalist, my first tour of campus made my decision to attend school here simple.” The next five years were transformative for Travis. “Between studying economics and mathematics, participating in track and field, and making some
Greg is currently a sacramental minister to several local parishes and a faculty resident at Saint John’s University. He is at peace with his vocational call, having found God in this community and support for his spiritual life and ministry.
his decades of faithful ministry. That ministry has been exercised in a variety of venues. He has been a maintenance monk and physical plant director at Saint Augustine’s Monastery in The Bahamas, at St. Mary’s Mission on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota,
Brother David Manahan
be engaged in pastoral ministry. He continues as well to be attuned to issues of social justice, especially for migrant workers in central Minnesota. Father
Though Travis enjoyed his budding career at Best Buy, his curiosity continued to call out: “What about Saint John’s?” Following many vocation visits —and encouragement from friends and family—the community accepted his application to discern monastic life with them.
Platinum (70) Jubilarian
First Profession
“What followed was a pleasant, formative year in novitiate— concluding with my profession of simple vows.” Brother Travis continues to cherish the prayer life and camaraderie that drew him to Saint John’s Abbey and looks forward to growing into monastic life as he begins studying at the School of Theology and assisting at the abbey guesthouse.
member of the vocation team, and formation director).
Abbot John Klassen
Lucius Amarillas, O.S.B. Abbot President Jonathan Licari (right) with Bishop Elias R. Lorenzo
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Abbot President
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Truly, by the mercy of God, they have done their best to let the Holy Spirit work in them.Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.
Diamond (75) Jubilarian Seventy-five years ago Father Don Talafous, O.S.B., professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk. Since then, he has become the face of Saint John’s to thousands of alumni, friends, and employees. Most of his service to Saint John’s University has been measured by the decade. For thirty-seven years he taught theology to undergraduates. For thirty-two years he was a faculty resident, living with the students and trying, with limited success, to remind his neighbors that silence is a Benedictine value. For sixteen years Father Don served as university chaplain, celebrated for his weekly “Chaplain’s Letter” that was filled with thoughtful reflections, pastoral advice, and bad jokes. His theological and spiritual insights have been published by Liturgical Press and are available daily online. In 1996 Don was named university chaplain for alumni, a role that
The American-Cassinese Congregation is an association of twenty-five Benedictine monasteries, including Saint John’s Abbey, located in fifteen of the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Taiwan. On 23 June 2022, during the 54th General Chapter of the American-Cassinese Congregation, Father Jonathan R. Licari, O.S.B., a monk of Saint John’s Abbey, was elected as the new abbot president of the congregation. A native of Biwabik, Minnesota, Father Jonathan was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Duluth in 1976, later joining the abbey and professing his first vows as a Benedictine in 1982. He brings decades of administrative experience (as a pastor, canon lawyer, formation director, subprior, and prior of the abbey; headmaster of Saint John’s Prep; and administrator of other monastic communities) to his new role of abbot president.
Fifty years after John Klassen of Elrosa, Minnesota, professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk, Prior Eric Hollas had the honor—as he said, addressing Abbot John—to present “you to yourself!” At age 15, John arrived in Collegeville; it has been his home ever since. He brought to Saint John’s a work-
allows him to make the most of his amazing memory and his zeal for continued engagement with former students and their families—and anyone else he has met during the previous millennium.
Father Don Talafous
Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
Golden (50) Jubliarian
Following understandintransformation,itself,sacramentcommunityBenedict,lifeisaofgraceinamediumforourdaybyday,wayswebarelyorimagine.AbbotJohnKlassen,O.S.B
novices, his understanding of the wisdom of the Rule, striving to profit the brethren rather than preside over them (RB 64.8). In service to the Church, he has been a retreat director, participant and cochair of Bridgefolk: Mennonites and Catholics in Dialogue, and Abbot President pro tem of the American-Cassinese Congregation.
ing knowledge of the business end of a cow and a love of farming. His curiosity and devotion to learning led him to excel at Saint John’s Preparatory School (diploma, 1967), Saint John’s University (bachelor’s degree in chemistry, 1971), Saint John’s Seminary (ordination to the priesthood, 1977), and The Catholic University of America (doctorate in bio-organic chemistry, 1985). He began his teaching career as a chemistry instructor at the prep school. He continued to share his abundant talent at the university (as a faculty resident, associate professor of chemistry, and as director or codirector of the peace studies and Benedictine Values programs) and at the abbey (as a polished homilist,
the feast of Saint Benedict in a day of glad celebration. A student of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, German, and Japanese, Father Thomas spent twentythree years as a teacher of Old Testament: the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and especially his beloved Psalms and Wisdom literature. Never a standup lecturer (though occasionally a standup comic), he became a master of the seminar format, teaching students how to take a passage of Scripture and do serious exegesis. Father Thomas was a founder of Saint John’s Jerusalem study program— which proved to be a transformative experience for generations of seminarians and graduate theology students studying Scripture in the Holy Land. Before retiring, he was a monk missionary in Japan at Saint Anselm’s Priory and Parish in Tokyo and Trinity Benedictine Monastery in Fujimi, where he and his bread rose early each day.
Throughout his monastic life, Abbot John has been able to speak with both insight and enthusiasm on topics ranging from sacramental theology, to alfalfa, to the “Steric Course of the Allylic Rearrangement Catalyzed by munity,JohninThroughoutabbotKlassenontheOnienceHedecanoylthioesterBeta-Hydroxy-Dehydrase.”hashadnopersonalexper-ofintroversion.24November2000—withscentofformaldehydestillhislabcoat—FatherJohnwaselectedthetenthofSaintJohn’sAbbey.hisabbatialtenure,wordandexample,Abbothassharedwiththecom-andespeciallythe
At the same time I was assisting in the woodworking shop, Benedictine Volunteers who were just completing their year of service returned to Saint John’s. Joe Hall, our Collegeville home, was regularly filled with stories of Mexico, Newark, or Puerto Rico. Some of the storytelling proved to be bittersweet now
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Taylor brought cards; Terran brought a beaming smile; Cam brought two German friends from Tabgha, Israel; Owen brought advice. During his visit Owen allowed all the new Benedictine Volunteers to question him during our introductory retreat. He asserted that the BVC was one of the best chapters of his life. He was not morbid or depressed at all. He talked to us as though we were in the same cohort. His relationship to us—the relationship that all the visiting veterans shared with the program—was inspiring. The BVC alumni prayed with us and ate with us and shared their phone numbers. Nothing at Saint John’s was pushing them Theaway.BVC program has always urged the participants to find their own experience inside
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material, and collect the dust I made. Even though the space would soon be dirt, we kept it in working condition until the last day of its existence. The vocational work done in the woodshed was prioritized up until the workbench needed to be Earlydismantled.inthesummer,
Benedictine life. Benedictine Volunteers have the freedom to explore how they fit into their service site. The opportunity to spend most of my time deepening my self-understanding, constructing values, and learning of my condition is a very blessed workbench. My priorities of self-growth are the vocational work I will distill from serving the Benedictine community in Rome. Like at the woodshed, focusing on the work alleviates my concern about the program’s longevity. I hope to be discerning my life’s direction long after my service ends, and I hope to stay involved in the BVC
Before beginning his service at Sant’Anselmo in Rome, Mr. Jonathan Trude spent the summer at Saint John’s, assisting in the abbey woodworking shop. He reflects on his first weeks as a member of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC).
Thecommunity.Benedictine
There were hardware and lumber inventories that needed to be sorted then removed, tools that needed to be unplugged and lugged to safety, craftsmen that needed a new home.
limiting it to that. Rather, the BVC is an introduction into a new community and an opportunity to find new relationships, interpersonal or not. During my time in the abbey woodworking shop this summer, I was building skills and relationships to the woodworkers and the work. I hope that like the long focus of shaping wood, I will remain focused on the work that the Benedictine Volunteer Corps has given me the opportunity to do.
Benedictine Volunteer Corps
shop, a woodworking studio, dozens of lumber racks, a bathroom sign that reads: “No Dumping under Penalty of Law,” nine right-handed gloves, suggestions to maybe not smoke, and the inviting declaration over the entrance: “Disaster Zone.” After the work of vacating the old woodshed was completed, I spent most of my time constructing furniture, especially building beds. When I finished attaching the railings to the bed decking, I would organize the tools, stack unused
Benedictine Volunteers who had served more than a year ago also came to visit Saint John’s. They were the most helpful for understanding where and how the BVC fits into the next decade of my life. They have already settled into work or more school, yet they remain connected to the program.
e build coffins! That’s news but not morbid or depressing work. The maple sawdust smells fresh and covers the woodshop in white dust. I helped in the woodshop since the BVC retreat ended in May. In preparation for the construction of a new woodworking building and organ studio, the old woodshed was torn down. It had to be dismantled and vacated prior to the groundbreaking for the new structure at the end of July.
