Abbey Banner - Spring 2016

Abbey Banner Spring 2016

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Cry out with joy to God, all the earth; O sing to the glory of God’s name.

O render God glorious praise.

Say to God, “How awesome your deeds!”

Robin Pierzina,

O.S.B.

Psalm 66:1-3

This Issue

Mercy and Healing Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

Let the abbot exalt mercy above judgment [James 2:13], that he himself may obtain mercy.

Abbey Banner Magazine of Saint John’s Abbey Published three times annually (spring, fall, winter) by the monks of Saint John’s Abbey.

Editor: Robin Pierzina, O.S.B. Editorial assistants: Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.; Dolores Schuh, C.H.M. Abbey archivist: David Klingeman, O.S.B. University archivists: Peggy Roske, Elizabeth Knuth Design: Alan Reed, O.S.B. Circulation: Ruth Athmann, Mary Gouge, Jan Jahnke, Danielle Schmiesing, Cathy Wieme Printed by Palmer Printing Copyright © 2016 by Order of Saint Benedict Saint John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-2015 abbeybanner@csbsju.edu saintjohnsabbey.org/banner/ ISSN: 2330-6181 (print) ISSN: 2332-2489 (online)

Change of address: Ruth Athmann P. O. Box 7222 Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7222 rathmann@csbsju.edu Phone: 800.635.7303

Cover: Saint John’s Bread advertisement, c. 1964

This issue of Abbey Banner explores the meaning of mercy in the life of Christians. Reflecting on this topic, Pope Francis stated: “At times we are called to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s action in our lives. For this reason I have proclaimed an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.” Abbot John Klassen opens this issue by noting that we are all broken persons in need of healing. From Mr. Antoine Leiris we read the extraordinary response of someone who lost the love of his life to violent hatred. Father Nickolas Kleespie points to John the Baptist as a guide to repentance, “the key to the door of mercy.”

Ninety years ago Father Virgil Michel (1890–1938), recognizing liturgy as the source of Christian spirituality, began publishing a journal called Orate Fratres, promoting liturgical renewal and social reform. This journal and other humble pamphlets would grow into the Liturgical Press, publishing apostolate of Saint John’s Abbey. Beginning with Orate Fratres, now called Worship magazine, Dr. Katharine Harmon outlines the history of the Press in the liturgy and life of the Church.

For thousands of our friends and alumni/ae, Saint John’s is synonymous with Johnnie Bread, the hearty bread baked at the abbey since pioneer monks brought the recipe to Collegeville from Germany. Brother Aaron Raverty shares the history of the loaf that became a legend. For those who do not live

by Johnnie Bread alone, Brother Ælred Senna offers a recipe for “crisis bread,” when time is of the essence.

If Saint John’s is known for its liturgy and bread, its distinctive “sense of place” is linked to the land and lakes that have been the community’s home since the mid-1800s. Our community cherishes the woods, wetlands, and wildlife, recognizing them as a gift of God—a gift of inspiring beauty and sustaining bounty. Mr. Jake Lammi updates us on recent stewardship activities and solar energy. Ms. Josie Stang traces the history of our cemetery, the final resting place for monks and many others who call Saint John’s their home.

With this issue of Abbey Banner we inaugurate a new series: lives of the Benedictine saints. Dr. Robin Gallaher Branch introduces us to our patrons, the holy twins Benedict and Scholastica, sharing their legacies with us and suggesting how living the Benedictine life is not solely for professed religious. We also learn how this Benedictine life is modeled by members of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps, by an employee, by a former student, and by a monk from Mexico.

Along with Abbot John and the monastic community, the staff of Abbey Banner extends prayerful best wishes to our readers for a blessed Easter season. Peace!

Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

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Rule of Benedict 64.10

Abbey archives

ver the past twenty-five years I have given many retreats that have focused on Jesus’ use of parables in the proclamation of the reign of God. In the Gospel we encounter Jesus not merely speaking about this “new thing” but actualizing it in his words and deeds. In chapter 8 of John’s Gospel, for example, some religious leaders bring (not gently!) a woman who has been caught in adultery.

(Note that it takes two to commit this fault!) She is being used to trap Jesus. If he upholds Jewish Law in this matter, the woman will be stoned to death, and Jesus’ message of forgiveness and conversion will be compromised. If he does not uphold Jewish Law, then he will be held in contempt of the Law. Jesus takes the situation out of the legal realm and makes it existential. He says to those present, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:8). The evangelist wryly notes that those who were testing Jesus departed, beginning with the eldest, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. He poses the question: “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir” she replies. Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again” (8:10-11). Here is forgiveness and the urge toward conversion.

In its structures, the Church works to be faithful to the message of Jesus. For hundreds of years we labored with an ecclesiology of perfection. A perfect society cannot be sinful. Yet the evidence of sin abounds. At Vatican Council II our leadership acknowledged that the Church is always in need of conversion. Its structures must aim to protect and heal people. Like Jesus in the passage from John’s Gospel, the Church is about helping people move forward with their lives, in spite of brokenness. We are all broken persons, in one way or another, and each one of us needs healing.

With Pope Francis we see a renewed commitment to a Church that is biased toward mercy. In a recent presentation Father Dan Ward, O.S.B., cited a wonderful passage from Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” This expression of mercy releases each one of us from the weight of self-blame, sadness, and doubting that we are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). If we are really able as a Church to embrace the truth of this Jubilee of Mercy, it will lead us to examine the barriers that so many encounter in the Church.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy Misericordiae Vultus Francis, Bishop of Rome Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.

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e need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.

Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of one’s brothers and sisters on the path of life.

Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness. (§2) Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy. The Church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love. Without a witness to mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if sequestered in a barren desert. The time has come

Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life.

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for the Church to take up the joyful call to mercy once more.

Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope. (§10) In order to be capable of mercy, we must first of all dispose ourselves to listen to the Word of God. This means rediscovering the value of silence in order to meditate on the Word that comes to us. In this way, it will be possible to contemplate God’s mercy and adopt it as our lifestyle. (§13) It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty.

Let us rediscover these corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead. And let us not forget the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted,

forgive offenses, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead. (§15) The Church is called above all to be a credible witness to mercy, professing it and living it as the core of the revelation of Jesus Christ. From the heart of the

that resounds strong and clear as a message and a sign of pardon, strength, aid, and love. May she never tire of extending mercy, and be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort. May the Church become the voice of every man and woman, and repeat confidently without end:

Mercy and Grief Antoine Leiris You’ll never get my hatred.

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riday night, you stole the life of an exceptional person, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you won’t get my hatred.

I don’t know who you are, and I don’t want to know; your souls are dead. If this God for whom you kill indiscriminately made us in his own image, then every bullet in my wife’s body will have been a wound in his heart. So, no, I won’t give you this gift of hating you.

You had it coming to you, but responding to your hatred with anger would be giving in to the same ignorance that made you what you are.

Trinity, from the depths of the mystery of God, the great river of mercy wells up and overflows unceasingly. It is a spring that will never run dry, no matter how many people draw from it. (§25) In this Jubilee Year, may the Church echo the word of God

“Remember your mercy, O LORD, and the love you have shown from of old” (Psalm 25:6). (§25) 11 April 2015, Sunday of Divine Mercy

You want me to be fearful, so that I’d watch my countrymen with a suspicious eye, so that I’d sacrifice my This letter, translated from the French by Brother Aidan Putnam, O.S.B., was posted online following the terrorist bombings in Paris on 13 November 2015.

freedom for security. What a loss. Same player still plays.

I saw her again this morning.

Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when I lost her that Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell madly in love with her more than 12 years ago. Of course I’m devastated with grief; I will concede to you that small victory, but it will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will be reunited in that paradise of free souls where you will never gain entrance.

We are two, my son and I, but we are stronger than all the armies of the world.

I will sacrifice no more time on your behalf; I must go to Melvil, who is getting up from his nap.

He is 17 months old now, and he will savor the gift of all his days, since he and I will delight in every moment. And all his life this little boy will give you the affront of being happy and free.

Because no, you will never win his hatred either.

Mr. Antoine Leiris, whose wife, Hélène Muyal, was one of 89 people who died in the Bataclan Theatre during the terror attacks in Paris, originally posted this letter on Facebook.

Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.

1 Peter 3:9

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Title uleofofArticle Benedict Mercy and Hope Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

The recent mass killings in Beirut or Paris or San Bernardino or Istanbul or Brussels left many people crying “mercy.” It’s too much. Game over. Time to stop.

Enough. The continued violence

by ISIS, the continued plight of those forced to migrate because of war, leave many in despair.

Too much, Lord. Mercy.

compassion, mercy, and joy. I’d like to think that Pope Francis had John in mind when he said, “True repentance is the key to the door of mercy.” Seeking God’s forgiveness opens our hearts to the wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace that is offered in God’s mercy.

A friend, in a cry for mercy, turned to the Prayer of Saint Francis for consolation and for a mission to act—a mission not to despair and wallow in darkness but to turn her heart toward hope and mercy:

Like my friend and John the Baptist, we too may feel burdened by the challenges that confront us and our world: violence, hatred, and terror, countless misplaced refugees, the ill, the hungry, and the homeless.

When we feel that our hearts hurt, and we have had enough, we must turn to God and cry out for God’s mercy. When we are challenged, we need to be signs of hope: to receive mercy and to give mercy. Our heavenly Father asks us to prepare our hearts and to show by our actions that all may know and experience the salvation of God. May our cry be a witness and sign of the great outpouring of God’s mercy.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.

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ercy. I hadn’t really given the word much thought since I was a kid. Mercy was a key word when my brother and I would wrestle in the house. We needed a safe word that let the other know that what we were doing hurt: game over, time to stop, enough.

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There is no better example of turning one’s heart toward Jesus than John the Baptist. John pointed beyond himself, through himself, and sought to prepare others for a new era of salvation and mercy through Christ. John preached a gospel of repentance and preparation, laying bare our sinfulness and failures so as to prepare our hearts for God’s

Father Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B., is a faculty resident and chaplain of campus ministry at Saint John’s University.

