Vocation Visit

If you are a Catholic man, between the ages of 20 and 45, one of the best ways to determine if God is calling you to the monastic way of life (and Subiaco in particular) is to make a visit. In doing so, you can immerse yourself in our life of prayer and work. A brief visit is beneficial in that you would be able to pray with our monks in choir, eat with the monks, and work along-side one of our monks giving you a full experience of our daily devotion and balance to prayer and work.

STEP ONE: The first step is to pray about it, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in your discernment. Then, meet with your Pastor or Spiritual Director and discuss the idea.

STEP TWO: If the two of you agree that a visit would be beneficial, then you need to contact Subiaco and speak with Br. Francis (the Vocation Director), Br. Raban, or Fr. Patrick. You can then introduce yourself and your interest in a visit by using the contact information or by emailing: vocations@subi.org.

While anyone may pay for a room to stay at our retreat center and pray with the monks, a free immersion experience is more in-depth and involves us monks opening up our home, refectory, prayer, and work. For that reason, we are very open to the experience as long as we know a man is serious and committed to exploring monastic life as a vocation.

The first visit will be a 2-3 day stay, typically on a weekend, but can be done during the week as well. The initial visit is brief for your convenience and is designed to give you an introduction to monastic life and our life here at Subiaco. During this visit Br. Francis, Br. Raban, or Fr. Patrick will meet with you informally to discuss your vocation and discernment.

May God bless you in your discernment and we hope to hear from you.