Mr. Jonathan Trude, a communication and philosophy major from Hayward, Wisconsin, is a 2022 graduate of Saint John’s University
that the various programs have been completed. Volunteers found communities of friends at local climbing gyms, traveled to beautiful international landmarks, or even learned a new language that they spoke every day. I am still on the lookout and a bit apprehensive: wondering if leaving the BVC is a morbid end. After college up-andleft I developed trust issues and a concern that the Benedictine Volunteer Corps may be a year of honeymooning that disappears because we can never recreate that feeling of Roma. The woodshed and the BVC alumni are helping me frame the year of service I’m entering. They showed me where the BVC fits into the rest of my life.
BVC
Editor
Abbey JonathanWoodworkingTrude
Volunteer Corps is not a yearlong interval away from normal life. Nothing is
archives
Rob McManus teaching at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, Newark Abbey
Jack Scheck serving the Escolania at Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, Spain
BVC archives
The BVC is an introduction into a new community and an opportunity to find new relationships.
The woodworking operation at Saint John’s includes a carpentry
John Geissler
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To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dedication of the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum and in remembrance of our founding director Father Paul Schwietz, O.S.B. (1952–2000), members of the Schwietz family donated funds to cover the substantial costs of planting, matting, and providing individual deer browse protection for over 2,200 oak trees covering eleven acres. In addition, seventeen family members traveled to Collegeville on 30 April to help plant hundreds of oak seedlings. That day and in the weeks that
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continually impressed by the wonderful people connected to Saint John’s who support our ambitious land stewardship efforts! It is my honor to highlight recent projects made possible by the longterm Benedictine commitment to the environment of these generous donors and volunteers.
Supporting land stewardship: a Schwietz family tradition John Geissler
Oak seedlings need all the protection they can get.
Pollinator gardens support native-insect biodiversity.
and wildflowers with some three thousand individual plants. It will take about three years for these gardens to develop into their full glory, but they have already generated a positive buzz on campus! Because there are so many species present, the blossoms will come as a melody throughout the spring, summer, and
followed, more than eighty Abbey Conservation Corps volunteers, monks, student land managers, and staff knelt in the mud to complete this wonderful and impressive new planting that will have environmental benefits for hundreds of years.
habitat sanctuary that oaks are not lost as a component of the abbey arboretum. We currently have about sixty acres of intense oak forest regeneration work in process that includes caring for over 12,000 oak seedlings at different stages of development.
John Geissler
I encourage all our readers to consider converting a portion of the turf grass in their own yards—any size will help. I made a tiny version of a pollinator garden in a little used portion of my front yard, and I was amazed at how fast the
Land Stewardship
Oak trees are keystone species of our forests providing benefits to a wide variety of wildlife. It is critical to our mission as a native
deep roots that help to slow down precipitation, increase infiltration, and thus reduce the erosion impacts of stormwater runoff that are becoming more prevalent with more intense storm events. In Collegeville, we are improving the quality of water entering our beloved Lake Sagatagan and the groundwater that becomes our drinking water.
gardens not only look beautiful but also have noteworthy ecological value. As the name suggests, the pollinator gardens help address declining native-insect biodiversity. Some studies report that forty percent of all insect species are in decline.
Insects are dependent on native plant species to survive (turf grass provides very little food), are critical for pollination of many of our foods, and are the base of the ecological food web. Once these perennial native plants develop their deep roots, they are extremely drought tolerant and need very little care. Moreover, they do not require the watering, mowing, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides that turf grass does. As a direct result of not applying all these chemical treatments that often seep into our aquatic systems, we are improving the water quality of our watersheds. Native plants also have dense tall foliage and
Some may wonder: “Why don’t young oak forests just come back on their own anymore?” In our area, the two biggest reasons are an overpopulation of deer—that love to feed on young oaks— and the suppression of wildfires that historically burned away the competition while favoring young oaks over other species.
Pollinatorfall.
In addition to our oak regeneration work, we also are creating pollinator gardens within the inner campus at Saint John’s. A generous donor helped us transform more than 7,600 square feet of resourceconsuming turf grass into two low-maintenance pollinator gardens, each filled with environmentally beneficial native wildflowers and grasses. The plantings included more than two dozen species of native grasses
John Geissler
The oak regeneration project and pollinator gardens are but two examples illustrating our Benedictine commitment to long-term stewardship. I am so grateful that this work is supported by a network of donors, monastery members,
Abbey Conservation Corps
ule of Benedict
ather Alfred’s observation in Still Full of Sap, Still Green (published in 1979) may be a bit sentimental, but it was also a product of his time. His generation spanned years when abbots could seem remote, even authoritarian. The prior, by contrast, seemed to offer the warmth that a busy abbot sometimes could not.
staff, alumni, students, and volunteers who continue to improve this beautiful and special place.
of man ought the prior be? Benedict insists that the abbot have sole responsibility for appointing the prior—who should follow the directives of the abbot, translating his vision into reality. The prior should also have the humility to realize that he is there to do the will of the abbot, who acts as his father in Christ just as he does with all the
Alfred’s description of the prior wishful thinking? Probably not. Like the abbot, like all monks, the prior is there to seek God. He should also share the abbot’s concern for the welfare of the flock entrusted to the abbot, but he must never forget that he too is a part of that flock. Above all, like every member of the community, the prior should be eager to do the work of God. If there is anything that distinguishes the prior from his confreres, it is his service to the brothers through which he shows a pastoral sensitivity that can be, in turn, paternal, maternal, and fraternal.
pride and ambition would be absent from them. Benedictines long ago settled the question of whether to have a prior or deans. Despite Benedict’s own misgivings, efficiency seemed to dictate one prior rather than a committee of deans. Monks have pretty much lived with that ever
Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., is the prior of Saint John’s Abbey.
Whatsince.kind
The Prior Eric Hollas, O.S.B.
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Wednesday Workdays 1–3 P.M.
Mr. John Geissler is the Saint John’s Abbey land manager and director of Saint John’s Outdoor University.
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
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Abbey Conservation Corps volunteers and student land managers continue to be key players in implementing our land stewardship projects. Last fall they helped gather the seed from our restored prairie and oak savanna, grew ninety flats of plants from these seeds in the greenhouse starting in March, removed sod from the planting sites, planted the thousands of plant plugs, spread woodchip mulching to suppress weeds, and assisted with establishment watering. Special thanks to our 2022 summer student land managers—McKenzie Blaine, Emma Nelson, Garrett Welsh, and Gabriella Backes—for their tremendous work this summer. What a crew!
Lindsey Envall
John Geissler Reed,
Wasmonks.Father
In some ways the prior functions like the mother of a large family, carrying on the unplanned and unforeseen events of the day. Alfred Deutsch, O.S.B.
Volunteers meet in Science Parking Lot outdooru/events/volunteerhttps://www.csbsju.edu/#1
The restored prairie of the abbey arboretum is a haven for monarchs.
O.S.B.
Alan
Saint Benedict harbored no such sentiments. “Too often in the past, the appointment of a prior has been the source of serious contention in monasteries” (Rule 65.1). This too was a product of the times, reflecting Benedict’s fear that the prior might become a counterforce to the abbot. This could happen when an outsider appointed both abbot and prior, offering the potential to pit one against the other. In other cases, the prior’s own ambition and pride may have engendered this
Benedictdivision. seemed to entertain no such foreboding about the deans of the monastery. He preferred that the abbot confer authority on several deans—with shared responsibilities (RB 65.12). He assumed, perhaps naively, that
young plants started blooming and attracting native bees, butterflies, and other insects. And I had less lawn to mow! In the first year, at least twenty native species never seen before in my yard began using my little pollinator garden. I hope my humble efforts and that of the abbey arboretum to establish pollinator gardens will inspire others to take similar action.