Images from note cards designed by Frank Kacmarcik, Obl.S.B.

True repentance is the key to the door of mercy.

Pope Francis

The Holy City Eric Hollas, O.S.B.

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eaders of The Rule of Saint Benedict often marvel at the simple and tranquil life outlined in its pages. There is balance between work and prayer, along with a daily diet of spiritual reading. There is reference to household chores as well as to the one work that Benedict especially enjoins on monks: the care of guests.

Those who do visit a monastery, however, are often stunned at what they find. Saint John’s, to cite but one example, is a veritable small town that houses a middle and prep school, a college, a School of Theology and Seminary, a publishing house, and a host of other enterprises.

How did this come to be? Where are the dots that connect the spare life in the Rule with the professional demands to which the skyline hints? What would Benedict say?

We need to remember that Benedict in his Rule presents wisdom but not legislation. He never anticipated the later complexity of life in a monastery, but he did not inveigh against it either. In fact, the seeds for the contemplative and active lives commingled in his own story. While Benedictines have always read the Rule, they have also read the Life of Benedict by Saint Gregory the Great. In that Life are stories of how Benedict preached and

acted as catechist to the people in the neighborhood. The stories recount his talks with a barbarian chief who threatened to ravage the area. They also presume that he saw to the education of the youths who came to the monastery. In short, on a spiritual level Benedict may have fled the world, but he also embraced the world by addressing the needs he saw.

Within a hundred years of Benedict’s lifetime, monks went as missionaries to England and Germany, using monasteries to support their labors. Others staffed schools and offered pastoral care, even as some confreres tilled gardens, copied books, and did the cleaning. In short, monks continued to seek God, but they seemed equally interested in bringing others to meet God. The germ for all of this is to be found in both the Rule and in the Life of Benedict.

While some monks may have gone overboard in their zeal to serve, it is still important to appreciate why monks then and now have been willing to graft service to their fellow human beings onto the search for God. Throughout the centuries monks shared their own glimpse into the divine with those outside the monastery. What has resulted can often be a monastery that looks every bit like the holy city.

Father Eric Hollas, O.S.B., is deputy to the president for advancement at Saint John’s University.

© Life

of Paul (detail), Donald Jackson in collaboration with Aidan Hart, 2002, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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Benedictine Volunteer Corps Service: Urban or Rural Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B.

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hen I began my year of service as a member of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) in the fall of 2005, my only experience of Benedictine monasticism was Saint John’s Abbey. Thus my surprise when I arrived at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School, sponsored by Newark Abbey amid the hustle and bustle of New Jersey’s largest city. Until that time I had assumed that monks only thrived in bucolic settings like Collegeville.

Perhaps Minnesotans Gabriel Amon (Willmar) and Jordan Berns (Perham) were similarly surprised a few months ago when they arrived at their BVC site in Rome. Though the community is a bit cloistered on the Aventine Hill, the sounds of the Eternal City are still heard throughout the Collegio Sant’ Anselmo, which is only a short walk or bus ride to Rome’s most popular destinations.

Sant’Anselmo is itself a hub of activity: the home of the abbot primate of the Benedictines, headquarters of the Benedictine confederation, site of the Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo (international college), and destination for pilgrims. On any given day, Gabriel and Jordan can be found welcoming guests, assisting with the liturgy, serving a meal, or tending the gardens and grounds.

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In contrast, Craig Gemmill (Fairmont, Minnesota) and Haydn Ryan (Billings, Montana) traveled thirty-five miles from the center of Barcelona, Spain, to their BVC site. Actually, they still had to climb (by funicular train) another four thousand feet to reach the summit of Montserrat, the highest point in Catalonia, and the isolated location of the Abbey of Montserrat.

East Africa Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B.

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n 2006 I began a year of service with the Benedictine Volunteer Corps. As a volunteer I taught, worked in the dispensary, and helped in the gardens at Hanga Abbey in Tanzania, East Africa. Most importantly, it was during my year as a Benedictine Volunteer that I first started to consider a vocation to the monastic life. So it was with great excitement that I was able to return to East Africa a few months ago to visit the current volunteers, reconnect with the monks, and see the many changes that have taken place in the past decade.

Montserrat is, nevertheless, the heart of the cultural and spiritual life in Catalonia. Nearly two million pilgrims visit the abbey annually to pray before the Black Madonna, listen to the daily performance of the Escolania (one of Europe’s oldest boys’ choirs), view art by Picasso and Dali in the museum, and hike the mountain trails or enjoy a picnic. Craig and Haydn serve as “older brothers” to the forty choir boys, which entails serving meals, English tutoring, traveling to concerts, and simply being good mentors.

Abbeys in cities, such as Sant’ Anselmo and Newark, provide an oasis from the commotion of the city. Abbeys in more remote areas, such as Montserrat or Saint John’s, serve as centers of spirituality, education, and culture. Yet, whether urban or rural, every Benedictine abbey is to be a place of prayer and work. And this year, Gabriel and Jordan in the middle of Rome, and Craig and Haydn atop Montserrat, all contribute to the daily prayer and work of their Benedictine Volunteer Corps sites.

BVC

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Father Michael Leonard Hahn with Craig Gemmill (right) and Haydn Ryan in front of the Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona. Construction of the basilica, designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) began in 1882 and continues today.

Father Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B., is pursuing graduate studies at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

I first traveled to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Priory in Katibunga, Zambia, accompanied by John Jaeger (BVC class of 2015) who was returning to East Africa for a six-week volunteer opportunity. When we arrived in Katibunga, we were met by Joseph Kerber, the BVC’s lone volunteer in East Africa. According to the monks in Katibunga, Joseph has been a valuable resource to their community, teaching in the local public school and helping with many of the chores around the priory. The priory itself is a small community of about twenty monks and is considered to be a center of agricultural learning. The monks’ primary ministry is to the people who live near them.

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John Jaeger (left) and Joseph Kerber with Brother Germanus of Saint Maurus Abbey, Hanga

Joseph, John, and I then travelled to Saint Maurus Abbey in Hanga, Tanzania. For me, arriving in Hanga felt like a homecoming, a time of reconnecting and spiritual renewal! For John and Joseph, it was the beginning of the next chapter of their BVC service.

I was surprised to see so many new faces and buildings in Hanga.

The community continues to grow and change as it serves the people and the Church of southwestern Tanzania. Praying with the community and presiding at my first Swahili/English Mass were powerful reminders of the Benedictine connection between Saint John’s and Hanga. John and Joseph quickly found new friends and meaningful work. John now assists in the health center, while

Joseph is teaching at the secondary school, working at the farm, and mastering his craftsmanship in the carpentry shop.

The final stop of my East Africa site visit was to Imiliwaha Convent, a large community of Benedictine women. The spirit of Benedict is truly alive in this community! The Benedictine Volunteer Corps hopes to send two volunteers to their community next year. They would live with the small community of monks who serve the sisters.

East Africa continues to provide meaningful work, prayer, and community for our volunteers.

The volunteers are blessed, even as they are a blessing to those they serve.

Collegeville Since 1 March Mr. Francesc Gomis Domènech has been living in the monastery and serving as a Benedictine Volunteer. Francesc was a choir boy of the Escolania of Our Lady of Montserrat Abbey in Catalonia. He completed a bachelor’s degree in nautical studies from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, where he majored in maritime business and port logistics. This summer he will be in charge of the Saint John’s beach and all shipping on Lake Sagatagan.

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Worship: Ninety Years Young Katharine E. Harmon

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inety years ago the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey began a new mission on the Minnesota prairie. By founding a publishing house called the Liturgical Press, the monks began the first organized movement for liturgical renewal in the United States.

This spring the Press celebrates its ninetieth anniversary, and for this we give thanks!

The idea for a “liturgical press” came from a young monk, Father Virgil Michel, O.S.B. (1890–1938). In the early 1920s Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B. (1877–1951), sent Father Virgil to study in Europe. While he was supposed to be studying philosophy, he became interested in the work of a fellow Benedictine, Father Lambert Beauduin (1873–1960). Father Virgil was impressed with Father Lambert’s idea for a “liturgical movement” —a new vision of liturgical worship that emphasized the liturgy as the source of Christian spirituality, and also stressed the importance of active, communal participation in that liturgical prayer. Virgil came to believe that the more “wholeheartedly

Worship continues to provide an ecumenical resource for pastoral and academic liturgists.

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and intelligently” the members of Christ’s body entered into the Church’s worship, the more they could apply what they had learned in the liturgy to the world around them—bringing renewal to society. Father Virgil was convinced that teaching the faithful to love the liturgy, and to love their neighbor, would become the next great work of Saint John’s Abbey.

With Father Virgil’s return to Saint John’s, and his abbot’s permission, Liturgical Press was founded as a means of making resources to learn about the liturgy accessible to the faithful. The Press began by publishing a series of pamphlets on practical topics, such as how to pray the Mass, and by translating important European articles on the liturgy into English. The Press also established a regularly appearing journal called Orate Fratres (literally, “Pray Brethren”). Orate Fratres provided an important forum for Catholics interested in liturgical renewal and social reform to exchange ideas and to learn from one another’s work. Father Virgil served as the journal’s first editor, and worked—as his friend and confrere Father Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B. (1908–2002), described—with a “burning apostle’s heart” to organize the Press and its projects. While Virgil was not the best at keeping a strict budget for the new publishing enterprise, he was a

In the decades before the Second Vatican Council, Orate Fratres/ Worship introduced the Roman Catholic faithful to all facets of liturgy. Within its pages social advocates described the liturgy as a means of combatting racism and classism, and as a training ground for the corporal works of mercy. Religious sisters reported their pioneering work in teaching the liturgy in Catholic grade schools, high schools, and colleges. Artists and architects debated the merits of space and technology for reflecting beauty and enhancing liturgical participation. Academics probed new frontiers in liturgical study, retrieving evidence from the past and proposing their findings as

models for future liturgical renewal. Following the Council, new voices and issues emerged as Worship expanded beyond its Roman Catholic readership and invited ecumenical dialogue into its pages. Today Worship continues to respond to the needs of the faithful; for its ninetieth birthday, it received a fresh design, including an increased number of valuable reviews of books and music for teachers and practitioners of the liturgy.

very good journalist. He continually worked to find news, cultivate writers, and connect readers to a growing network of liturgical renewal advocates in the English-speaking world.

