News

May 6, 2012 —

Hello!

It is the Fifth Week of Easter! And it will be mostly Easter days this week. On Thursday is the feast of St. Damien of Molokai. We don’t celebrate him here in our liturgy but we all think of him with great admiration. You may have seen a film on his life. Damien (1840-1889) was a missionary priest from Belgium. He spent the last 16 years of his life on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, which was given over to lepers. It wasn’t a paradise when he arrived, but was by his death. He treated the people with dignity and challenged them to live engaged in life and not simply waiting for death. He is called a Martyr for Charity because he contracted the disease and died there among the people he had fought so hard for. There is much more to know about him. This is a link to one of the many sites to learn about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien.

On Friday in the Benedictine world is another feast day – The Abbots of Cluny. The first five abbots of this historic Benedictine monastery were all saints. The Abbey itself grew to be something I bet they would never have dreamed of! This monastery produced four popes and many other monasteries in many countries. For a long time it was a restorer of faith and learning. Eventually it suffered a decline and no longer held the sway it had. But monastic life continued there into the French Revolution when the monastery was finally suppressed in 1790. By 1810 it was nearly totally demolished and then used as a quarry. The father of a monk at St. Benedict Abbey headed an excavation there in 1927, Professor Kenneth John Conant. He discovered the remains of one of the saintly abbots during his work. This a link to learn more about the monks and the abbey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluny_Abbey.

Some may have caught a special on Pluscarden Abbey, the motherhouse of our monks, that was on EWTN: http://en.gloria.tv/?media=104901, and also http://en.gloria.tv/?media=286147. I couldn’t pull them up on EWTN but the above links seem to have the program. There were two shows. Knowing the place and monks makes it more meaningful. But I do think you’ll appreciate it.

If you are familiar with Facebook, we put up a bit to get us started in that world of technology. I think you just type into the search space: st scholastica priory and you should arrive at the Facebook page. We are far behind in doing this and most religious houses have had theirs going for quite a while. We jumped in to help spread the news of the upcoming Monastic Weekend we are offering, also posted to the left of this blog.

Thank you for your support and love. It means so much to us. Know that you are held in our prayers here every day!

Love and prayers,

Mother Mary Elizabeth, OSB