Another theory holds that Abbot Gosbert, who was in the process of refurbishing his monastery at Saint Gall, may have requested from Reichenau a provisional document be drawn up—such sentiment is reflected in the dedication, likely penned by Haito, the abbot of Reichenau, at the time:
Johann Rudolf Rahn/Wikimedia
he rubble and remains of thousands of monasteries scattered across Europe remain silent and unsung, as Horace might have it: “all unwept and unknown, . . . lost in the distant night, since they are without a divine poet” (Odes [Book IV, IX.25]). Documentation does remain, however, for many complexes due to the monastic penchant of preserving heritage. No greater evidence exists than in the case of a floorplan known as the Plan of Saint Gall.
of the Rule legislates that the monks sleep singly, in a separate bed, typically within a dormitory. This norm is reflected in the dormitory layout within the Plan of Saint Gall (20) but with an addition of a warming room that according to the Plan lies immediately in the floor below. Sleeping accommodations for guests or pilgrims were provided in separate housing. Sleeping quarters for the many servants were located within their various workplaces (21), including those who tended the livestock and slept with the livestock (22). The livestock were housed in separate buildings and included sheep (23), goats (24), cows (25), swine
While the drinking of beer was a part of Carolingian secular culture, the practice within monasteries might seem surprising. Benedict, despite his personal reservations, not only allows one hemina (perhaps .8 liters) of wine a day as sufficient for each (RB 40) but also states that “if the circumstances of the place, or the work, or the heat of summer require a greater measure,” the superior may increase the amount—but must also see to it that excess or drunkenness do not creep in. Benedict’s provisional amounts for wine were adopted as canonical measures at the Synod of Aachen. If wine, abundant to the Italian Benedict, was not accessible, then the Synod legislated that the daily ration of beer be doubled, making it two heminae of good beer (cervisia bona) per day. Moreover, not only were monks and nuns allocated beer with their meals but, by the end of the ninth century, the monasteries became beer-producing entities as well—and thus were well-equipped to show hospitality both to the rich, effete guests and to the Chapterpoor.22
regards the unwieldy parchment not simply an obscure floorplan but a “paradigmatic” document—“a model intended to guide monastic planning throughout the Frankish Empire.” Indeed, many see it as an outcome of the Aachen Synods convened in 816–17 by Saint Benedict of Aniane (the “second Benedict”), mandated by Louis the Pious (son of Charlemagne) to consolidate monastic reform for all monasteries and insure their adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia (the first Benedict). Beginning as King of the Franks in 768 and later as Emperor of the Carolingian Empire, 800–814, Charlemagne was a consummate adherent of orderliness and uniformity
The Plan of Saint Gall [depicted on pages 20–21] is the largest preserved architectural schematic that bridges the period of history between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the thirteenth century. Known technically as the Codex Sangallensis 1092, now held in the monastic Stiftsbibliothek of the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland, the Plan is a stitched-together parchment consisting of five sewn segments measuring 45 x 30 inches and drawn between the years 820 and 830. It portrays an idealized self-sufficient Carolingian Benedictine monastery based closely on the ora et labora (prayer and work) espoused in the Rule of Saint Benedict. While the Plan is considered by most scholars to be the work of two monk scribes from the monastery of Reichenau on Lake Constance in southern Germany, its origins and specific purpose are not without
Scholarcontroversy.WarrenSanderson
By the Carolingian era, Benedictine monasteries were well into the brewing of beer. Although Saint Gall, which was eventually rebuilt, did not incorporate the so-called Plan, its inclusion of not one but three breweries is not unreasonable. The monks’ brewery included rooms for malting and cooperage, baking, milling, and grindings (10). This complex is adjacent to the monks’ kitchen (11), cellar (12), and
Although contemporary Benedictine monasteries might regard the practice as unusual, medieval monastic cemeteries were often situated within the grounds of the orchards and flower gardens. The landscaped arrangement in the Plan of Saint Gall proved to be no exception to the practice and includes this dual feature adjacent to the vegetable garden (4) as well as a gardener’s building (5). The orchard (6) supposedly contains fourteen types of trees common to the era including quince, pear, chestnut, hazel, and almond—trees that would have provided resources for both shade and fruit.
Commons
Plan of Saint Gall
Can we regard the Plan of Saint Gall as a concrete plan or blueprint for a real monastic complex? Or is it an idealization, a hypothetical construct? The Plan indeed has very specific features, yet it seems unrealistically ambitious. For example, specific form-function relationships are well represented within the Plan and include the following features [the numbers of which indicate their position on the Plan]. The bloodletting facility (1) in the form of an adjacent room to the house providing both physician’s accommodation (2) as well as space for the critically ill might be considered an unconventional facility for even a Carolingian abbey, but monastic customaries describe the practice in abbeys of this period. Bloodletting was likely performed by older monks well versed in the practice and performed exclusively on healthy monks, excluding those who were ill, fasting, or during harvests. The facility is found within the practical proximity of the physician, the medical herb garden (3), and the cloister of the sick (46).
Cyprian Weaver, O.S.B.
of course, the refectory (13). The brewery for the more distinguished guests lies adjacent to the special guesthouse (14), while the brewery for the poor and travelers is adjacent to their hostel quarters (15). A larger building housing the barn and four granaries (16) was used to thresh and store the raw ingredients for the brewing, while separate buildings housed the mill (17), mortar (18), and the drying (19).
Chapter 53 of the Rule insists that guests are to be received “like Christ” and outlines the great lengths that are to be taken to accommodate the needs and care of guests. The Plan of Saint Gall likewise provides guest quarters for pilgrims needing temporary accommodations (7) and another designated for special and personal guests (8). Chapter 53 also stipulates that the kitchen of the abbot (9) and the guests be apart, that the brethren may not be disturbed by guests who arrive at irregular hours. These are found, exactly as prescribed, in the Plan.
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For thee, my sweetest son Gozbertus, have I drawn this briefly annotated copy of the layout of the monastic buildings, with which you may exercise your ingenuity and recognize my devotion. I have depicted this for you alone to scrutinize [see 50 on the Plan].
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and found in Benedict of Nursia (480–547) and his Rule a key to further spiritual as well as political cohesion. Louis, his son sharing these same ideals, then set about with the help of the monastic reformer, Benedict of Aniane from the Abbey of Saint-Seine, to implement this uniformity. Although one might expect that such a detailed architectural study would have originated from the Synod, no such association can be clearly established.
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remain isolated because of their special needs or clinical necessity.)
Additional buildings in the Plan included one for the cooper, turner, and smaller granary (30), the shoemaker, saddler, chamberlain, grinders, and servants (31), fowl keeper (32), the school (33), and the dual apse church (34). The school (33) would have played a significant role in integrating the local community into the life of the abbey as it served both fee-paying scholars and those unable to pay to attend the schola grammaticalis.
cloister at Saint John’s remains intact with restricted entrances not unlike those in the Plan but regulated now by electronic fobs.
In an earlier day, our monastic complex included a dairy farm, butcher shop, fish hatchery, mill, and brick kiln staffed by laypersons and monks alike. Our campus today remains an intimate and interactional complex as it likely was at Saint Gall. Not only our approach to building a monastic complex but our cultural practices (European descent) remained in the early days an integral part of our legacy. Our students were once served beer at table with formal tablecloth and place settings in the student dining hall—in the European fashion. We no longer provide the formal table settings nor the hemina, but monastic relationships and practices persisted into modern times, reflecting much about an even greater depth of our cultural as well as monastic history.
46 47 The Wilson Quarterly Wikimedia Commons
Father Cyprian Weaver, O.S.B., a research scholar in the role of neuroendocrinology in regenerative and genomic medicine, is a recently retired associate professor of medicine, cardiology, at the University of Minnesota.
(26), and horses (27), which provided a wide array of raw materials including milk, wool, as well as fertilizer and labor. Geese (28) and hens (29) were housed near the vegetable garden (4) and probably provided adequate fertilizer for the garden as well as feathers and quills.
The most central feature of Saint Gall as well as most monasteries at the time was the cloister. In the Plan, the cloister (35) is central, spatially separating the claustrum from the outer perimeter formed by the various workplaces made up of houses as well as gardens and the orchard. Included within the cloister was the central workplace of the scriptorium and library (36), sacristy and vestry (37), a room where the special bread and oil were prepared (38), the dormitory (20), refectory (13), abbey kitchen (11), bakery and brewery (10), cellar and larder (12), privy (39), bathroom (40), guestmaster (41), porter (42), school master (43), quarters for visiting monks (44), and abbot’s house (45). What is perhaps unique about the Plan of Saint Gall is the additional cloisters that existed, one for the sick (46) and another for the novices (47). These were each adjacent to their own chapels (48, 49) and provided exclusive access (+) that eliminated the accidental encounters between the two groups. (The year of novitiate is an intense time of training and discernment quite distinct from the community at large; and the sick
When the monks of Saint John’s Abbey were planning the new church, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak and the building committee also devised a hundredyear plan to include not only the church but also an ambitious campus-wide building program. Twelve outstanding architects of Europe and the U.S. including Eero Saarinen, Walter Gropius, Pietro Belluschi, Richard Neutra, Herman Baur, Barry Byrne, and Marcel Breuer—were invited to submit plans. Mr. Breuer was chosen and much of the campus continues to be marked by his distinctive and creative genius that integrated Benedictine ideals. Both the Plan of Saint Gall and the subsequent hegemony of monastic architecture embodied bold visions—visions firmly grounded in both the practical as well as the spiritual dimensions of the Benedictine cenobitic way of life, “so that in all things, God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11; Rule 57.9).
The cloister began and has remained throughout history the central feature of monastic architecture because it reflects the inner world of the monastery that remains separated and distinct from the outer, secular perimeter. This is evident in the Plan of Saint Gall, which has a claustral focus in its ground plan as well as a radiating outer core characteristic of the Carolingian monastic complex. Scholars have interpreted this as two worlds sustained in tension, but for contemporary monasteries, such as Saint John’s Abbey, this does not reflect the true reality. While cloister implies a fuga mundi—flight from the world—it does so to provide solitude and silence that permit lectio divina (sacred reading) and other spiritual exercises but not alienation from the world. The
Wikimedia Commons
Plan of Saint Gall
better acquainted with one Ouranother.packs weighed between twenty and forty pounds. We carried a few essentials along with lunch each day. The walking became arduous over the week as we experienced pain, sore feet, some blisters, and a few tears. It was also joyful— some of us would even say fun. We prayed together and learned from one another, our hosts, and all we encountered. Our party of seven came together as strangers and became a small community as we cared for one another to help all of us arrive at our holy site in Minneapolis after a week.