Pairing with the development of Worship, in the 1950s Liturgical Press’ catalogue of publications expanded from short essays and translations to include important new books on the liturgy in the English language. Following the Second Vatican Council and the emergence of liturgical studies as an academic field, the Press became a leader in publishing academic works in liturgical and sacramental theology and history.

For the first twenty-five years of its existence, the journal’s title was Orate Fratres. This invocation from the Latin Mass was chosen to evoke the social nature of worship. In 1951, under the leadership of editor Father Godfrey, the title was changed to Worship. The new name reflected an increasing preference for use of the vernacular among Roman Catholics, and Father Godfrey’s particular hope that a more accessible name would encourage a wider readership.

Despite the expansion of its listings, the Press has continued its focus on practical resources. Its publications have included series on Scripture studies and resources for liturgical prayer, music, and ministry.

Liturgical Press has also responded to the popes’ and Council’s calls for liturgical renewal by providing ritual resources in English. Some of its earliest ritual texts helped

Frank Kacmarcik, Obl.S.B.

Worship, fiftieth anniversary cover art, November 1976

Worship, ninetieth anniversary cover art, March 2016

the faithful celebrate the restored Holy Week and Easter Vigil in 1956. In 1970 the Press published editions of the Lectionary for Mass and the Sacramentary.

In 2011 it published the third edition of the Roman Missal for use in English.

Liturgical Press, likewise, has forged a path for liturgical renewal by way of technology.

The original Orate Fratres not only served as a location for articles but also as a forum and networking tool for readers spread throughout the world.

In the present day, a print journal no longer provides an efficient avenue for such exchange.

The blog, Pray Tell, also a journalistic initiative of the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, has become a venue for contemporary dialogue and discussion, while Worship continues to provide an ecumenical resource for pastoral and academic liturgists.

In the present, and in the future, we hope for the continued success of Liturgical Press and of the Benedictine monks as they work to lead the faithful forward to greater and deeper participation in the Church’s prayer.

Dr. Katharine E. Harmon, lecturer in theology at Marian University, Indianapolis, is the author of There Were Also Many Women There: Lay Women in the Liturgical Movement in the United States, 1926-59 (Liturgical Press 2013).

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Sustainability Commitment and up to thirty percent during peak power conditions.

Jake Lammi

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aint John’s Abbey has a long history of being environmentally conscious. In its care for the land, the community, guided by the Benedictine values of stewardship and sustainability, has operated as self-sufficiently as possible since its founding in 1856.

As Saint John’s University grew and prospered, the university population took on a greater stewardship role, joining forces with the monks to tend the abbey’s land more carefully. In 1997, under the leadership and inspiration of land manager Father Paul Schwietz, O.S.B. (1952–2000), the monks designated their property as a natural arboretum, creating a place where students and faculty could reconnect with nature and promote environmental education.

Since 1992, each president of Saint John’s has formally supported the campus sustainability movement and the environmental statement first issued that year. In 2007 university president Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., took the sustainability movement one step further by signing the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Created by administrators who recognize the significance of ingraining sustainability into the framework of their respective institutions, the Climate Commitment aims to prepare students to be not only great scholars but great citizens

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Saint John’s Abbey Solar Farm

as well. Consistent with Benedictine stewardship, this commitment is another example of how Saint John’s aims to be a campus leader in sustainability.

One major sustainability investment that Saint John’s has made is the creation of the Saint John’s Abbey Solar Farm, a threeway partnership of the abbey, the university, and Westwood Renewables (a Minnesota-based company that specializes in solar energy development, design, and education). The monastic community agreed to lease four acres of its land to Westwood Renewables to set up and maintain the solar panels, and the university provides solar panel education and research. Construction of the abbey solar farm began during the winter of 2009; the first power was generated in January 2010. The original solar field consisted of 1,820 tracking solar photovoltaic modules and was the first system in the Midwest to utilize such technology.

Tracking solar panels have a GPS unit that allows them to rotate

Lewis Grobe, O.S.B.

east to west with the movement of the sun and are thought to be more efficient than the conventional fixed panels—which do not move but instead are fixed at a certain angle.

More recently the abbey solar farm has undergone a major expansion with the addition of 616 fixed solar panels in November 2014. The new panels are fixed at a 35-degree angle facing straight south, which is thought to be the optimal position for fixed panels here in the Northern Hemisphere. With the addition of these panels, the abbey solar farm now produces a total of 600 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power ninety-four average American homes and offset six hundred metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or 67,500 gallons of gasoline annually—that is enough gas to drive a Toyota Prius to the moon and back seven times! For our campus, this translates into enough electricity to produce about six percent of Saint John’s energy needs on an annual basis

One might be surprised that a state so far north can be successful with solar technology, but Minnesota is actually one of the top ten states in the U.S. for solar energy, and just as good as Florida. In fact, solar panels are actually more efficient in the cold weather because cold temperatures cause an increase in voltage. While the electricity produced is perhaps the most obvious benefit, it is not the only one.

Because the Saint John’s Abbey Solar Farm is the first site in Minnesota to have these two different solar panel technologies side by side, there are many opportunities for research and comparison.

The Saint John’s University Office of Sustainability is studying the difference in efficiency between fixed and tracking panels. Tracking panels rotate east to west as they follow the sun, which is thought to improve efficiency. Overall, the tracking panels proved to be more efficient during the summer months when the sun is higher in the sky and hits the tracking panels at a more direct angle. However, in the winter months, the fixed panels are more efficient. During winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is lower in the sky because of Earth’s tilt, which causes the fixed panels to be at a more direct angle to the sun, thus leading to greater efficiency.

This small study is one of many

possible research opportunities for the Saint John’s Abbey Solar Farm.

Another way that Saint John’s demonstrates its commitment to sustainability is through the campus passive solar greenhouse.

Saint John’s solar greenhouse started as a business project for a university student and has turned into a major source of food production for the university dining service. The winter solar greenhouse is under the management of the two campus Eco houses (Marmion and Tholl houses) and usually has several harvests each winter.

What is a passive solar greenhouse? It is a greenhouse that does not require any mechanical or electrical devices to heat it—just passive solar radiation. Even if the outside temperature is a frigid zero degrees Fahrenheit, the inside of the greenhouse will remain

warm enough for plants to grow, especially lettuce. The Eco houses typically harvest between 150 and 200 pounds of lettuce annually, which they sell to the dining service. All funds generated from the harvest go back into purchasing supplies and seeds for the following growing season, making this a truly sustainable operation.

Neither the abbey solar farm nor the winter greenhouse would be possible without the support and encouragement of the monastic community.

The Benedictine values of stewardship and sustainability have truly helped create a culture of sustainability here in Collegeville.

Mr. Jake Lammi, a 2015 graduate of Saint John’s University, is the university’s sustainability fellow.

Abbey archives

The tracking solar photovoltaic modules in the abbey solar farm were the first system in the Midwest to utilize such technology.

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God’s Long Reach Mary Stommes

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he abbey church and monastic cemetery are both just steps away from my office at Liturgical Press. Head out the front door to the left, walk around or through the Quad and Great Hall, and I am soon settled in a choir stall for Eucharist or prayer. Turn to the right instead, and I’m on my way past Lake Sagatagan and up the poplar-lined drive to the hallowed cemetery grounds.

Worship and work and keep death daily before your eyes.

Over time, one gets the sense that all of it is wrapped in eternity. God’s long reach.

Christ bringing us together to everlasting life. And we have work to do along the way.

Community Builders

Surrounded by so many headstones—the vast majority of names unfamiliar to me—I am ever aware of the quiet and unknown ways in which God reaches the world through this community. Sure, there are Fathers Virgil Michel and Godfrey Diekmann, Abbots Peter Engel and Alcuin Deutsch. But there is also Father Lawrence Schmidt, of little renown. Father Lawrence baptized me and was long deceased before I came to work at the Press. His gravesite is always my last stop at the cemetery. “Who knew?!” is

Whenever I visit the cemetery, my first stop is Father Daniel Durken’s—“Workin’ rhymes with Durken”— place of rest. That the Word of God has become my vocation, that I give witness to Christ and the Gospel in this particular Benedictine publishing house—this I owe in large part to Father Daniel. “You did this for me,” I told Father Daniel shortly before he died. “We did this for each other,” he replied. A mutual flourishing, in service to the Church and the world. Christ bringing us together. Thanks be to God.

often my prayer. “Only God,” is the answer. “One plants and another waters, but God causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

This keeps all of our work and worship in proper, and hopeful, perspective. Plant and water and let it go, trusting that God is entirely capable of seeing to the growth—and not just the growth of the cemetery!

Sitting in the choir stalls of the church, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like back in the day when there were more monks at daily prayer and Eucharist than there were planted along the shores of Sagatagan. But to be honest, I don’t wonder about that often or at length. I do get lost in the sense of being caught up in something both far beyond and deep within me. The pull of eternity, God reaching out to me and to unknown multitudes through this living community.

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t is hard to find a sense of community like that exemplified at Saint John’s! While there are various post-college communities—family, church, job—nothing quite matches the combination of fellowship, tradition, and communal respect that one experiences while living among the Benedictines in Collegeville.

That is why seven of us Johnnies (we call ourselves the “WHYSKYS”) make a trek to Saint John’s every year around Christmas time for a day of fellowship and reflection. While we see each other semiregularly, it is rare that all seven of us are in one place at one time. Our gathering is a chance to drink from the deep well of companionship and community that Saint John’s provided during our college years.

Ms. Mary Stommes is editor of Give Us This Day.

