Mount Saviour Monastery

June 2004

 Mount Saviour  Joins the American Cassinese Congregation

On 18 June, the Feast of the Sacred Heart and the 15-th Anniversary of the establishment of the American Cassinese Congregation, we became the 22nd autonomous monastery in the Congregation which includes (among the better known ones) St. Vincent’s Archabbey at Latrobe Pennsylvania, St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville Minnesota, St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown N.J..  Up to this time we had existed as an independent monastery.  We were founded by the then Abbot Primate Bernard Kaelin in 1950 and in 1957 we became an independent Priory.  Rev. Fr. Damasus was appointed the first Prior.  We were members of the over-all Benedictine Confederation and the subsequent Abbot Primates became our quasi-superiors, an unusual arrangement.  Since we were not establishing a school or involved in parish work, our monastic life style was quite different from that of the monasteries in the States.  We intended, with Weston Priory, to form a Congregation of our own.  That required at least three independent monasteries and we were unable to bring our hope to fruition.

The founding of both Mount Saviour and Weston Priory is a wonderful story which we are unable to go into here.  Madeleva Roarke’s fine book: Father Damasus and the Founding of Mount Saviour, gives an account of our foundation.  It is available from our Book Store for $20.00.  Since congregations are the present form of Benedictine life, it seems good to say a few words about the genesis of that form of religious association in the Church.

There were a number of important and successful reforms of the Benedictines in history yet between 1125 and 1408, things grew more and more out of hand.  In the 15th Century a new arrangement of Benedictine monasteries arose, namely the congregation.  Benedictine monasteries, each retaining its traditional autonomy, formed overarching associations usually with ‘daughter houses’ which began as dependent priories of their Abbey.  Some Congregations had their origin because of a common national or language group.  The Council of Trent (1545-1563) made the congregational system ecclesiastical law and this gave them some exemption from Episcopal authority.

In 1893, Pope Leo XIII created the office of Abbot Primate.  The person is elected by all the Abbots and certain Priors and is chiefly responsible for the Collegio Sant’ Anselmo in Rome.  The Abbot Primate, unlike the nominal heads of other religious  institutes is first among equals and does not out-rank any of the other Abbots.  This is one of the ways in which the structure of Benedictine life differs radically from that of the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, etc. whose   person in authority in Rome is superior to the provincials and local superiors elsewhere.  The Abbot Primate’s responsibilities keep him busy enough without adding to them a special care for us.  To relieve him of this added burden has been a factor in our seeking to join a Congregation.

Joining a Congregation should provide us with some much needed resources.  We do experience a certain isolation and we are in need of someone expert in Canon Law, Liturgy, or other specialties on whom we can rely to keep us up to date.  It would be very helpful for us if members of our community could spend shorter times for ‘tutorial’ or short courses at other monasteries within the Congregation.  We would also benefit from speakers or simply monks coming here o visit from time to time.  

For our part,  we believe  we  could make a real contribution to the Congregation.  There is a letter from Abbot Boniface Wimmer, the Rounder of the American Cassinese Congregation, who wrote to Abbot Innocent of Kansas not long before he died that briefly tells of an option he thought about very seriously.
“ I have had the good fortune to do a great deal for the Order of Saint Benedict, and I can say without praising myself, that I have worked for its prosperity as well as can be expected from one with so little talent and learning as I have.  All honor for this belongs to God alone, and the only trouble arises for me when I try to answer the question:  Did I work in the right direction?  Did I do my work as it ought to have been done?  Would it not have been much better had I settled  down somewhere with a few of my followers to lead a religious life in accordance with the Rule of St. Benedict, to live in retirement with them, devoted to prayer, to the praise of God, to mortification and self-denial, to occasional preaching of the Gospel?….The older I become, as I advance in years, the more frequently this question arises in my mind, and my attempts to answer it causes more doubts and cause me untold anxiety.”

No monasteries today are awash with vocations, and we are not expecting or asking members of other monasteries to transfer here.  We have the obligation to recruit and foster vocations to Mount Saviour.  At the same time, we feel we could provide what Abbot Boniface was looking for.  We welcome monks of any community who would be able to take advantage of a short time in a community living a simpler life style to renew and deepen their monastic commitment.  We believe we might offer a kind of ‘half-way house sabbatical.  Certainly not as rich as St. Vincent’s or St John’s can offer, but one that certain monks would find just what they are praying for. 

We sincerely ask your prayers that this new venture becomes one of those things in which God will be glorified.
                                                                   In Xto,
                                                                  Fr. Martin 



Fr. Sloyan The Second Damasus Winzen Memorial Lecture:

Ont Sunday, June 26th,   Fr. Gerard Sloyan, an outstanding teacher  and author of many theological books and articles presented the early years of Father Damasus Winzen.  He studied under Fr. Damasus and the two German monks who came to Keyport NJ to found a monastery that could receive the German monks who were threatened by Hitler.  He gave interesting details of the life and activities of  the monks who taught at the Immaculate Conception seminary in Darlington NJ, in the early 1940s.

Coming Events:

Dedication Day this year will be Sunday, August 15th.   Mass at 10 AM will be followed by a Brunch and music.

Previous Month

Mount Saviour page

Guest Brother E-mail: guest@msaviour.org
Monastery E-mail: info@msaviour.org


Gospel of the Day