Mr. Patrick Martin is assistant director of campus ministry at Saint John’s University.
At the end of the Emmaus story, after the disciples understand who Jesus is as he reveals himself in the breaking of the bread, the disciples run all the way back to Jerusalem! Though our group of pilgrims did not run back to
We unite ourselves with Christ’s redemptive work when we reconcile, when we make peace, when we share the good news that God is in our lives, when we reflect to our brothers and sisters God’s healing, God’s forgiveness, God’s unconditional love.
experiences of race was eyeopening and deeply moving.
Walking Together in May was a journey by foot for Grace, Courtney, Henry, Fredi, Peter, Jesus, and myself. The name of the pilgrimage is taken from words of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman (1937–1990), a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. She was a significant contributor to the cause for racial reconciliation in the U.S. Catholic Church. We shared Sister Thea’s vision of a more just Church as we stayed with host families and others who passed us along our way: “If we walk and talk and work and play and stand together in Jesus’ name—we’ll be who we say we are—truly Catholic.” Our
Walking Together
We began our journey in dialogue, reflecting on race and justice. Our engagement with others could be as humble as a brief interaction with passersby —in less than a few minutes, we aimed to capture as much as we could of our intentions, describe what a pilgrim is, but not tarry too long as we continued the journey. We were always warmly received. The interactions with our hosts were a delight as we dined together.
Thea Bowman, F.S.P.A.
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Walking Together in Minneapolis
We were welcomed, as strangers, into their homes and would leave
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ilgrimage is integral to the Christian tradition. One can trace the concept of pilgrimage to the resurrected Christ in the story of the disciples journeying to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). Jesus walks with the disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus, but they do not recognize him. As they dine at Emmaus, Jesus makes himself known in the breaking of bread. Pilgrimage today takes on many forms: folks may take a car, bicycle, even plane to make a journey to a holy site to witness God’s presence. Pilgrims often pray for a particular individual, for healing of physical maladies, or to engage the spiritual life. Journeying to a particular place is an opportunity to pray with the communion of saints.
Pilgrimage for Racial Justice
Patrick Martin
prayers and intentions were for racial justice and reconciliation in the Church and throughout the Sisterworld.Thea’s vision is especially challenging following the murder of George Floyd in south Minneapolis in May 2020. That neighborhood was the epicenter of calls for justice, calls for a shared understanding of human dignity, which all are afforded because all—regardless of the color of one’s skin—are made in the image and likeness of God. Reconciling with our brothers and sisters of color remains a challenge for our society and our Church.
It was our intent to understand the notion of hospitality more deeply by receiving it. Hospitality is a means by which we achieve community, for in listeningourexperiences.towepresenceconsideranother.ChristwayHospitalityheartwithlistenhospitality,providingwemusttotheguesttheearofour(RBProl.1).istheweencounterinoneAsweChrist’sinothers,arecompelledconsidertheirForpilgrimage,toothers’
I know that the prayers of the pilgrims are not complete, that we have much growing to do to become a more just society, and that we are still working to be a more inclusive Church. We continue to be challenged as we contemplate how to welcome others as Christ and how we recognize and honor the presence of God in everyone we meet.
Pilgrimage is referenced in the Rule of Saint Benedict: “Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for he is going to say, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ And to all let due honor be shown, especially to those who share our faith and to pilgrims” (RB 53:1–2). This concept, understood as providing hospitality to others, is embedded in the identity of Saint John’s. During a recent pilgrimage, the role of host—providing hospitality— was reversed for myself and six students: we were guests of others and received their hospitality.
Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s from south Minneapolis, the witness to God and to the dignity of the human person, and the prayers for Sister Thea had our hearts burning within us. Pastor Rozenia Hood Fuller, of Good Baptist Church in north Minneapolis, was one who received us and provided us a tour of George Floyd Square. She noted that racial justice is challenging because it looks different for everyone who wants and works toward racial justice. In our case, because we walked so far, she said that racial justice is in our bodies. The question remains regarding how to carry that out. How will we listen to those who experience racial oppression? How will we address politicians on issues of race? What might we say to fellow parishioners about welcoming those who don’t look like us? How do we become who we say we are—a truly Catholic community?
Brian Mogren
As a theologian seeking to strengthen the Church, Thomas brilliantly merged edgy sources and fitted them into how God had been depicted until the thirteenth century. Thomas drew from his Benedictine foundation, his Dominican intellect, and his ordinary experience of God incarnate in life together to find treasure in what others condemned.
Alan Reed,
Saint Thomas Aquinas
n angel in the northeast corner of the Great Hall at Saint John’s holds a banner splaying O·SACR: CONVIVIVM, a slight abbreviation of O Sacrum Convivium, the first line of the traditional Latin hymn [above] celebrating God’s gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
Convivium is more appreciable as a core Benedictine value when its parts are separated. The first syllable (con) simply means “together,” while its suffix (vivium) comes from the verb vivere, “to live.” Since baptism is the sacrament by which we are transubstantially wedded into the Church, and thus no longer alone, “living together” aptly reflects the social result of baptism and the Benedictine value of community. Realized by the gift of the Holy Spirit, baptism is the glue of Christian life together, and the Eucharistic banquet sustains the baptismal unity of the Church, which is why no one is admitted to the Eucharist until they’ve been baptized. Community first, then welcome to convivium, the feast.
The noun of the hymn’s first line, convivium, for example, is usually translated “banquet.” Though not an incorrect English word for the Latin convivium, “banquet” is socially tight. It is baptism that calls us to holiness, not merely when we go to Mass or sit at the Lord’s banquet but throughout all our days— whether we are at our God-given best or at our God-awful worst.
The origins of convivium are not the only reason to favor “life together” over “banquet.” Banquets, after all, celebrate accomplishments and goals met, but baptism weds us along the way, through sun and rain, good times and bad, health and sickness. Baptism culls us strangers into Christian society grounded in
Martin F. Connell
Southern Italian Saint Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274) wrote the hymn which, since the late Middle Ages, has been set to music by many composers. It is often sung—in the original and in translation—on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (two Sundays after Pentecost) and during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the
Although Thomas Aquinas is regarded as an intellectual hero of the Roman Catholic tradition, what is less emphasized about his life is that, at just five years old, his parents sent him to Montecassino, the monastery Saint Benedict founded centuries earlier and the community for which he wrote the Rule.
and makes us holy. By God’s grace, O Sacrum Convivium illuminates what—since the death of Christ—none of us deserves to be: saints living together in the Church.
The beautiful, illuminated window of Thomas captures his arresting wisdom. Notice the white dove hovering over the right side of the saint’s halo—the Holy Spirit whispering into the philosopher’s ear, moving him to supply the Church what has now nourished worshipers for centuries. Notice, too, over the left side of the halo, the light beaming down from the cross— echoing back to the hymn’s Christus sumitur, “Christ is received” at Mass.
Dr. Martin F. Connell is professor of theology at Saint John’s University
AEucharist.portrait
of Thomas, the hymn’s author, also resides in the Great Hall as one of the four stained-glass windows honoring four doctors of the Church. The position of the Thomas window is perplexing, as by history it interrupts two saints who knew one another in life—Saint Ambrose of Milan (to the right of the Thomas window), who at Easter in the year 387 baptized Saint Augustine (to the left of Thomas).
Today, the American Church especially pines for new Thomas thinkersAquinases—courageouswhomightrescue the Church from this present age of disaffection and doubt. Even though many Christians have quit, some, as did Thomas, might discover new sources to recover hopes dashed by scandal and skepticism. We pray for the power of the Holy Spirit that our life together will raise up courageous inspirers to heal the brokenhearted remnant.
faith, hope, and love—fashions us into what we are, sacrum: the hymn’s third word, “holy.” Baptism, the door into life together, washes away all sin
Life Together
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O sacrum convivium / O holy banquet, in quo Christus sumitur / in which Christ is received, recolitur memoria passionis eius / his passion recalled, mens impletur gratia / our mind filled with grace, et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. / and the promise of glory given. Alleluia.
Alan Reed, O.S.B.
Though Thomas would eventually become a Dominican priest—the black hooded cowl over his white habit, as in the window, reflecting his Dominican vocation—Benedict’s words shaped him in earlier, more impressionable years. Benedictine values supplied Thomas with his theological ABCs as well as his earliest formation into Christian life. O Sacrum Convivium manifests the Benedictine values of his youth.