This past December was the third time in four years that we’ve gathered for our “Johnnie retreat.” Since most of us live outside of Minnesota, it is not easy to get together. We have to deal with competing holiday plans, travel logistics, and the unpredictability of Minnesota winters; but somehow we make it work. We all arrive at Saint

One plants and another waters, but God causes the growth.

Benedictine means taking time out for one another.

And wonder of wonders, my work is a small part of that reach. Through and with and in Christ, we do this for each other.

Thanks be to God.

1 Corinthians 3:6 Michael Crouser

Nicholas Hansen

Michael Crouser

John’s in the late afternoon and then walk around, eat together, attend Evening Prayer, catch up with our former faculty residents, play board games and, like Saints Benedict and Scholastica, converse late into the night.

Yes, we could do something like this closer to our homes, but there is something special about being at Saint John’s as opposed to meeting at a bar or restaurant.

Being away from our normal routines, our phones, and other distractions allows us to become who we are through our relationships with other people. We talk about our growing families, jobs, and major life events. We reminisce about crazy roommates, and make plans for what’s next in our lives. This time together means so much more than a text or an email!

We are able to engage personally with one another in ways that

technology cannot replicate.

A focus on communal living was one of the main reasons we all thrived at Saint John’s. During our senior year, for example, even though we were busy, we would set aside our Saturday mornings for fellowship. One of our apartments would host, and we would all eat a bevy of breakfast food (usually pancakes) and sip coffee until the early afternoon. It was our time to catch up and reflect on the events of the past week.

Benedictine means taking time out for one another, away from phones, work, or obligations in order to experience and deepen friendship and community. Try it, even if just for one day!

Mr. Nicholas Hansen, a 2010 grad of Saint John’s University, writes The N Formation (thenformation .com) blog.

resuorC leahciM

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Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery Josie Stang

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ocated on the western shoreline of Lake Sagatagan, Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 1,230 individuals, all with connections to Saint John’s. The cemetery is home to the founding fathers and the deceased monks of Saint John’s, to some of the first students of Saint John’s, to parishioners of Saint John the Baptist Parish, and most recently, to alumni and friends.

Father Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B., provides the earliest information about the cemetery in his book Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota: A Sketch of Its History, published in 1909. He relates that the first cemetery was located three hundred feet northeast of the abbey’s first buildings and “was about 20 feet square surrounded by a picket fence, painted white: the 6 crosses made of wood.”

The first burial at Saint John’s was for Father Demetrius de Marogna, O.S.B., the abbey’s first prior, who died on 27 March 1869, thirteen years after the community’s founding. The others buried in the first cemetery were Brother Placid Brixius, O.S.B. (1871), a carpenter who helped build the first monastery for the Benedictine Sisters of Saint Joseph, Minnesota; Father Othmar Wirtz, O.S.B. (1874), the prior who oversaw the move of the Benedictine community from Saint

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Josie Stang

Cloud to Collegeville; and three college students: Max Schmoeger (1870), Martin McIntire (1871), and John Bonne (1872).

By 1875 the monks recognized that a cemetery so near to the campus buildings would stand in the way of an expanding monastery. Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, O.S.B., asked Father Wolfgang Northman, O.S.B., to draw up plans for a new cemetery to be located on a hill just south of the monastery and overlooking Lake Sagatagan. In the winter of 1875–76 the hill was cleared of timber, and a cemetery was

laid out for members of the community. To the east of the monks’ burial area, land was designated for members of the local community and parish.

Ironically, Father Wolfgang was the first to be interred in the new cemetery. He died on 8 February 1876 at the age of 33. On 12 September 1876 a large white cross was raised on the hill and on 2 November the bodies of the monks and students in the original cemetery were reinterred in the new cemetery. A week later, two monks, Father Benno Muckenthaler (1859) and novice Gall Kederly (1864), who had been buried in the Saint Joseph Parish Cemetery, were moved to the Saint John’s cemetery.

On the north side of the parish section of the cemetery is the baby section, with small markers for headstones, often with lambs or angels attached. In December 1878 six-week-old Lucia Fruth passed away and is the first baby buried at Saint John’s. From then until 1956, 113 infants and young children were placed to rest here. The cause of death ranged from the high infant mortality rates of the time to epidemics of the era. Why weren’t these children buried in family plots? A number of theories have been put forth.

Just as in life, we believe that in death the human body deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. We foster a manner of remembering that is enlightened by faith and that views death as a bridge to the Communion of Saints. Our bond with God’s people is not broken by death.

Mission of Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery

The most often suggested was that less ground space would be used if all the young were in similar sized rows. Another theory is that the local citizens desired that the children would be remembered together. Large families didn’t buy extended burial lots together.

Many visitors today comment on the unique experience of viewing the orderly, uniform rows of headstones of the monks. The first monks’ burial sites were marked by simple wooden crosses; in the late 1800s and early 1900s, cement or limestone headstones were used. In the early twentieth century granite became the material of choice for monuments in central Minnesota, with local granite quarries making this material readily available and affordable. It certainly made granite markers the logical choice for Saint John’s when, in 1952, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B., asked Frank Kacmarcik, Obl.S.B., to lead a redesign of the abbey’s cemetery.

Frank suggested a local gray granite that would have a slight angle cut on the sides and a smooth but not polished finish.

He also designed a new lettering font and template for the stones.

The large granite pylons and wood cross—symbolizing the gates of heaven—installed on the west edge of the cemetery during the renovation of the 1950s are also Frank’s design. The overall effect speaks of timelessness, peace, and, community.

From its inception the Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery served the needs of the early settlers and local parishioners. However, as time passed, due to the size of the cemetery, the ministry became limited to monks and parishioners only. In the 1990s the monastic community revisited the idea of expanding the cemetery and decided to create a new cemetery section specifically for alumni/ae and friends of Saint John’s. Two acres of land immediately to the south of the monastery and parish sections were landscaped

by Mr. Tom Oslund and Associates with grass, trees, and plants.

The new cemetery includes options for cremation interments in columbaria walls, along with traditional surveyed burial sites overlooking Lake Sagatagan.

The Saint John’s Alumni and

Friends Cemetery opened in the fall of 2007. There have been eighty-nine interments since it was established.

The growing acceptance of cremation as a burial practice within the Catholic Church has made the Saint John’s Alumni and Friends Cemetery accessible to individuals from across the country. In the past eight years, 563 alums and friends from more than twenty-five states have made advance need purchases of their cemetery space at Saint John’s. As noted by one of our retired faculty when he received his burial space certificate: “I’m here for eternity!”

And he will be in very good company!

Ms. Josie Stang is the manager of the Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery.

Josie Stang

The alumni and friends section of the abbey cemetery was completed in 2008.

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Historical images: Abbey archives

Josie Stang

Father Alexius Hoffmann’s drawing (top, left) of Saint John’s first cemetery (1869–1876) hints at the beauty and peacefulness that still characterize the monks’ final resting place. The original burial site (top, center) of Abbot Bernard Locnikar (1848–1894) was at the head of the cemetery. In 1915 a cement-block wall was built along the front of the cemetery and a large wrought-iron double gate installed at the entrance (top, right). Two sculptured metal angels with trumpets flanked the gate. The abbey cemetery, including granite headstones (above), was redesigned in 1952 by Brother Frank Kacmarcik, Obl.S.B.

Lives of the Benedictine Saints Benedict and Scholastica

commitments to a life of prayer and to praying for each other.

Robin Gallaher Branch

In the fifth century, well-to-do European families sent their sons away to study while their daughters received an education nearer home. Benedict studied Greek, Latin, and law in Rome. Scholastica lived with Nursia’s nuns and learned to read and write.

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bout A.D. 480 in the Italian town of Nursia, wealthy parents greeted the birth of twins, Benedict and Scholastica. Each would grow up to influence Western Christianity and be designated as a saint. Benedict became known as the patriarch of Western monasticism and the co-patron of Europe.

As a child she dedicated herself to God. Except for the siblings’ final meeting, nothing more is known of her life. However, much happened in those intervening years that teaches and enriches us today.

Rome differed from Nursia’s quiet hills. War crisscrossed the countryside. Church factions

In his Second Book of Dialogues (Life of Saint Benedict), Saint Gregory the Great provides the primary information on these remarkable, noble siblings. The Rule of Saint Benedict (RB), the classic on living in harmony with both God and community, provides more insights. The Rule and stories surrounding the saints’ lives resound with faith, courage, and prayer, teaching us in ways both practical and spiritual. Because Benedict’s life is the more chronicled, additional stories about him tell of miracles, overcoming temptation, interaction with powerful leaders, and prophetic insights.

Scholastica and Benedict’s paths to sainthood started with a happy childhood. It is easy to imagine Benedict making rules and Scholastica softening them!

Each possessed a strong personality. Although separated for most of their lives, their childhood laid the foundation for

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competed for power. Temptations abounded. Benedict quickly longed for a simpler life, and so he left school. His decision demonstrated a bold faith, singular courage, and willingness to face hardship. Journeying east of Rome to Subiaco, a wild and rocky place, Benedict met Romanus, a monk who befriended him, gave him a woolly garment, and led him to a cave. Periodically, Romanus lowered a food basket to the cave’s entrance.

Alone in the cold crevice, Benedict sought God and learned how to listen with the ear of his heart (RB Prol.1). Although Benedict may have looked like a wild man because of his hair, beard, and garments, people recognized his godly character and sought his guidance.

When monks of Vicovaro asked him to lead their community, Benedict initially refused. The monks prevailed on him, but then hated his leadership. So they poisoned his wine! As Benedict blessed it, the goblet broke.

Recognizing their intent, he said, “God forgive you, brothers. Go and find an abbot to your taste, for after this deed, you can no longer keep me among you.” And he departed.

Abbey archives

Saints Benedict and Scholastica. These wood sculptures, carved by one of the founding members of Saint John’s, Father Cornelius Wittmann (1828–1921), are 21 inches high. In the 1930s they were painted by Brother Clement Frischauf (1869–1944). Each holds a copy of the Rule.

