There do exist today several monastic orders of men and women who by vow live cloistered lives in a monastery or in the solitude of the hermitage. There are the Trappists and the Carthusians; the quiet Carmelite nuns and the barefoot Poor Clares. These are the orders of strict contemplatives of whom Thomas Merton wrote: "Night is our diocese and silence is our ministry...We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners with hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand: Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the conqueror, planted like sentinels upon the world's frontier."
For the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, that concept of medieval monasticism is balanced with a semi-active life of pastoral care and education.
Says Abbot Hugh Anderson, superior of the 62-member monastery, "The call to monastic life presents those of us here at St. Procopius with a challenge to live up to the richness of our 1,500-year-old tradition which embodies all that is best in contemporary thought and aspirations: A spirit of openness to new possibilities; a respect for the dignity and uniqueness of the person; a concern for honesty and authenticity, and a desire for simplicity and straight-forwardness of life."
The world-wide Order of St. Benedict is the oldest monastic order in the Roman Catholic Church, and life as a Benedictine monk remains today very much as it was 1,500 years ago with only minor exceptions. It is a life primarily of seeking God and responding to him in prayer.
A further distinctiveness of Benedictines which separates them from most other groups of religious men and women is that they do not have a central government since each monastery is autonomous. Monks dedicate themselves to a specific monastic community and remain with that community for life. The communal aspect of life is the most outstanding characteristic along with the stabilizing influence of a life-long commitment to the abbey.
There is no one type of personality that is attracted to the monastery. The monks vary in age (from their 20's to their 80's) and they vary in interests (one is a former florist and another is a former steeplejack). They vary in intellectual abilities (from high school diplomas to doctorates), and they vary in style. But all of them are in the monastery to seek God.
The work of the monks of St. Procopius is primarily education. They operate Benet Academy, a college preparatory high school, and Benedictine University, both in Lisle.
In addition, their monastic life involves mutual service of caring for the sick and elderly and maintaining buildings and grounds. The abbey also operates a missionary priory on the island of Taiwan in the Republic of China.
Benedictine monasteries grow much like natural families when children leave home to set up life on their own. A group of monks in 1885 left St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, PA, for Chicago in order to work and pray among the Czech and Slovak immigrants.
Upon their arrival, the monks staffed an already existing parish dedicated in honor of St. Procopius, from which the abbey derived its name. Procopius had founded a monastery in Bohemia during the 11th century and after his death in 1053, he became the first formally canonized saint of Czechoslovakia.
The newly arrived Benedictines decided to found a high school and college, and to establish a press. Later in 1901, they moved to Lisle and have been there ever since.
A key element in the daily life of the monk is "fidelity to the monastic way of life." Simply put this means that "we make a conscious effort every day to live the Gospel message," said Abbot Hugh.
"Our life," the Abbot said, "is one that makes sense only from a perspective of faith. I don't think anyone could live this life as an atheist. The culture of our society is very much concerned with here and now. But we are very much counter-cultural. Our life witnesses to a foretaste of what is to come, but that witness is carried out in the here and now."
Anyone interested in joining St. Procopius Abbey is encouraged to spend a few weekends visiting the community. If he then chooses to apply for admittance and the monks decide to accept him, he will spend some time as a postulant and then one year as a novice.
During this year of training, he will come to know and understand himself better with the help of the monastic community, for the novitiate is an intense schooling in communal living. The novice spends his day in study, reading, prayer, reflection, work, and recreation. If at any time he decides the monastic life is not for him, he is free to leave.
If, however, the novice finds meaning and purpose in this life, and if the monks judge that he can both benefit from the monastic experience and assist the community in its quest for God, he may then enter the community for a period of three years.
During this time, he is exposed to the various apostolates of the Abbey and is guided in his monastic growth. After his probation, he must decide whether he wishes to make a life-long commitment to the monastic life and to St. Procopius Abbey. If so, he will take solemn vows - a firm promise that he will dedicate his life to the search for God that is the essence of the monastic vocation.
If you would like to explore the possibilities of a monastic vocation, please contact me.
Director of Vocations
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