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When people think about a monastic library the usual image is of manuscripts covered in dust and huge tomes of works that have been compiled over the centuries; Gratian’s decretum, a signed edition of the Summa Theologiae and possibly a jewel encrusted and fully illuminated Bible. Our library does have some old books from the 18th century but most of our collection is what you would see in any Catholic library or seminary. The difference for us is that we specialize in monastic and patristic works, to nourish and deepen our Benedictine life by using the sources that St Benedict mentions in the Rule; St Basil, St. John Cassian and the desert fathers, not to mention the early Church fathers such as St Augustine, St Jerome and St Gregory. We also have many monastic works that focus on contemporary monastic life and the history of the order to keep our monks aware that the tradition is a living tradition, one that must be handed on through the centuries.
We owe a great deal of thanks to our friend and librarian Ethan Allen who came all the way from sunny Florida and over the last week has worked tirelessly to catalog some of our new additions and to organize our collection to make it more “monk-friendly.”
We would also like to announce that Fr Basil Nixen, our recently ordained priest, will be celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving in his home parish this coming Sunday to thank his family and friends for all of their prayers and support during his years of formation. We thank all of them and all of our benefactors for providing us with the grace of a new priest in our monastic family.