Throughout his life Benedict separated himself not only from the world but also from people of questionable character. Instead of reforming from within, he established new monasteries and set foundation rules. He offered a lifestyle that attracted people

him, settling them in twelve monasteries, each with a prior (superior). He exercised overall direction and lived with selected monks whom he personally trained. Throughout his life he mentored others, investing his life in them and giving them and us an example to follow. Over the centuries, Monte Cassino influenced the Christianization and civilization of post-Roman Europe.

The oldest known portrait of Saint Benedict from an eighth-century fresco in the Catacomb of Hermes in Rome

then and today. He taught that a monk “should become a stranger to the world’s ways” and “prefer nothing to the love of Christ” (RB 4.20-21).

Florentius, a priest who envied Benedict’s growing esteem, lived in his neighborhood. Benedict received a poisonous loaf of bread, evidently from Florentius, but a raven intercepted it before he ate. Again Benedict’s life was spared, and again Benedict left, this time moving to Monte Cassino, the site of a temple of Apollo. Benedict overthrew the temple, its idol, and sacred grove, and then built chapels. A variety of people—Romans and barbarians, rich and poor—placed themselves under Benedict’s supervision. Parents sent their sons for monastic training. Benedict chose those who would obey

Prayer and prophetic power marked Benedict’s life. Totila, a Goth king, asked to visit Benedict. The abbot agreed. However, Totila, to deceive and test Benedict, sent an aide, Riggo, dressed in purple. Benedict greeted Riggo with these words, “My son, take off what you are wearing. It is not yours.” Totila then arrived and fell prostrate before Benedict, who rebuked him for his evil deeds and foretold upcoming events. Evidently the encounter changed Totila, for he was less cruel for the remainder of his life. In another story, Benedict was found in tears after prayer. He confessed that a “monastery which I have built and all that I have prepared for my brethren has been delivered up to the heathen by a sentence of the Almighty.

Scarcely have I been able to obtain mercy for their lives.”

Saint Gregory details the siblings’ last meeting. After Benedict moved to Monte Cassino, Scholastica settled nearby. She probably founded a monastery

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Title of Article for women and served as its abbess. Benedict supervised both nuns and monks. The siblings met yearly at a house near the monastery; they praised God and discussed spiritual matters.

Following supper, at what would be their last meeting (c. 542), Benedict decided to return to the monastery. Scholastica asked him to remain until the next day; she wanted to continue discussing the joys of heaven.

When he refused, Scholastica prayed, asking God to intervene on her behalf. Instantly a violent storm arose! Benedict exclaimed, “God forgive you, sister! What have you done?”

She answered, “I asked a favor of you, and you refused it. I asked it of God, and God has granted it.” The weather prevented Benedict’s departure, so the two spoke until morning of heavenly things and the happiness of the blessed. Scholars generally interpret this encounter as love prevailing over an adherence to rules.

Three days later while praying, Benedict saw Scholastica’s soul ascending to heaven as a dove.

He greeted her death joyfully because he knew happiness filled her soul. Her body was placed in a tomb that Benedict had made for himself.

Later, anticipating his own death, Benedict notified his disciples and asked to be taken to a chapel. Supported by his brothers and standing with arms raised toward heaven, he died

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Johnnie Bread (c. 547) and was buried beside Scholastica. Saint Gregory comments “that these two, whose minds had ever been united in the Lord, even in the grave their bodies were not separated.”

The lives of Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica expressed their faith in ways that made them examples to their contemporaries, who acknowledged their nobility of character and leadership. Their lives showed power, but their power came not through military might or wealth but through faith in God. Prayer —conversation with God—and hours spent in solitude, silence, meditation, supplication, thanksgiving, and praise became their priorities. From this hub of seeking God came offshoots of worship, study, labor, rest, service, and hospitality.

Saint Benedict’s Rule outlines an orderly life lived in a chaotic world. Throughout the centuries, even when facing famine or siege, Benedictines have

prayed and sung on schedule.

An orderly Benedictine life— very repetitive and sometimes seemingly very dull—produces strong character. Guided by seasoned mentors, those choosing to live the Benedictine life often become spiritually robust and creative in their lives of service.

Blossoming from prayer, the legacies of Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict span centuries and nurture us today. Their lives confirm the value of studying the Scriptures, listening to God’s voice, and seeking to serve the Lord and others each day.

Receiving all people as Christ and welcoming them with warmth, acceptance, and joy (RB 53) can be practiced individually, in a family, and in monastic communities.

Dr. Robin Gallaher Branch, a former scholar at the Collegeville Institute, teaches at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.

For Further Reading Butler’s Lives of the Saints. Volume 1. Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater, editors. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1956.

“St. Scholastica: Myth or Real Person” by Pearse Aidan Cusack, O.C.S.O. The Downside Review 92 (July 1974) 145–159.

Equally in God’s Image: Women in the Middle Ages by Julia Bolton Holloway, Joan Bechtold, and Constance S. Wright. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1991.

The Life of St. Benedict by Gregory the Great: Translation and Commentary by Terrence G. Kardong, O.S.B. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2009.

The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica by Kathleen Norris and Tomie dePaola.

New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2001.

Aaron Raverty, O.S.B.

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eaders are doubtless acquainted with the scriptural passage that “one does not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4), but some Johnnies may wrangle over its interpretation. After all, for those who have savored “the loaf that became a legend,” everything in life seems different!

According to the oral tradition, former history professor and abbey archivist Father Vincent Tegeder, O.S.B. (1910–2007), prodded his colleague Professor Ken Jones into writing a history of Saint John’s Bread (aka “Johnnie Bread”). The initial idea was to create a pamphlet, but Dr. Jones found such a wealth of archival information that he enlisted the aid of his nutritionist wife, Professor Diane Veale Jones, to join the cause and write an entire book. The outcome, in 1997, was The Loaf that Became a Legend: A History of Saint John’s Bread (North Star Press of Saint Cloud, Inc.).

What is the relationship of Johnnie Bread and Saint John’s Abbey? The starting point for the old-world recipe was a type of Schwarzbrot—in the German language, a coarse “black bread” that some have compared to pumpernickel. This was probably the bread known to Brother William Baldus, O.S.B. (1844–1918). Emigrating from Germany, he entered the Saint John’s monastic community in

1868 and was lionized by students and monks alike as a marvelous cook and baker during his more than twenty-five years of kitchen service. Brother William modified the original recipe somewhat with the addition of cracked wheat and other grains.

Some have described the taste of this wheat-based dark bread as “nutty, grainy.” Later, the sisters from various religious orders who worked in the Saint John’s kitchen between 1904 and 1964 may also have played some role in tweaking the original recipe.

In time, a lighter, white loaf also appeared.

Enterprising neighbors in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, operated two early gristmills. In 1874 a flour mill was constructed on the Saint John’s campus, later destroyed by fire. Senior alumni

may still remember the second replacement flour mill; the building was razed in 1958 to be supplanted by what is now Tommy Hall.

Father Walter Reger, O.S.B. (1894–1971), erstwhile history professor and consummate university and alumni administrator (aka “Mr. Saint John’s”), wanted to promote Johnnie Bread as something emerging from and intimately associated with Saint John’s. He envisioned this hardy bread as a vehicle for fundraising, a source of financial aid and scholarships for students, and as a culinary connection for keeping in touch with alumni. During the 1960s, and continuing to this day, several campus clubs used sales of Johnnie Bread for fundraising.

Father Gordon Tavis, O.S.B., picked up where Father Walter left off. Thinking that Johnnie Bread sales might have a role in promoting student scholarships, he began new sales initiatives in the early 1970s. As these rejuvenated marketing efforts got underway, dining service director Mr. Jerry Mead was added to the operation. In the short term the strategy was quite successful.

Despite their combined efforts, however, their goal of a strong market revival and broad commercialization of Johnnie Bread over the long term was never realized.

Abbey archives

Brother William Baldus’ beard was as remarkable as his culinary skills.

From 1960 until 1983 Mr. Clem Meyer was the chief bread baker

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at Saint John’s. Mr. Adrian Weber was next in line, followed by master baker Mr. Rich Ruprecht, who made Johnnie Bread from 1989 until 2007, sometimes with assistance from Brother Raphael Olson, O.S.B., who also won accolades from his monastic brothers for his scrumptious “Brother Raphael pies.” Since Rich retired, a number of university employees and students have carried on the tradition of baking Johnnie Bread.

Johnnie Bread conjures up many associations. As a gift, it is an exemplary token of Benedictine hospitality. It echoes the preeminence of the eucharistic bread in the Catholic tradition.

I like to think of it as the very gastronomic “mascot” of Saint John’s! Supervised bread baking has also served as a type of work-study employment for Saint John’s University and College of Saint Benedict students over the years. Many university graduates have fond memories of the tradition of faculty residents serving hot bread—fresh from the oven—to students on their floors in the dormitories.

According to Mr. Dave Schoenberg, long-time director of dining service, about 600–800 pounds of dough are made each week.

This translates into roughly 300– 400 loaves in an average week; the annual total is approximately 25,000 loaves! The major bread sales occur during Johnnie homecoming and university com-

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Abbey archives

Mr. Rich Ruprecht (foreground) and Mr. Dave Schoenberg oversee another batch of Johnnie Bread.

mencement weekends and on days prior to extended breaks for the schools or major feast days, such as Christmas and Easter.

Reflecting on the loaf that became a legend, Mr. Schoenberg notes: “It is vital that our bread have the hearth-baked look— not like it came from a pan.

Occasionally our student bakers produce loaves that don’t have ‘the look’; we use these loaves for sandwiches or for dressing.

We have made small, one-pound loaves that a bride and groom give to wedding guests. Of course, the hot bread—with honey, jam, and peanut butter— in the student dorms is still a signature of living at Saint John’s University. However, with the introduction of many more styles

of artisan breads from our suppliers, we are finding that the use of Johnnie Bread has diminished in the last twenty years. It is still the most popular bread for toast and when we grill sandwiches to order for students.”