Eight centuries after his life, the Church rightly associates Thomas Aquinas with Catholic traditionalism. But in his time, Thomas’ theology was inventive enough to be called into question. Muslim scholars—Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd (Averroës) and others—had just translated the works of ancient Greek philosophers into Latin. Until then, theology had been drawn solely from the Bible and early-Church leaders. Because Plato, Aristotle, and their fellows believed in many gods, not the one God of Christian faith, the ancient Greeks had been assessed as out of bounds for Christian theology. While Thomas’ peers condemned Greek philosophy as errant for its belief in multiple gods, Thomas studied and integrated its wisdom into his theology of the sacraments.
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The hymn lauds the sacrament by pointing to the past, memoria passionis eius, as “Christ’s passion is recalled”; to the present, mens impletur gratia, as the “mind is filled with grace”; and to the future, futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur, as “the promise of glory is given.”
O.S.B.
title of my dissertation,” he notes, “was ‘Lucas de Túy and 13th-Century León.’ Lucas was the last chronicler to write about the history of Castile/León in Latin. After that they shifted to Castilian. Medieval Spain was my specialty.” Though trained in medieval studies, Eric has adjusted well to twenty-firstcentury technology and today maintains a weekly blog, A Monk’s Chronicle withworkexcitingcrucialasclassroom,toadministrativeLibrarytheheSaintuateingEricingReturningoninsightswhichchronicle.wordpress.com],[monksinheshareshisspiritualaswellasobservationslifeattheabbey.toCollegevillefollow-hisgraduatestudies,Fatherfoundgreatjoyinteach-andservingtheundergrad-andgraduateprogramsofJohn’sUniversity.WhenwasappointeddirectorofHillMuseum&Manuscript(HMML)in1993,hisdutiesforcedhimcurtailhispresenceinthebuthisexperiencetheleaderofthisuniqueandprojectopenednewandhorizonsforhim.HisallowedhimtocrosspathsMr.DonaldJackson—a
Welsh calligrapher and scribe for Queen Elizabeth II—who had ambitions to design and produce the first handwritten Bible since Johannes Gutenberg’s development of the printing press in the fifteenth century helped to end the ancient tradition of hand copying and illuminating of manuscripts by monks. Eric collaborated with Mr. Jackson and his studio in creating The Saint John’s Bible, a sevenvolume handwritten Bible that lifts the Word of God to artistic and spiritual heights not realized in centuries. Of this project, Mr. Jackson reflected: “The continuous process of remaining open and accepting of what may reveal itself through hand and heart on a crafted page is the closest I have ever come to God.”
(The Saint John’s Bible is now on display in Alcuin Library at Saint John’s, while programs are being developed to bring this book closer to all who wish to experience its beauty and eloquence.)
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with“Middayhelifeelementsmosttolife?aboutmostdoesyearsinterestfirstmonasticthehimhasofserviceFatheropportunity.in-a-lifetimeEric’saspriortheabbeybroughtbacktoheartofthelifethatpiquedhissomanyago.WhathefindendearingmonasticPointingoneofthecommonofourtogether,observed,Prayertypicallyopensasimple
reservations, however, he determined that the abbot himself could appoint a prior—someone whom the abbot judged to be trustworthy with decisionmaking and leadership in the abbot’s absence.
At Saint John’s Abbey, beginning in July 2022, the role of prior is being filled by Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B. Born in Oklahoma City on 22 September 1948, he was the first of five children of Larry and Lenora Hollas. This Catholic family was committed to a solid education for their children, so Eric spent all eighteen years of his elementary and secondary training in Catholic schools. After high school, he made his way to Princeton University where he received a degree in history.
After his service to HMML ended in 2002, Father Eric moved to the institutional advancement office of the university—a position that allows him to work directly with those who are interested in and dedicated to the advancement of Saint John’s University, with those who understand and support the overall mission of the broader community of Saint John’s. Eric’s gifts of warmth, humor, and abundant information are the primary reasons that those who are deeply committed to Saint John’s feel
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Meet a Monk: Eric Hollas
Timothy Backous, O.S.B.
they are always part of what is happening in this special place. Of the many horizons Eric has found over his professional career, one of the most intriguing must be his service since 2004 as chaplain for the Order of Malta, Western Association, U.S.A. Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, founded in Jerusalem in the eleventh century and whose mission remains to uphold human dignity, reduce misery, and care for people in need. His duties include giving an annual retreat and participating in gatherings that bring the members together. To be involved in an organization so ancient and deeply spiritual is a once-
Eric the gardener
hymn sung without the help of the organ. That moment is an elegant simplicity of togetherness and unity—many different voices of monks who each bring a totally unique set of talents and perspectives, all singing together a set of lyrics that are straightforward, sincere, and prayerful.” This humble moment, indeed, encapsulates the very definition of what we strive for each day as monks: at midday we pause from whatever we find ourselves doing—whether mundane or profound—and make our way to the church to spend a few moments praising God. “What could be better than that?” asks the prior of our community.
Eric, director of the Hill Museum, with the Fesler Antiphonary
Abbey archives Abbey archives
Discerning a call to service in the Church, he made his way to Saint John’s to begin studies for the priesthood. Of Collegeville, he writes, “I knew I had found where I belong.” It wasn’t long before Eric returned to the East Coast, this time to Yale University where he completed a doctorate in medieval studies. “The
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
aint Benedict’s Rule speaks of the prior, the “second in command” in the monastery, in this way: “The prior shall perform respectfully the duties enjoined on him by his abbot and do nothing against the abbot’s will or direction; for the more he is raised above the rest, the more carefully should he observe the precepts of the Rule” (RB 65.16–17). As monasteries of Benedict’s time grew larger and larger, it was necessary to appoint someone to help the abbot with the daily governance of the household. Benedict preferred that several deans share the complexity and burdens of running a community, so the abbot could better attend to the spiritual well-being of the monks. Despite his personal
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I’llskater.admit,
Benefactors: Marion and Don Hall, renovation of 2007–2009.
The handsome detailing of today’s Stella Maris Chapel dates to a major renovation completed in 2009 that included new plaster and paint, new floor tile, and new stained-glass windows. The 1943 fieldstone buttresses were removed and replaced by concrete buttresses that better match the scale of the chapel. The exterior was stuccoed and painted red, reminiscent of the original color scheme. A statue of the pregnant Mother of God welcomes the thousands of annual visitors who can now pray the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55), the canticle of Mary that has been erected on a slate panel.
Wedestination.gotengaged
Ælred Senna, O.S.B.
Stella Maris Chapel, 2008
Ælred Senna, O.S.B. Ælred Senna, O.S.B
I come here not as often as I’d like. But upon my return, this place’s beauty never ceases to amaze me.
ne-hundred-fifty years ago, a picturesque chapel measuring only 16΄ x 12 ΄ was built across Lake Sagatagan to honor Mary, the Mother of God, under the title of Stella Maris (Star of the Sea). The redbrick chapel survived the tornado of 1894 that devasted most of the Saint John’s campus, but a lightning strike in April 1903 led to its fiery destruction. In 1915 another generation of pious monks constructed a new Stella Maris Chapel of red-cement block, featuring a wooden altar, steeple, and statue of Mary. Materials for the structure were brought by sled over the lake during the winter or by horsedrawn wagon in the summer. In 1943 the exterior chapel walls were significantly altered with the addition of buttresses made of Forfieldstone.decadesthe
Abbey archives
Stella Maris Chapel, 1888
O
Pilgrimage teaches us we can go further than we think we can go.
here! It was everything I dreamed of and so much more. The romantic (and muddy) walk, because it is spring, ended with a beautiful proposal. We are so excited to be married.
I am 10 and in 4th grade. I love bats and vampires. I am a figure
In 2005, responding to the dilapidated condition of the Stella Maris Chapel, architect Ed Sövik proposed a renovation plan so the chapel “might become a place of prayer and a place of pilgrimage” once again. Today, the presence of so many—who come to the chapel to pray, to remember earlier visits, to propose marriage, to express their love of nature—suggest that the chapel has indeed become a place of pilgrimage again. The value and importance of Stella Maris is reflected in the comments shared by visitors who signed the chapel guestbook in the past year.
Of course, not everyone can be pleased. One disgruntled youngster (?) wrote, in large, scrawly, block letters: WORST DAY EVER!
Art is always the replacement of indifference by attention.GuyDavenport
chapel has been honored and hallowed by prayerful pilgrims, curious students, and other visitors. It also suffered from careless campers starting fires within the building, from vandals trashing both interior and exterior, and from the wear and tear of Minnesota weather. By the end of the century, the chapel was in deplorable condition.
Designers: Vincent Schiffrer, O.S.B., original chapel of 1872; Gilbert Winkelmann, O.S.B., chapel of 1915; Cloud Meinberg, O.S.B., and Sebastian Schramel, O.S.B., renovation of 1943; Ed Sövik, F.A.I.A., renovation of 2007.
