About the Monks of Saint John's Abbey

.

.

“It happened in January 1856 that six American bishops sent petitions to the late Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, for the introduction of the Benedictine Order and erection of monasteries in their diocese. This movement caused some perplexity. Widely divergent opinions and proposals were brought to the front in a chapter in which those applications were considered — one favored acceptance of this, another of that post. The Abbot listened, no conclusions were reached.

Finally he arose and said: "We will commit the whole affair to the hands of God — may He decide where we should make the beginning, I shall," said he, "write to each of the bishops and tell him our needs; i.e., the conditions upon which we will be able to correspond with his request. All of these letters I will mail at the same time and the first bishop who will reply satisfactorily shall have our priests."

And behold, the voice of God came from the West, from St. Paul, the most distant point which the mails only reached via Dubuque and thence per stage; from St. Paul came the first unconditional call for Benedictine monks.”

 (Fr. Bruno Riss OSB (1829-1900) “The Earliest Years of Saint John's Abbey, 1856-1862”)

.

Saint John's Abbey is a monastic community of Catholic men who, for over 150 years, have searched for God through a life following the teachings of Jesus Christ and rooted in the Rule of Saint Benedict. We carry on the spirit of the first Christian community, committed to the communal life, to the breaking of our daily bread at altar and table, and to times of public and private prayer.

The Rule of Saint Benedict is marked by its emphasis on Prayer and Work: the joining of a monk's relationship with God to his service alongside his brothers and the Church.  Lectio divina and the Liturgy of the Hours have for 1,500 years acted as the fundamental practice of prayer in Benedictine monasteries.  Lectio divina, the prayerful reading and meditation on Scripture often is practiced alone or in small groups.  However, four times a day the monk's of Saint John's Abbey gather in the Abbey Church, wearing the traditional Benedictine monastic habit, to pray the Liturgy of the Hours as brothers within one of the oldest monastic orders within the Catholic Church.  In addition to lectio divina and the Liturgy of the Hours, they gather for daily celebration of the Mass.  Both forms of community prayer are open to the lay community with whom Saint John's Abbey has grown, and shared a valuable and meaningful history of service, community and conversion.

Saint John's Abbey is made up of over 140 monks, who, informed and guided by prayer, work in a wide variety of professions, services and ministries.  Saint Benedict, in his Rule, identifies several tools for good works, tools employed daily in the assortment of tasks, obligations and relationships in a monk's life. To labor is not simply to earn a living, though this necessity may not be forgotten, but in addition it is an opportunity to live the call to discipleship, fulfilled and perpetually deepened in the monastic life.  The unity of prayer and work aims at the imperative "pray always" and to "take up your cross and follow."  The monks of Saint John's Abbey do not recede from the challenges facing the community to whom they have been called to minister.  Monasticism is not a break from struggle and labor, but rather an engagement of active commitment bonded to Christ through prayer and work.