Yes, “one does not live by bread alone,” but Johnnie Bread certainly helps us along the way as we search for our ultimate sustenance in “every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Brother Aaron Raverty, O.S.B., a member of the Abbey Banner editorial staff, is the author of Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue (Lexington Books, 2014).

Marketing of Johnnie Bread in the 1950s and 60s included postcards from Father Walter Reger alerting friends and alumni that Saint John’s Bread was available “at your nearest food market.” More recently Brother Alan Reed’s redesign of the bread bag replaced a Franciscan friar with a Benedictine monk, though the Franciscan’s hairline may have been more accurate.

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Meet a Monk: Efraín Rosado brother, Juan Carlos, who is also his best friend. When Efraín was two years old, the family moved to Mexico City. He spent his childhood and adolescence under the guidance of his parents and brother in the midst of an honorable Catholic family, including his grandparents, whom Brother Efraín recognizes as key role models in his life.

Rosado archives

Matthew Luft, O.S.B.

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bbot John Klassen, O.S.B., and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey were filled with joy at Morning Prayer on 8 December when Brother Efraín Rosado, O.S.B., formerly a monk of Abadía del Tepeyac in Mexico, formally transferred his vow of stability to Saint John’s. Brother Efraín was also filled with joy, commenting: “I am blessed and honored for being officially accepted and transferred to Saint John’s Abbey. I strongly wish to continue with my monastic journey of conversion to Christ in the company of the Benedictines of Collegeville. I know that I am sustained by their prayers and their kindness, and by the assistance of God’s grace.”

Efraín Arnaldo Rosado Casanova was born to Efraín and Maria Cristina in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico; he has an older

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Brother Efraín attended a Marist Brothers’ elementary and high school. He credits the Marists with introducing him to the richness and beauty of the Scriptures, which he savors in the Benedictine practice of lectio divina.

“My inner life and my vision of the world were changed significantly by the message of mercy and salvation contained in the Bible,” reflects Efraín. “A transcendent universe was opened to me by the reading and meditation on the Holy Scriptures.”

While in college, he pursued a program in civil engineering.

After a five-year course of study, he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1992 and then worked in the construction industry of Mexico for more than eight years.

While working as a civil engineer, Efraín felt attracted by theological issues and to religious life. During his free time he volunteered with the Dominican friars who served in the Divine Redeemer Parish in Mexico City, teaching catechism classes and giving conferences to children, youth, and parishioners. He also joined fellow

parishioners on mission trips to Mexican villages. Reflecting on this period of his life, Brother Efraín observes, “With the Dominican Fathers, the idea of following the call of Christ to a life of prayer, service, stability, and conversion materialized in my mind.”

During this period Brother Efraín also began reading and studying theological and moral treatises, including the Rule of Saint Benedict, which captivated him from his first reading. Following much prayer, he discerned that Christ was calling him to live a Benedictine monastic life. He continued his discernment with the monks of Tepeyac Abbey. After a year of retreats and visits, he was invited

Benjamin DeMarais

Brother Efraín introduces students to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.

to enter their community in 2002. Following his profession of solemn vows in 2008, Brother Efraín enrolled in Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary to earn a degree in monastic studies. While living with the monks of Saint John’s and visiting other American Benedictine communities, Brother Efraín found himself drawn to their manner of monastic life. Under the guidance of our confreres Fathers Kevin Seasoltz, O.S.B., and Rene McGraw, O.S.B., and other monks of Saint John’s, he asked permission to begin the process of transferring his monastic stability from Tepeyac to Collegeville. Both communities agreed to this in 2012.

During this time of further discernment at Saint John’s, Brother Efraín worked at Saint John’s Preparatory School as a theology teacher and in campus ministry with the confirmation program.

He also has worked as the pastoral leader for Latino ministries at the Church of Saint Boniface in Cold Spring, Minnesota. In 2013 Brother Efraín began studying for the priesthood at our School of Theology and Seminary. He hopes to be ordained a deacon in May. Efraín’s work and daily life confirm a commitment to prayer, service, and participation in the sacraments. Since first coming to Saint Boniface in 2011, he has taught a weekly, biblically based adult faith formation class for the local Latino community.

Rosado archives

Oblates of Tepeyac Abbey in Mexico celebrate Brother Efraín’s profession of solemn vows on 15 August 2008.

During this past Lenten season he ministered with Deacon Larry Sell, hosting bilingual Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings.

His warmth and pastoral solicitude for the Latino parishioners have endeared him to many members of the parish.

My inner life and my vision of the world were changed significantly by the message of mercy and salvation contained in the Bible.

Brother Efraín also works with the Diocese of Saint Cloud and members of our community in planning the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass and social hosted by the monks of Saint John’s. Each year during Advent Saint Cloud Bishop Donald Kettler presides at this festive Mass followed by an equally festive dinner and dances in honor of the patroness of the Americas.

each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11).

Brother Efraín is a monk who exemplifies the words from the First Letter of Saint Peter: “As

Father Matthew Luft, O.S.B., is pastor of the Church of Saint Boniface in Cold Spring, Minnesota.

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Allen Tarlton

F

Abbey archives

ather Allen Paul Tarlton, O.S.B., was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on 4 December 1927 to James and Ruth Estella (Jackson) Tarlton. He grew up in Cincinnati and attended Holy Trinity School.

When he was in the third grade he chose to become a Catholic, was baptized on Holy Saturday, and received his First Communion on Easter Sunday. As a sixth grader Allen expressed a desire to become a priest and began writing letters to various orders requesting information.

While a junior in high school he wrote to the Trinitarian Fathers in Philadelphia hoping to be accepted into their seminary.

For Father Allen, we offer this Eucharist that he be received

by Christ with mercy and love and affirmation.

Prior Bradley Jenniges, O.S.B.

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When they discovered he was African American, his application was rejected. Allen was devastated, but a week later he met a priest from Trinidad who told him about Saint John’s Abbey and the monastic community. Allen wrote to Abbot Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., and told him about being rejected elsewhere due to his race. In response Abbot Alcuin wrote, “The fact that you are colored will in no wise be a hindrance to your becoming a priest and a member of the Order of St. Benedict, provided all other qualifications are met.” Abbot Alcuin’s response was so accepting and open that Allen transferred to Saint John’s Preparatory School in September 1944.

After graduation in 1946 Allen began college at Saint John’s University as a priesthood student.

While in college he played viola in the orchestra, sang in the glee club, and participated in theater productions. He was accepted into the novitiate of the abbey in 1948 and professed vows as a Benedictine monk on 11 July 1949. After completing seminary studies, Father Allen was ordained a priest on 4 June 1955.

The English classroom was Father Allen’s home for many years. He taught at the prep school (1953–1957), at the university (1957–1962), and at the abbey’s foundation in The Bahamas, Saint Augustine’s College (1962–1964). Following a

Thomas Thole period of exclaustration, Allen returned to Saint John’s in 1973.

He again taught English and was the drama director at the prep school until 1991. He also served as associate director or director of oblates of Saint John’s Abbey from 1995 until 2002.

Father Allen suffered from health problems, including alcoholism and diabetes, and faced limitations later in life because of his deteriorating health. In the last twenty-five years of his life he faced allegations of sexual abuse and, as a result, lived with restrictions on his activities.

Throughout his life Allen confronted racism. He was delighted at the election in 2008 of Barack Obama as the first Africa American president of the United States. Commenting at the time of the election about racial isolation on the Saint John’s campus in the 1940s, Father Allen observed in an article in the student newspaper, “For a long time I think I tried to be as white as I possibly could.

I would never say black. When we had watermelon in the dining room, I didn’t eat it. I loved watermelon, but I didn’t want to be identified with it.”

Father Allen died peacefully on 25 January 2016 in the abbey retirement center. Following the celebration of the Mass of Christian Burial on 30 January, he was interred in the abbey cemetery.

Seminary, he was ordained a priest in 1958.

Abbey archives

F

ather Thomas Harry Thole, O.S.B., was born on 11 June 1932, in Moorhead, Minnesota, the oldest of four children born to Otto Peter and Margaret (Acheson) Thole. He attended Saint Joseph’s School in Moorhead and then enrolled at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

Following his novitiate year at Saint John’s Abbey, Tom professed his first vows as a Benedictine monk in 1952. He continued his education at Saint John’s University, majoring in philosophy and graduating with a baccalaureate degree in 1954.

After completing a master of divinity degree at Saint John’s He was a treasured friend, family, counselor, advisor, and role model to hundreds of students from around the globe.

Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B.

In 1960 Father Tom received a master’s degree in sociology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 1965 he was admitted to a graduate program in the sociology department at Columbia University in New York City where he pursued advanced courses until 1967. Returning to Saint John’s, Tom taught in the university sociology department, including several years as chair, and was a long-time faculty resident.

Throughout much of his life he was rarely seen without a pipe in his mouth, nor heard absent a distinct laugh, expressed especially at his own jokes.

In addition to his roles as professor, faculty resident, and student adviser, Father Tom worked hard to promote student organizations and activities. Long before “intercultural competence” was coined or valued, he extended Benedictine hospitality and built community among international students.

Saint John’s first international student adviser, he was a booster for the International Student Club and enthusiastically backed an annual formal international dinner. As the anchor of Ground Benet International, he profoundly touched the lives of many students, particularly those from Hong Kong, who fondly recall the “Tremendous Tom Thole Tours” during which he introduced students to the

多默 geography and culture of the greater U.S. In 2003 during an alumni gathering in Hong Kong, Brother Dietrich Reinhart, O.S.B., presented a Presidential Citation to Tom, calling him “a treasured friend, family, counselor, adviser, and role model to hundreds of students from around the globe,” and noting that “Many graduates attribute their success after graduation to Father Tom’s support and influence during their college years.”

To his confreres, Big Tom was the senior of three blood brothers in the community (the poor Tholes in purgatory), a computer wiz, occasional sexton, and always good will ambassador.