Artists and Artisans
Light rain did not deter from the joy of reaching the chapel—a calming
Artists: Alexander Tylevich, bronze statue of Mary, 2009; Dieterich Spahn, stained-glass windows, 2009; Janey Westin, Magnificat carving, 2009.
Stella Maris Chapel Guestbook
Saint Mary, Star of the Sea, pray for us.
Advent walk with my family. First visit to chapel. Was delighted to find the Magnificat on Advent.
“To prepare the homily for the community,” he recalled, “took me about seven hours because it was given in Japanese.” His fondness for the Japanese language and people made this a labor of love.
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In 1987 Father Luigi had a turn of heart: “I developed a vocation for the Benedictines. I had sympathy for them during my military service but my missionary zeal drove me to the Xaverians. Now, I was attracted to a community with whom I could pray.” This attraction led Luigi to Saint John’s Abbey in 1989, where he entered the novitiate.
orornothingGoodjoyful,ousawantedprinciplesembracedwholeheartedlythefundamentalofVaticanII.HetoliveandworkwithlargesenseofChurch,gener-andkind,celebratingthemercifulthrustoftheNews.TherewassimplyinBrennan’sspiritualityhissenseoflifethatpinchedrestricted.AbbotJohnKlassen,O.S.B. Abbey archives Abbey archives 30 Abbey Banner
In 2008 Father Luigi returned to Collegeville where he assisted with the North American Commission for Monastic Interreligious Dialogue and the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, developing good relations with local Somali
ather Luigi Bertocchi, O.S.B., was born to Mario Gino and Lorenzina Antonietta (Gobbi) Bertocchi on 21 June 1939 in Venice, Italy. In 1962, following a few years of training at both a technical school and a commercial school, Luigi began compulsory military training in southern Italy where he learned to operate cannons.
The fourteenth of seventeen children of Henry and Grace (McGraw) Maiers, Brennan was born on 27 April 1936, in Stewart, Minnesota. After completing his early education in Stewart, he enrolled at Saint John’s Preparatory School; following graduation, he began philosophy studies at Saint John’s University. In 1956 he entered the novitiate at Saint John’s Abbey, professing his first vows as a Benedictine monk on 11 July
1957. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1963 after completing theological studies at Saint John’s Seminary. During the summer of 1964, Brennan did graduate work in English at Marquette University. English literature and poetry remained a passion to the end of his
Following the death of his father (1973) and mother (1978), Father Luigi felt free to be assigned to the missions. After a year in Sardinia, he moved to London to further his studies in English. In 1980 Luigi arrived in Osaka, Japan, to begin a life in the missions. To further his language skills, he served in Kanoya on the island of Kyushu, where he celebrated the Eucharist for a leper colony and taught English to kindergarten students.
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monastic life, Father Brennan was engaged in pastoral ministry. He ministered at the Church of Saint Joseph in Saint Joseph, Minnesota (1965–1968) and at the Church of Saint Benedict in the Bronx, New York (1968–1976), where he eagerly implemented the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and promoted lay participation in parish decision-making. At the Church of Saint Boniface in Cold Spring, Minnesota (1976–1983), he oversaw the building of that community’s new church, the remodeling of the old church as the parish center, construction of a new school, and the planning and remodeling of the Assumption Community Nursing Home.
While serving as pastor of the Church of Saint Bernard in Saint Paul (1983–1990), Brennan attended courses in Chicago for community organizing and then worked with other pastors to help with communities-at-large organizations. He started the Neocatechumenal Way community at Saint Bernard’s, which served as a parish within the parish, emphasizing renewal and dedication to Christian formation.
ollowing months of declining health, Father Brennan Charles Maiers, O.S.B., died on 22 July 2022 in the abbey’s retirement center. His confreres along with many of his extended family celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial on 28 July, after which Brennan was interred in the abbey cemetery.
In his spirituality and ministry, Brennan
Father Luigi: a walker with a beret; a striking military posture; a connector, the word is made for him; a shy sense of humor; a lover of cultures and languages; a photographer; kind; interested in psychics, fortunetellers, and seers, as well as the horoscope—he took it seriously!AbbotJohn Klassen, O.S.B.
AfterMuslims.some years of declining health, including the onset of Alzheimer’s, Father Luigi died on 30 April 2022 in the community retirement center. Following the Mass of Christian Burial, he was interred in the abbey cemetery.
Among his first assignments was teaching at a minor seminary in the region of Lombardy. He also started a photography club at the school, an artistic passion his mother instilled in him.
office and as an associate chaplain for campus ministry. In 1996 he returned to his native Italy, becoming the guestmaster at the international Benedictine house of studies, Sant’Anselmo, in Rome. A natural connector, he was perfectly suited to offer warm and generous hospitality. He also put his language skills (Italian, English, Japanese) to good use as a confessor at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls for the many tourists.
Following his profession of vows as a Benedictine monk on 11 July 1990, he returned to Japan briefly, then spent several years in Collegeville serving at the Saint John’s University registrar’s
Inspired by the counsel of a Carmelite spiritual director, Luigi decided to pursue a vocation with the Jesuits. However, his parents’ confessor convinced him to enter the local Venetian seminary. Unhappy with the seminary and longing to be a missionary, Luigi sought out the Xaverian Missionaries and entered their novitiate in 1964. He was ordained to the priesthood on 27 September 1970.
Brennan Maiers
Throughoutlife.his
In 1990 Father Brennan received permission for a four-month sabbatical at Sant’Anselmo, the Benedictine house of studies in Rome. During his sabbatical he toured continental Europe, the Holy Land, and Ireland—which he called “my second Holy Land.” From 1990–1996, he served as chaplain at Saint Scholastica Monastery in Duluth and completed a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Saint Mary’s Medical Center. He was especially eager to work with the prisoners in the Federal Prison Camp Duluth where he conducted an RCIA program that challenged the prisoners’ beliefs about Catholicism. In 1996 Brennan returned to Collegeville and served as chaplain for the Benedictine sisters at nearby Saint Raphael’s Convent, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, and Saint Scholastica Convent until 2002. During his retirement, Father Brennan helped in the abbey archives, conducted church tours, drove monks to medical appointments, and served as dispatcher for the abbey car fleet.
Luigi Bertocchi
Brother Paul
On 17 May, the Coronavirus Resource Center of Johns Hopkins University reported that one million Americans have died of COVID. In July our community experienced an outbreak in
Lost and Found
Brothers, the new credit cards have arrived. Please pick up your new card(s) in our office at your inconvenience.
I made the rounds in the dorm yesterday. I knocked on one kid’s door, and when he opened it and looked at me, I asked him: “Do you know who I am?” He paused to think and then replied, “Are you my dad?”
Félix Mencias Babian, O.S.B.
The daily routine within the cloister is enlivened by the antics of the “characters” of the community. Here are stories from the Monastic Mischief file.
Our pastor would appreciate it if the women of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
More Extracts from Church Bulletins/Church Ladies with Typewriters
Driver’s Ed
Alan Reed, O.S.B. Untitled, 2021
Silence.” That is, “About 1:00 P.M.–Silence.” I know tomorrow is a day of reflection and silence. But then why associate that with 1:00? Maybe it’s not to worry. I get odd things on my calendar sometimes.
April 2022 • “Monumental Works” was the ironic title of a collection of miniature artwork by Brother Alan Reed on display in the newly renovated abbot’s parlor. Each piece had been transformed from used and discarded materials (cardboard boxes, labels, scrap/found materials) into exquisite creations, at once intimate and ethereal. “They are
College education
If you write things down, don’t lose them!Father
Fly with us! We take your bags and send them in all directions.
Bucharest hotel
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Michael Marx
Miss Charlene Mason sang, “I will not pass this way again,” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
COVID-19
National Prayer and Fasting Conference: The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer Conference includes meals.
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Saint Raphael Hall (the abbey healthcare and retirement center) during which five confreres and two staff members tested positive for the virus, necessitating a lockdown of Saint Raphael Hall and the reintroduction of masking within the monastery. The community was pleased to learn in early August from Prior Eric Hollas that masking was once again optional: “Please regard this as permission to breathe freely!”
composition studies of shape, color, form, and other elements of art and design,” explained Brother Alan. “I find making them to be a meditative and investigative process, and wander into thoughts about the intangible—those things that form essential questions.”
he first April showers of 2022 were white. As on Christmas and Ash Wednesday, Saint John’s had a white Easter—just like the ones we used to know. Lake Sagatgan went ice free on 21 April. May Day was a gray day with temps in the 40s°F. Blustery winds and rain turned the monastery’s Memorial Day cookout into a cook-in, and downed trees closed a local golf course, so the Saint John’s hackers were not able to play in the annual holiday tournament. On 24 June, after a night of thunderstorms and a deluge of rain (3.2 inches), the evening dew point was a tropical 71 with a temp of 89. Though parts of the state were suffering from drought, Collegeville continued to be blessed with gentle showers accompanied by not so blessed dew points in the 60s and 70s through much of July and into August. The departure of the purple martins, plaintive call of the loons, and splashes of red, orange, and gold in the woods hint of a change in season.
