A NOTE OF THANKS: A college classmate of Br. Raban felt called to make a donation to us and we monks were happy to assist. Our monastery experienced two massive fires in our history that destroyed most of our libraries. Because we focused on the Academy library replenishment, our monastic library has only slowly rebounded. We have a little over 20,000 books at this point in time that are used not only by the monks and the students, but also the larger area where we regularly have Catholic and Protestant ministers use it as a valuable research resource. Thankfully, we have tried to set aside money for regular purchases of new books when possible. Large book series are rare for us to get, so we were deeply honored for the donation of the 29 volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. This commentary allows a person to pick any scripture verse and then find how and where the Church Fathers used that passage in their writings. We can then access those writings in our available books or our Patrologia series both in print and online. Practically, the fruit of this is used in our homilies, writings, and personal devotion. Our librarian Fr. Richard, the Abbot, and all the monks want to thank this anonymous donor that gifted us with this series. Your donation will prayerfully be used by a generation of monks to come. UIOGD!

The Catholic paper for the Diocese of Little Rock did a nice article on Br. Basil and the ongoing success of our Country Monks Brewing. Click on the title to access that article.

Novice Sam Jannise made profession as a Benedictine monk in the Subiaco Abbey Church February 2, 2020. During Vespers, Novice Sam presented his written and signed petition to Abbot Leonard who then welcomed his public profession of monastic vows for three years. Reflecting this change in his state of life, the Abbot assigned him a new name. After three years from that time, he will be eligible to make his final, perpetual vows. Br. Gabriel comes from Groves, Texas, where he lived most of his life before coming to Subiaco in 2018.  He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas.  He has worked in various aspects of the printing industry for nearly 20 years before coming to the Abbey. The profession ceremony had six parts. (1) The novice made his request to become a monk. (2) Abbot Leonard addressed him in the name of the community. (3) He showed him the Rule of St. Benedict and asked if he were willing to observe; he then asked the novice to express his commitment by answering questions. (4) Br. Gabriel then read the document of his profession, in which he revealed his new monastic name. Then he showed the document to Abbot Leonard, signed it and gave it to him. (5) The Abbot blessed the monastic habit and clothed him with it. (6) The newly professed returned to his place in the community and Vespers continued.

Brother Basil and Brother Raban have been chosen to by Abbot Leonard to attend a prestigious leadership training program in Rome. “Leadership and the Rule of Saint Benedict” is a joint educational project of the universities of St. Gallen in Switzerland and Sant’Anselmo in Rome. They have assembled a faculty of international experts and experienced leaders from the Benedictine family who will help monks to frame the challenges facing the monastery and show pragmatic ways to handle them. The University of St. Gallen is an internationally reputed business school. Its Institute of Management & Strategy is responsible for the LRB-course. The Financial Times has ranked the University of St. Gallen Number 5 among 70 other European business schools. The strategy master of the Institute of Management & Strategy is ranked Number 1 since nine years.