He was a faithful monk, and a fallible man who struggled with alcoholism. In 1998 he took on his last pastoral role as chaplain at the Mother of Mercy Nursing Home in Albany, Minnesota, a service he continued until 2010 when he returned to Saint John’s and became a resident in the abbey’s retirement center.

Father Tom was first diagnosed with cancer in 1996; it returned in 2013. A few months ago, he underwent radiation treatment, but lost the battle. Father Tom died on 20 February 2016. Following the Mass of Christian Burial, he was interred in the abbey cemetery.

Chinese characters, above: Thomas, disciple of the Lord.

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Abbey Chronicle

Fire and Ice

R Fire and ice did suffice to alter the Collegeville landscape during the month of January 2016.

In September 2012 tons of willow and ironwood from the Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum were crafted into Stickwork: Lean on Me by artist-in-residence Patrick Dougherty and hundreds of volunteers. Though a lifespan of two years had been anticipated, the outdoor sculpture actually withstood the natural process of decay until early January, when its sagging elements were burned.

A few days later, Mr. Mitchell Fritz, Saint John’s University freshman, added a colorful touch to the campus, building an igloo near Tommy Hall. To create the ice blocks for the winter construction project, Mitch filled some five hundred bread tins with water and food coloring, allowing them to freeze overnight. The campus community, saddened at the loss of Stickwork, was delighted by the latest landscape art at Saint John’s. Alas, the unusually mild winter temperatures took their toll: the igloo collapsed and melted away by the end of the month.

Photos: Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

emarkably temperate weather resulted in this past winter being one of the mildest in memory. Lake Sagatagan did not close until 19 December and reopened less than three months later on 16 March. While there was just enough snow to qualify for a white Christmas, Good King Wenceslaus would have seen a lovely snowfall of five inches on the feast of Stephen. Save for several days of below zero temps in mid-January, the whole month was a January thaw. In contrast to much of the east coast and mid-Atlantic states, buried in snow in late January, Collegeville had to settle for five inches on 25 January. Saint John’s ski trails made an early exit; maple sap was being collected in February; local golfers were out on 12 March as temperatures reached into the 70s. March mildness more than March Madness marked Holy Week. Now the warm weather of April mimics our warm Easter hearts.

Alleluia!

December 2015 • On 6 December a musical score of monks presented “Music from the Monks” as part of the Sunday at the Abbey series.

Fathers Robert Koopmann and Anthony Ruff and Brother David Klingeman each performed on the recently restored Laukhuff pipe organ in the Saint Benedict Chapel of the lower church.

Vocal soloists and members of Saint John’s Abbey Schola or the

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Gregorian Chant Schola contributed to the program as well, while other confreres presented instrumental selections: Father William Skudlarek (cello), Brothers John Hanson and Lucián López (guitar), Father Michael Peterson (Native Amer-

ican flute), and Father Cletus Connors (flute). Brothers Thomas Thai, Andrew Ho, and Emmanuel Nguyen, Cistercian student monks from Vietnam, sang a Vietnamese hymn for Christmas.

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

On 12 December, in the presence of their families, friends, and confreres, Brothers Lewis Grobe (left) and Isaiah Frederick were ordained to the priesthood and diaconate, respectively, by Saint Cloud Bishop Donald Kettler. Father Lew’s new pastoral assignments include assisting at Seven Dolors Parish and Mother of Mercy Nursing Home in Albany. He is also the community’s assistant formation director and works in the abbey woodworking shop. “The priesthood,” says Lew, “has opened my eyes to new ways of serving our community and the Church, and I thank the community for supporting me in my vocation as a monk priest.” Since his diaconate ordination, Brother Isaiah has been serving at the Church of Saint Boniface in Cold Spring, preaching and assisting at weekend Masses, and presiding at communion services at the Assumption Nursing Home. The diaconate, says Isaiah, “has given me new opportunities to be of service to the wider Church community.”

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• Mary and Her Son by the Gregorian Chant Schola of Saint John’s Abbey and University conducted by Father Anthony Ruff was released on 21 December as a compact disc from Jade Music/ Milan Records and as an MP3 from Amazon. The fifteen Latin selections celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, son of Mary, with chants from Advent, Christmas, Lent, Ordinary Time, and Marian feast days.

• Thirty-two deer were taken from the abbey woods by thirtyone hunters during a controlled archery hunt that ran from 20 October until 31 December. The harvest aims to reduce deerbrowsing that has compromised the ecosystem of the abbey arboretum.

January 2016 • Rev. Mark Strobel, Obl.S.B., preached at the community’s Sunday Eucharist on 24 January, part of the observance of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. A Lutheran pastor and dean of Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral in Fargo, Father Mark earned a master’s degree in liturgical studies from Saint John’s School of Theology.

Shade, a German Shepherd service dog and companion of Hermit Angie DelGreco, Obl.S.B., received the 2015 Professional Animal of the Year Award and was inducted into the Animal Hall of Fame during the annual convention of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association on 6 February. Judges recognized Shade as “very intelligent and in tune with people’s feelings and needs.” Nonetheless, Shade did not win a Grammy award for his regular accompaniment of the postlude at the community’s Sunday Eucharist.

Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

Mercy. A brief “door opening” ceremony took place during the opening rites of the Ash Wednesday Eucharist. The doors are symbols of God’s mercy, open to welcome everyone into the compassion of God’s love proclaimed

by Christ.

• Abbot John Klassen and twenty-one friends of the abbey,

led by Dr. Ann Marie Stock and Father Geoffrey Fecht, traveled to Cuba in February for a week’s visit. “The people are warm, friendly, and hospitable,” Abbot John noted. “Never did I feel unsafe or afraid of what was going on around me.” When the group first arrived in Havana, they saw dozens of vintage cars from the 1950s, all in mint

February 2016 • Bishop Donald Kettler designated the abbey and university church and the Shrine (right) of Saint Peregrine, second-century martyr, as a place of pilgrimage throughout this Jubilee Year of

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Paul-Vincent Niebauer, O.S.B.

condition. “These automobiles are present everywhere on the island and serve as a metaphor for the overall economy and infrastructure of the island. It’s as if the country is frozen in time,” observed Father Abbot.

“The buildings are not cared for because there is not enough money in the economy to renew them. Some farmers are still using oxen to plow; many use small, aged tractors.”

• A busload of monks journeyed to Saint Benedict’s Monastery on 14 February, enjoying the annual hospitality of the sisters in the celebration of the feast of their patroness Saint Scholastica (10 February). Following Evening Prayer and a delicious supper, Sister Denise Braegelman, pianist, led the monks and sisters in a sing-along, featuring “Vive L’Amour,” “Happy Wanderer,” “Side by Side,” and “May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.” A good time was had by all.

• After seven years of service as director of the abbey retirement center, Ms. Carol Lee left Saint John’s on 26 February to accept a position with CentraCare Health Home Care & Hospice.

Carol expressed her warm wishes to and for the community, saying: “Know that I will carry you with me—each of you. I am very blessed, for I have been given a gift that I will carry with me into the greater community.”

Effective 14 March, Ms. Kari Salzer is the director of the abbey health and retirement center.

March 2016 • Saint John’s Abbey Church: Marcel Breuer and the Creation of a Modern Sacred Space by Victoria M. Young (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014) received Honorable Mention at the 2016, tenth biennial, David Stanley Gebhard Awards from the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians on 16 March.

• The unusually warm weather (57°F on 27 February) inaugurated an unusually early beginning of the annual maple syrup production in the abbey woods, with 650 gallons of sap collected during the last weekend of February. A record crowd of over three hundred volunteers celebrated Community Tapping Day on 5 March, putting out some 700 spiles in a few hours and bringing the total taps for this year’s collection to 1400. On 9 March the “Big Burnie” evaporator was fired up to cook the two thousand gallons of sap collected earlier in the week.

As of 29 March 376 jugs (a variety of gallon, 3 liter, or 4 liter containers) of syrup had been bottled. New to the operation this year is plastic tubing— supplementing the hundreds of buckets that are used for sap collection. The tubing allows sap to flow directly from the tree to nearby collection barrels.

Only trees on hilltops can accommodate this collection method, however, because the

Outdoor U archives

Brother Walter Kieffer, stoking Big Burnie

flow of sap is subject to the laws of gravity, which are strictly enforced at Saint John’s.

• The monastic community began the annual observance of Holy Week by welcoming dozens of guests to the Palm Sunday Vigil Service. Featuring the beautiful and moving musical compositions of Father Jerome Coller, the prayer service focuses on the solemn readings anticipating Jesus’ passion.

Abbot John led the monastic community and many guests through the liturgies of the Triduum, culminating in the joyous Easter Vigil.

Alan Reed, O.S.B.

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Fifty Years Ago

Monks in the Kitchen

Excerpted from Confrere, newsletter of Saint John’s Abbey:

the Council to be seen as the changing of an outlook, an attitude, not the changing of the rule-book.

February 1966 • The big move began toward the end of December and the beginning of January as novices carried over some of the older periodicals. The move gradually gained momentum and reached its peak in the days of the semester break. But the old [Wimmer Hall] library is empty and Fathers Benjamin Stein, Ronald Roloff, and Urban Steiner look rested once again. And the students are more than pleased with the new [Alcuin Library], if their sentiments can be judged from the amount of time they spend there. Each evening at 8:00 or a little later there is a mass exodus from the various residence halls to the library where an estimated 350 students disappear into the numerous carrels to spend the evening studying. Students and monks both are pleased with the spacious quality of the new building and the more than adequate lighting facilities.

March 1966 • Abbot Baldwin Dworschak’s Message: It has been said, and should be repeated, that Vatican Council II in a very real sense is only beginning to have the effect that was intended on the pastoral level. Its main work was to endorse the new ideas about what the Church is and does, and to create the beginnings of a new spirit in it. This is what the

• 21 March. Maple syrup operations began today. Brothers, novices, and candidates hang 1100 pails in one day. Brother Marcellus Handorgan, the director of the operation, says there will be 2000 taps in all. A small number of plastic sacks are being used this year on an experimental basis. They have a greater capacity and are much less trouble than the bulky pails which must be cleaned.