I am still officially not allowed to open my tavern, but estate agents are allowed to sell houses with viewings, etc. So, I am officially putting my bar on the market as of tomorrow. Viewings are between 11 A.M. and 11 P.M., no appointment necessary, but you must buy a beer while viewing.
Cloister Light
If you don’t like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk.
Don’t grow old!
Aging Wisdom
I have my glasses again. Thank you all. One of my good friends saw them on the reading table in the recreation room and said, “Ah, here are my glasses,” and carried them home. But when he put them on, theyFatherweren’t.”Thomas
Abbey Chronicle
But if you do grow old, don’t forget.
If you forget, write things down.
Half of a majestic silver maple, more than one-hundred years old, collapsed on 26 June in the monastic gardens.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
Father Thomas
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
Like Minnesota weather, the COVID-19 pandemic has passed through a series of highs and lows. The community breathed a sigh of relief in mid-March when Abbot John Klassen announced that facemasks were no longer required in church.
Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
Can someone tell me why I have a strange sentence in my calendar tomorrow? “ca. 1:00–
In French class, Father Roland handed back a disastrous quiz in the third quad classroom, saying to the student: “I open the window, you jump! On second thought, I jump!”
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for Sunday has been canceled due to a Smileconflict.atsomeone who is hard to love. Say “hell” to someone who does not care much about you.
T
Lost (or gained!) in translation Copenhagen airport
• Citing Father Dale Launderville’s exceptional commitment and service to the School of Theology and Seminary (decades of teaching and seventeen years as dean), Saint John’s University President Dr. James Mullen presented Father Dale with the Presidential Medal on 29 April.
• The 2022 maple syrup season, which began on 7 March with the first round of tapping, concluded on 23 April. Brother Walter Kieffer noted that twenty cords of wood were used for the cooking that produced a bountiful harvest of 506 gallons of maple syrup, which he judged to be “outstanding in color, sugar content, and flavor.” Sweet!
• Twenty-four books published by Liturgical Press were recognized as the best in Catholic publishing by the Catholic Media Association (CMA), and four additional awards were granted in the catalog category. The Press was also honored by the Association of Catholic Publishers (ACP) with two 2022 Excellence in Publishing Awards.
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June 2022
• After a nearly thirty-month hiatus due to COVID-19, a team of ministers is again able to celebrate Mass at the Minnesota Correctional Facility, Saint Cloud. Father Nickolas Kleespie reports that a dozen prisoners were present for the liturgy. “We were all a bit rusty on our singing and responses. However, there was a very powerful sharing of what the Scripture was saying to each of us. The group was incredibly grateful to be able to share in the Eucharist.”
Félix Mencias Babian, O.S.B.
• During an ice-cream social on 28 June, members of the monastic community, the staff of Liturgical Press, and dozens of Collegeville employees and neighbors thanked Mr. Peter Dwyer for his service to the Press and Catholic publishing. Later that
August 2022
• A host of local musicians presented “Visions of Hope,” an hour of hopeful music (classical, contemporary, sacred, improvisation), to a COVID-weary audience in the abbey and university church on 3 April. The concert featured Mr. George Maurer (piano), Father Michael Peterson (Native American flute), Mr. Jack Cassidy (vocalist), Mr. Jeff Engholm (bass), Mr. Terry Vermillion (drums), and Mr. Rich Manik (saxophone). Brother Jacob Berns (organ) and Father Bob Koopmann (piano) collaborated in presenting “Visions” by Joe Utterback. The afternoon’s entertainment concluded with Father Bob’s improvisations on THAXTED by Gustave Holst for organ (two hands, two feet, and hymnbook). A hopeful time was had by all.
• Abbot John Klassen and some two hundred monks, coworkers, friends, and donors gathered on 26 July for the groundbreaking ceremony for a 28,000-squarefoot, two-story structure that will house Abbey Woodworking/ Pasi Organs. Driven indoors by rain, the congregation sang and prayed in the empty, cathedrallike lumber shed [below] that would shortly be torn down to make way for the new enterprise.
Minnesota, who is committed to the monthly oblate chapter in Collegeville, was first drawn to the community by the kindness in Benedict’s Rule
• On 1 July, following seven years of diligent and dependable service as prior (major superior) of the abbey, Father Bradley Jenniges handed over the keys to the kingdom (and the keys to the cars) to Father Eric Hollas.
• With a focus on the damaged relationship between Indigenous peoples and the dominant culture, some forty members of Bridgefolk—Mennonites and Catholics in Dialogue—met at Saint John’s in July for their annual conference. Indigenous speakers from both the Mennonite and Catholic experience were present to explore issues of land acknowledgments, apology, forgiveness, and repairing the damages facing us as a nation and as a Church. One confrere observed: “I was struck with the level of pain that the Indigenous people (and many in the settled community) are carrying from the experience of residential schools, broken treaties, reservation life, and the concomitant issues such as racism, addiction, and suicide.”
Photos: John Meoska, O.S.B.
July 2022
• Father Cyprian Weaver shared his spiritual insights with Saint John’s oblates during their annual retreat, 15–17 July. Approximately seventy oblates were present, along with a couple dozen who joined by Zoom videoconferencing. During the retreat, three oblates made their final oblation. Ms. Kathy Janku, of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, a former theology teacher at Saint John’s Prep, has long been promoting Benedictine values in her life, home, and classroom and regards her oblation as a natural commitment forward. Mr. Justin Lombardo, Chicago, who reads the Rule daily and is committed to lectio divina, feels his oblation enhances his sense of connectedness and belonging to the abbey. Ms. Barbara Marincel, of Brooklyn Park,
evening the monastic community hosted Peter and spouse Rose, along with members of the Liturgical Press leadership team, to continue the celebration of Peter’s thirty-three years of service, twenty-one of them as director.
Last fall a wind and rainstorm toppled half of the abbey’s grape arbor —already in a weakened condition because the poles supporting the grapes were rotted at ground level. In May the Meoska clan came to the rescue! Father John Meoska, his brothers Tom and David, and their uncle Donald rebuilt the two runs of poles and wires that support the vines.
Last service in the abbey lumber shed
Lime (and Lemon) Curd (Yields about 1½ to 1¾ cups)
• ¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Fatherconfreres.Emeric
• 4 egg yolks plus one whole egg
It turns out such curds—usually made with citrus, though other fruits could be used—are quite delicious, and the homemade versions are truly the best. A variety of preparation methods exist, and there is debate regarding the appropriate list of ingredients. I can attest that this recipe uses the most foolproof of the methods—the double boiler provides a safety net that working on direct heat does not. Using mostly egg yolks, rather than whole eggs, avoids a curd that tastes too eggy. Some recipes leave out the butter.
Excerpted from Confrere, newsletter of Saint John’s Abbey:
• Zest of two limes
The curd will keep in the refrigerator, well covered, for about two weeks.
Pour the curd into a glass jar. If some of the eggs have “scrambled,” pass the mixture through a fine sieve into the jar—note that with only one egg white in the mixture, this step is not likely to be necessary. You may place plastic film directly on the surface of the curd to prevent it from forming a skin as it cools.
Curds But No Whey Ælred Senna, O.S.B.
Fifty Years Ago Monks in the Kitchen
Fill a medium saucepan with 1½ to 2 inches of water and bring to a boil.
Father Ivan Havener sent the following report on the Twentieth Olympics the week before the athletic competition was turned into war games: “With the beginning of the games, Munich has changed from its normal
27 September 1972
• 1 cup granulated sugar
26 June 1972
In the bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the butter. Place the bowl over the boiling water and whisk continuously until the mixture is warm enough to melt the butter. Add the butter—about a tablespoon at a time—and continue to whisk to melt the butter. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon— about 8 to 10 minutes.
Lawrence returns to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, for another year of ecumenical academics. Last spring the students at Luther College
• 4 tablespoons salted butter
Hand-carved panel crafted in the abbey woodworking shop
To make the curd: Use a stainless steel or glass bowl that will fit snugly over the saucepan without touching the water.
petitioned the administration to hire Father Emeric as a member of the campus ministry for the Catholic students attending this school. Father Jerome Theisen, chair of the theology department at Saint John’s, will continue the exchange program, now in its fifth
Robin Pierzina,
Fatheryear.[Henry
• ½ cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
Bryan Beaumont Hays] Dority has finished the composition of a two-act opera based on the short story “Parker’s Back” by Flannery O’Connor. During his sabbatical this year he plans to copy out the piano/ vocal score and complete the orchestration while trying to interest an opera company in performing the work.
