Br. Jude Schmitt, O.S.B.

WHAT LED YOU TO BECOME A MONK AT SUBIACO?

I was born into a German Catholic family. I attended a lot of church services at St. Boniface church with my parents and with my grandmother and aunt. When I was young, Fr. Gregory Kehres was the pastor and Fr. James Foley was the assistant. Father James took over as pastor around the time I started school at St. Boniface where I was taught by the Benedictine Sisters from St. Scholastica. The idea of the priesthood was encouraged by the sisters and Fr. James. 

When I was in the seventh and eighth grade, Fr. James would take the boys to Subiaco for a field day. It was conducted by the Fraters, young monks in seminary studies for the Priesthood. Fr. James also took us to St. John’s Seminary for a similar day. Since I was interested in the priesthood, I went to Vocation Camp at Subiaco Abbey during the summer after my seventh and eighth grade. I was attracted to Subiaco by the young Fraters who were the counselors at Vocation Camp. This was when I considered pursuing a vocation. 

I continued my interest in the Priesthood by entering Subiaco Academy as a Scholastic. Under the leadership of Fr. Fintan and Fr. Sebastian, our vocation was encouraged. We took the regular classes along with four years of Latin. We also were required to take band after school. I spent most of my weekends hiking on the ridges and fishing. There are many interesting stories of our four years, and most of our classmates at this time still keep in contact. 

After graduation in 1962, I was sent to St. Bernard’s Abbey and entered their seminary. I remained there for two years, taking basic college classes as well as more Latin and Greek. I participated in the seminary choir. 

After two years at St. Bernard’s, I joined the Abbey here and became a Novice. We had classes in the morning and worked in the afternoon. I was assigned to the area East of Coury House. I took on many landscaping projects, including building the flagstone steps which are still used today.  

My favorite part of being a Monk is that we can multitask with many different interests and jobs and stop when the bells call us to Mass and Office every day. Then we add to this times set aside for private prayer during the day.  

In August, several weeks before profession, it was announced that we would not be returning to St. Bernard’s. Subiaco was opening a House of Studies in St. Louis, and we would be attending St. Louis University. We would also be able to major in our teaching field instead of Philosophy.  

I spent the first three years of my temporary vows at the House of Studies, pursuing a degree in History with minors in Education and Geography. This was a time of great change in the church and in monastic life. It became possible for a monk to make solemn vows and not be ordained. This was very appealing to me, and I decided not to continue to ordination. I received my degree in 1968 in history. 

When I returned to the Abbey, Abbot Michael suggested that I renew my vows for at least one year. I started teaching in the Academy in the fall of 1968. I was assigned World History and Christian Doctrine. I taught four periods a day and was in charge of the maintenance and care of Benedict Hall (later Wardlaw Hall). After a year, Abbot Michael asked me if I was ready to take vows. The year went so fast that I asked for a second year. After a two-year extension of simple vows, I made solemn vows, committing to the monastic life where I was able to delve into my passions for teaching, woodworking, technology, and music.  

My first love as a monk was teaching. I taught many different classes in the Social Studies, Computers, Religious Education, and Science Departments. My two favorite classes were World Cultures and Physical Science. I taught for thirty-seven contiguous years in the Academy and was pulled back three times after retirement to get the total number up to forty. 

As a young boy, I was interested in woodworking. When I got to the House of Studies in St. Louis, I quickly found an area in the basement and created a shop. When I became a teacher, I found an unused room and started a shop for students. Through gifts and some money from the school, I was able to operate a simple shop for students after school and on weekends. Eventually Abbot Raphael moved me into the present Carpenter Shop, and I have been working there ever since. With the help of Mr. Grace, it has grown with the addition of CNC routers and lasers. It is one thing that I really enjoy. 

As a teacher, I was always interested in technology, starting with 16 mm projectors. Then I was put in charge of our black and white reel to reel video recorders. Next was the move to video cassettes and video taping. I was the official video cameraman for the athletic department for years. I set up a closed circuit TV system for all the TV rooms and the classrooms. We used this to play movies on Friday and Saturday nights. This led to the computer age. I heard about a new invention at Stanford called a word processor. Then one thing led to another and I eventually became the IT person for both the Abbey and Academy. 

My love of music started in grade school in choir. Then as a Scholastic I played clarinet. At St. Bernard’s, I sang in the Seminary Choir for two years. When I became a Novice, one of the first questions I was asked was, “What instruments do you play?” During my Novitiate I learned to play a ukulele banjo and also started learning the guitar and banjo. At the House of Studies, I was one of the main instrumentalists for Mass and many sing-alongs. When I returned to the Abbey I was the main song leader for the Arkansas Tech Newman Mass for several years. Later I got bored of only playing accompaniment chords. Then I purchased some books and tried to learn classical guitar. Presently I have renewed my interest after Mr. Voss purchased a new guitar for me. There is no doubt I have been greatly blessed at Subiaco. 
 

Tell Us Something About Yourself!
 

If you are interested in some of the many woodworking items of Brother Jude, then feel free to visit our countrymonks online store and browse the options. You can also purchase them at our Coury House Retreat Center on the campus of Subiaco:

Click here to see some of Br. Jude's works