Abbey archives

Father Don Talafous in the university library, Wimmer Hall

reform and renewal—the two great strands in the aggiornamento—mean.

The first is the stress on the Church as a band of people with whom God has made a special treaty by which they pledge to make God known to all. The second is that each member of that band has rights and responsibilities. No one is a passive onlooker. Our job is not just to accept a body of truth defined completely for all time. It is to see the principles involved, and, by living them, to help develop the truth. We do not belong to the Church; we are the Church, and our job is to live in a way which shows Christ to all. That is why it is important to present the Council not as an end but as a beginning. Pope John wanted

May 1966 • In a move that is intended to divert traffic from the center of the college complex, work was begun on a new private road which will skirt the east shore of the Watab [Stumpf Lake] and come out south of the seminary [Emmaus Hall], connecting there with the road which goes past the cemetery. This new road will replace the one which now goes past [Sexton Commons], Saint Thomas Hall, [Guild Hall], Saint Gregory House, and the monastic gardens. In addition a causeway is being pushed across the Watab. The excess dirt from the construction of the new road is making this project possible.

• Maple syrup operations were highly successful this year with a record total of 380 gallons of pure syrup being boiled down from the collected sap.

Crisis Bread Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

M

y fascination with cooking and baking goes back many years. Even in junior high school I enjoyed baking cakes, pies, pastries, and yes, bread!

My mother, who grew up Southern Baptist, had never heard of Saint Ælred, and certainly she never named me after him.

Rather, she named me after her father, so the name on my birth certificate is “Johnnie.” That’s right, same spelling as Johnnie Bread! So, I’ve always been baking Johnnie bread! In this issue, I’d like to share an alternate Johnnie bread recipe.

A few years ago I volunteered to bake bread for all the Triduum and Easter meals in the monastery—something different for each day from Holy Thursday through Easter. I was a little nervous. What if I got behind schedule? What if one of the breads did not turn out? So I had a backup plan: a recipe for psomi (the Greek word for bread), a quick, easy white bread that is crusty and delicious. It can be baked after only one rise —though, if time allows, go for two! Because I could go from simple ingredients to finished bread in about 2½ hours, I dubbed it my “crisis bread.”

Crisis bread is great in a pinch and so easy to bake! Even the

Greek Psomi or Brother Ælred’s “Crisis Bread” (Yields one large or two smaller loaves)

• 1½ T. instant or bread machine yeast • 5 cups all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon sugar • 1 teaspoon salt • 2 cups very warm water • 2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for brushing • Sesame seeds or flour for sprinkling (optional) Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until the ingredients come together. Add the olive oil and knead with your hands until a stiff dough forms. Form the dough into a ball. Brush all over with a light coat of olive oil.

For one rise: Place dough in a greased 8-inch cake pan, covered with oiled plastic, to rise until doubled in size—about an hour. When risen, remove plastic, sprinkle with sesame seeds or flour. Make several shallow slits in the top of the dough with a sharp knife.

Place in the oven and raise the temperature to 400°F. Bake 35–40 minutes, until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.

For two risings: Place dough in a large bowl, covered with oiled plastic wrap, in a warm place to rise until doubled— about an hour. Punch down, shape into one or two balls or ovals. Place on parchment paper to rise, again covered with oiled plastic. When doubled in size, prepare as above.

Transfer the bread, on its parchment paper, to preheated baking sheet(s) in the oven. Bake as above. most timid of bakers should give it a try. You’ll impress your friends and even yourself!

Brother Ælred Senna, O.S.B., is associate editor of Give Us This Day and a faculty resident at Saint John’s University. Ælred Senna, O.S.B.

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Title Screen of Article Addiction

In Memoriam Please join the monastic community in prayerful remembrance of our deceased family members and friends: Robert J. Alpers Gregory L. “Greg” Becker Rev. Walter Ambrose Bednark Abbot Alan Berndt, O.S.B. Michael Braunsky John Patrick Burns, Obl.S.B. Alvin R. Cahoy Joan Caramagno, Obl.S.B. Nancy Lee Culligan Anthony J. “Tony” DelGreco Ellen M. Dobos Berthold “Bert” Dold Bridget Durkin, O.S.B. Christopher James Ervanian Margers Feders Raymond Fruth Gerard G. Gall Israel Garrido Omaña, O.S.B. Jude Gray, O.S.B. Bonnie Mae Habiger Thomas R. Haessler Colleen Hannon Harris Hanson William F. “Bill” Hueg Jr.

Alfred Hulscher, O.S.B. Gretchen Jumbeck, O.S.B. Rev. Lawrence Keller, Obl.S.B. Richard “Dick” Klein Mathilda “Brud” Kramer Stephen Kranz, O.S.B. Alvin Krump Anselm Kuehler, O.S.B. Rev. Paul John Larson Joseph Paul McDonnell Kieran McInerney, O.S.B. Luiz Antônio Môreira Theodora Nelson, O.S.B. Henry Joseph “Joe” Niebauer III Robert “Bob” Ober Armella Oblak, O.S.B. Boonchuay Onyporn Margaret Osborne, Obl.S.B. Joseph Phan Ninh Paul Bernard Pohlman Eugene “Gene” Power Mildred R. “Millie” Raden Mary Lou Rainville Mary Rochefort, O.S.B.

Victor J. Rothstein Elizabeth Roufs, O.S.B. Richardine Schackmann, O.S.B. Andrew J. “Andy” Schneider Timothy Schoen, O.S.B. Bob Schommer Dennis A. Shay Virginia M. Shay Betty Sonderegger, Obl.S.B. Joseph L. Statz Frank Stewart Sethone G. “Toni” Stoeckel Roland D. “Rollie” Sullivan Allen Tarlton, O.S.B. Philip Martin Theisen Thomas Thole, O.S.B. Dennie Thomes Louis Vander Ley, O.S.B. Theodore Vavrek, O.S.B. Rev. Andrew J. Vollkommer Betty Jean Weisen Carl Wind Justin Withrow, O.S.B. Everett F. Zinniel

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.

Psalm 116:15

A Monk’s Chronicle 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.

Father Don’s Daily Reflection 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/.

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Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

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s I strolled through a mall recently, I noticed something that I’ve been reading and hearing about lately: people completely entranced by their phones. What first caught my eye was an older couple sitting on a bench with their backs to each other busily scrolling through—what? Emails? Texts?

Suddenly aware of this phenomenon, which I understand has the official name “screen addiction,” I decided to do an unscientific observation in the mall and see if there were evidence of it around me. I moved to a food court and stood by the entrance overlooking a vast sea of tables.

To my astonishment, every person at every table had his or her phone in hand! It didn’t seem to make any difference if they were alone or with others. All of them, to a person, were scanning their screens, seemingly oblivious to those around them. They ate, drank, and scrolled with great concentration as though they were searching for treasure. As I left the food area and moved through the mall, I recognized that one need not be stationary to search one’s phone. I was reminded of a school in England that had to move one of its statues because texters were constantly bonking their heads as they (tried to) walk by. The same was true for the mall, where I saw at least one person hit a bench with his shin because of his inattentiveness.

What is going on? Is this something we need to address? Is it really an addiction? Is it all bad? I have no answers to these questions, but I do have some suggestions. If we are addicted to our screens, maybe we can dedicate more of our time on them to constructive engagement, to learning about our world, or even to building up the kingdom of God. If our screens demand, and win, most of our time, perhaps we can channel our addiction in helpful ways.

We can dedicate more time to constructive engagement.

I offer a few suggestions. Find the website Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org), and sign up for Father Richard Rohr’s daily emails. Each morning he offers a brief yet powerful and thoughtprovoking meditation. Other possibilities include the Lion’s Roar (lionsroar.com), Buddhist teachings and wisdom; Pray Tell (praytellblog .com), liturgical blog of worship, wit, and wisdom; or The Hunger Site 39 (thehungersite.com/clickToGive/ths/home), where you can actually donate food for free.

We might continue to run into statues and benches because of our inattentiveness, but in the meantime, our minds and souls will be expanding with the love and knowledge of God. The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention.

Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

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Abbey Banner

Spring 2016 Volume 16, Number 1

4 This Issue Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

14 Sustainability Commitment Jake Lammi

5 Mercy and Healing Abbot John Klassen, O.S.B.

16 God’s Long Reach Mary Stommes

6 Jubilee Year of Mercy Pope Francis Antoine Leiris Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B.

17 Community Builders Nicholas Hansen

33 Abbey Chronicle Robin Pierzina, O.S.B.

18 Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery Josie Stang

36 Fifty Years Ago

9 Rule of Benedict: The Holy City Eric Hollas, O.S.B. 10 Benedictine Volunteer Corps Michael Leonard Hahn, O.S.B. Nickolas Kleespie, O.S.B. 12 Worship: Ninety Years Young Katharine E. Harmon

22 Lives of the Benedictine Saints: Benedict and Scholastica Robin Gallaher Branch 25 Johnnie Bread Aaron Raverty, O.S.B. 28 Meet a Monk: Efraín Rosado Matthew Luft, O.S.B.

30 Obituary: Allen Tarlton 31 Obituary: Thomas Thole 32 Fire and Ice

37 Monks in the Kitchen: Crisis Bread Ælred Senna, O.S.B. 38 In Memoriam 39 Screen Addiction Timothy Backous, O.S.B.

Benedictine Days of Prayer During this political season…

Friday, 22 April 2016: III Praying the Kingdom of God: Politics Friday, 20 May 2016: IV Praying the Kingdom of God: The Church Friday, 16 September 2016: V Praying the Kingdom of God: Coming The day begins at 7:00 A.M. with Morning Prayer and concludes about 3:30 P.M. Cost: $50, which includes retreat materials, breakfast, and lunch.

Rooms are available in the abbey guesthouse for the preceding overnight.

Six-Day Directed Retreat 10–16 June 2016 Cost: $585, which includes a single room, meals, and daily spiritual direction.

Register online at abbeyguesthouse.org; or call the Spiritual Life Office: 320.363.3929.