Operation Renovation in the student dining rooms is nearing completion. The brick and fieldstone of the walls have been exposed and restored; the ceiling has been lowered; the floors have been carpeted; and the main dining room has been air-conditioned. The northeast room, which for years was referred to as the Prep Dining Room after the print shop gave up half of its space in this area in the late 1940s to make room for student diners, is now called the Walter Reger Room in memory of the beloved monk and teacher who came to be known as “Father Saint John’s.” The main dining room is now called the [Ludwig Saal] in honor of King Ludwig of Bavaria who assisted the pioneer
Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is publisher of Give Us This Day and abbey refectorian.
hectic self into a sort of controlled pandemonium. The colorful Olympic flags, at least those which survived the flag thieves (79 disappeared the first night!), are flapping in the breeze. Since I didn’t make the American Olympic team by my athletic prowess, I’ve had to make my contribution in some other way. On August 27, as the representative of the American and English-speaking Catholics, I concelebrated with Cardinal Döpfner, a Polish-speaking bishop from Zambia, a French, and a Spaniard—in the newly renovated Frauenkirche. The festive, six-language, radiobroadcast Eucharist, complete with music from Haydn, underscored the duty of Christians to be Fatherpeacemakers.”DunstanTucker, university baseball coach for more than twenty seasons, has become a member of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. Senna,
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Give(What?!)this
Fathers Kieran Nolan and Paschal Botz will be leaving for Germany for a study trip sponsored by the Bishops’ Committee on the Permanent Diaconate. The purpose of this three-week trip is to visit several of the European centers with welldeveloped programs for permanent deacons and to report back to the Bishops’ Committee.
first discovered the delicious treat that is citrus curd some thirty years ago when I stopped for coffee at a beanery in Carmel Valley, California. I was teaching in Texas at the time, but I was doing some consulting with a company for whom I would later work. The coffee place was recommended to me by my colleagues as the “place to go.” Not only was their coffee excellent, but they offered house-made crumpets in the mornings. The woman behind the counter highly recommended the lemon curd to accompany the crumpets. I had no idea what that could even mean, but when in Rome (or Carmel), you know.
25 August 1972
Ælred
I
a try. I promise you won’t regret it!
O.S.B.
O.S.B.
Leonard R. “Lenny” Merdan Mary Louise Miles Lawrence Henry Moorse Mack Robert Motzko
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That same purple rug followed me to my office while I served as university athletic director, then on to the prep school where it provided a comforting environment in my headmaster’s office. There it stayed for several years and two subsequent headmasters until it was returned to the abbey attic. After our monastery was renovated this past year, the rug was pulled out of storage, given a luxurious shampoo, and placed in a recreation room where it can now be found.
Grace Marie Braun, O.S.B. Laurene T. Braunsky
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Mary Lou Rutz
Marie Gerads, O.S.B.
Father Don Talafous, O.S.B., prepares daily reflections on Scripture and living the life of a Christian that are available on the abbey’s website at: saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection/.
Roger M. Delles
Carol Marie Skoien Joachim Spexarth, O.S.B. Paul Steingreaber, O.S.B.
Mary Emily Schneeweis
David R. “Dave” Torigian Gerhard JanetJohnCharlesArchbishopBenedictaDavidMargaritaEdwinAlexanderTrackTylevichL.“Ed”UtrupVelázquez JosephWagnerWard,S.L.G.RembertG.Weakland,O.S.B.N.“Charlie”WennerP.“Johnny”WilchIVMagdaleneWilliams
James W. “Jim” Chirhart
Paula Revier, O.S.B.
James Benedict F. Janecko, O.S.B. Gloria R. Jellum Verdella A. “Della” Jungels Ralph Edward Kelash
Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., offers spiritual insights and glimpses into the life of the Benedictine community at Saint John’s Abbey in a weekly blog, A Monk’s Chronicle. Visit his blog at: monkschronicle.wordpress.com.
Loretta Jane Colwell
Bernard L. “Bernie” DiPasquale Abbot Leander Edward Dosch, O.C.S.O.
Timothy Backous, O.S.B.
Winnifred E. “Winnie” Christenson
Judith DonaldMarjorieHansonHeinzPenfield
John Gregory Hoeschler
Frances “Sister Fran” Kempenich, O.S.F. Andreas Kiryakakis Alvina L. Klocker Louise Koltes, O.S.B. Lorraine Kraft, O.S.B. Karen A. Kroska Linda Kulzer, O.S.B.
Abbot Francis Rossiter, O.S.B. Paul Rubadue, O.S.B.
Brian Michael Savage
Linda Jean Scherer
Cyril Frank “Cy” Neussendorfer Bode G. “Buck” Owens Jr. Donald C. “Don” Oyen Loretta A. “Lori” Pfannenstein Janice Loretta Pikal Rosemary Rader, O.S.B.
Allan “Al” Beckel
Deacon Frank A. Schmainda
The purple rug ties our monastic family to his in strange and beautiful ways. It also reminds us that the most unexpected treasures can be found right under our feet! Tracing treasure might take a bit of detective work, but it usually begins with simple questions like: “Where did you get this?”
Roger H. Scherer
Sally Ireland Robertson
Rev. Dennis D. Evenson
Father Don’s Daily Reflection
Please join the monastic community in prayerful remembrance of our deceased family members and friends:
Joseph Rutledge “Joe” Clements, Obl.S.B.
Robert B. “Bob” Sexton
A Monk’s Chronicle
Paul MaryDwyerLouEltgroth, O.S.F.
Rev. John G. “Jerry” Berger
John “Jack” Holl Alan NormanKeithHriberF.HughesLernell
undercanTreasuresbefoundourfeet.
Charles Gorman
Dennis John Sand
ome years ago, while I was serving as a faculty resident, a young man came to visit me. As we sat in the living room of my apartment, he gazed at the floor and suddenly inquired: “Where did you get this rug?” He was referring to a large, purple Oriental rug that I had repurposed from the attic of the monastery. It had returned to Saint John’s from a rectory in northern Minnesota after the pastor there had died in a bicycle accident. When I told the student this story, he named the town and the parish. As it turned out, his mother had worked as an assistant in that parish, and he had grown up playing on this very rug! Now, by remarkable coincidence, it was under his feet as a college student in his faculty resident’s room.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of God’s faithful ones. Psalm 116:15
Deacon Guy Beck
Charles Hlava, O.S.B. Tarcisius Hoang Hoa, O.S.B.
Earthly TreasuresIn Memoriam
J. Michael “Father Mike” Byron
Luigi Bertocchi, O.S.B.
But the story goes on. During a recent alumni/ae reunion, a gentleman approached me, reminding me that he had been that visitor in my room more than thirty years ago and was curious about what had happened to the purple rug—and had even more remarkable information to share. He had discovered that his family and the abbey’s relationship stretched all the way back to the nineteenth century when his great grandfather served as the supervisor of the monk’s horse barn. As the family bonded with the abbey, they commissioned a hand-hooked rug as a special gift for the monks to soften their hardwood floors and create a homier atmosphere. Indeed, it was the same rug that made its way to the rectory where this child would first encounter it and then rediscover it again as a college student. He told me he is now searching for the original bill of sale which, he says, would be typical of his family’s way of doing (and keeping) things.
Kevin McGuire, O.S.B.
Rev. Richard J. Leisen Kathleen Lewis Brennan Maiers, O.S.B. Valdemar Maldonado
Ronald M. “Ron” Bosrock
Martin T. Cullen
Gordon Doyle “Gordy” Gandy
“Don” Helgeson Elizabeth “Betty” Hennen Florentine M. Hens
Adeline V. Stoehr Thomas V. Surma Jennifer Symalla
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12 Land Stewardship
New Year Retreat: Theophanies Abound
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37 Monks in the Kitchen: Curds But No Whey Ælred Senna, O.S.B.
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26 Meet a Monk: Eric Hollas Timothy Backous, O.S.B. Stella Maris Chapel: 150 Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.
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Jonathan Trude
15 Rule of Benedict: The Prior Eric Hollas, O.S.B.
4 This Issue
30 Obituary: Luigi Bertocchi Obituary: Brennan Maiers Cloister Light Abbey Chronicle
38 In Memoriam
Register online at abbeyguesthouse.org; contact the Spiritual Life Office at 320.363.3929; or email us at: spirlife@csbsju.edu.
2–4 December 2022 Presented by Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B. The retreat begins with supper at 5:30 P.M. Friday and concludes Sunday morning. Cost: Single room, $220; double room, $385; suite, $415; meals included.
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30 December 2022–1 January 2023 Presented by Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B. The retreat begins with supper at 5:30 P.M. Friday and concludes Sunday morning. Cost: Single room, $220; double room, $385; suite, $415; meals included.
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Fall 2022 Volume 22, Number
John Geissler
6 Monastic
39 Earthly Treasures
5 Anniversaries
Advent Retreat: Developing Night Vision
Saint John’s Abbey P.O. Box Collegeville,2015MN 56321-2015 U.S.A.
16 Plan of Saint Gall Cyprian Weaver, O.S.B. WalkingPatrickTogetherMartin Life Together Martin F. Connell
36 Fifty Years Ago
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Timothy Backous, O.S.B.
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Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B. Profession and Jubilees Abbot President Benedictine Volunteer Corps