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Show Volume VI, Issue X THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 21 September 1, 2002 MONASTERY cont. from page 20 mulated and lived has been brought up to date in order to meet the challenges of the modern world. Religious communities were asked by the Council to renew themselves by returning to the spirit of their founders while appropriately adapting their lifestyle to the needs of modern men and women. For Trappists, this renewal included restudying the twelfth-century origins of their order, as well as appreciating anew the sixth-century Rule of Saint Benedict which forms the basis, after the Bible itself, of Benedictine and Cistercian doctrine and practice. Cistercian origins began, in fact, with Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen, who were monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Molesme in Burgundy, France. Monasticism as lived at Molesme was valid, but these reformers objected, among other things, to the abbey’s excessive involvement with worldly friends and benefactors. Therefore, on Palm Sunday March 21, 1098, abbot Robert left Molesme with twenty-one companions to establish a “new monastery” in a wilderness area known as Citeaux, near Dijon. They had no intention of founding a new religious order as such, but simply wished to return to a more primitive observance of the Rule of St. Benedict. After many trials and tribulations, in 1113 the community was numerous enough to send a small group of monks to establish its first foundation, (La Ferte.) In that same year St. Bernard entered Citeaux with some thirty companions, and it was later due to his extraordinary sanctity and genius as abbot of Clairvaux that the order spread rapidly throughout Europe. It was at this time that the “white monks”—so called because their habits were made from undyed woolbecame known as Cistercians. After a long, slow decline in numbers and observance, a segment of the order was reformed in the 17th century by the abbot Armand-Jean de (Rance) at the Abbey of La Trappe in Normandy, and the white monks that followed the reform came to be known by the popular name “Trappist.” In 1848 a group of forty-four monks from the Abbey of Melleray in France founded the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. A century later this rich heritage was passed on to the new monastery in Utah. The modern renewal of the Trappist-Cistercian Order (or Cistercians of the Strict Observance as they are officially known) has brought significant changes in practice and discipline. Monks now have for their use small private rooms for reading and sleeping, whereas they previously slept in a dormitory and did their reading and studying in a common scriptorium. Rigid silence has been replaced by reasonable spoken communications. Lay brothers have been fully integrated into the life of the community, while the class of lay sisters among the nuns has been suppressed. Abbots were formerly elected for life. Now they may be elected for a six-year term, with the possibility of reelection, though all abbots, regardless of their term of office, are required to resign at age seventy-five. Daily concelebrated Mass has largely replaced the private Masses said by priests of the monastery. Vernacular language has replaced Latin in the celebration of Mass and Office. The daily recitation of additional devotional Offices had already been suppressed before Vatican II; thus by the reduction of vocal prayer more time has been made available for leisurely sacred reading, personal prayer, and reflection. In obedience to Church decrees of the 1950’s governing priestly training in seminaries and religious houses of study, several members of the community were sent to various Roman and American universities in order to obtain the requisite graduate degrees in philosophy, theology, scripture, and canon law-degrees which, in turn, enabled them to instruct their fellow monks more adequately. At times, monks qualified in theology, account- THINK OF THE FUTURE The Ogden Valley Land Trust a non-profit organization For more information call (801) 745-2048 ing, and various manual trades were temporarily loaned to other monasteries of the order, both here and abroad. Material Resources Manual labor on the part of choir monks formed an integral part of the Cistercian reform from the very beginning. Such labor enabled the monks to live by choice as the poor did by necessity; it also freed them from dependence upon wealthy benefactors who often expected favors in return for their donations. In accordance with this ancient tradition, the monks of Holy Trinity Abbey have labored to develop their farm, renovate buildings, construct new ones, and establish industries—endeavors which have resulted in self-support and assistance for the poor. The monks formerly operated a model dairy, recognized throughout Utah for its state-of-the-art efficiency. However, increased costs, coupled with a decline in milk prices, forced the community to eliminate the herd. For many years the abbey also operated a successful poultry business and bakery. The fresh eggs and monks’ bread sold at the abbey’s gift shop, drew many guests and visitors who otherwise might have known or cared little about monastic life. Later, reduced personnel made it necessary for the abbey to eliminate both industries, much to the chagrin of regular customers, but to the advantage of an already overburdened community. Over the years, unsuccessful experiments were made with other means of livelihood, all dependent on the initiative and skill of individual monks: ceramic articles; cheese making; the raising of chinchillas, sheep, and pigs. At present, turned wood bowls, natural peanut butter, and breakfast cereal are produced in limited quantities. But the principle sources of income remain as they have existed for many years: the cultivation of alfalfa and grains, management of a large beef herd, and the production of creamed honey and its sale at the gift shop, and by mail order. Don Emmanuel retired from office as abbot in 1982, after twenty-six years of service to the community in that capacity. He was succeeded by Father Malachy Flaherty, one of the founders, who was elected by the community for two successive terms of six years each. Dom Leander Dosch, who succeeded Dom Malachy, was elected for a six year term on January 11, 1995, and was blessed by Bishop George H. Niederauer of Salt Lake City on March 12. Dom Leander was a Benedictine monk with experience as priest, pastor, and teacher before his entrance at Holy Trinity Abbey in 1995. Present and Future Fifty-five years of monastic history have passed quickly for those remaining pioneers who made their home at Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville. Once upon a time they were enthusiastic, stalwart, generous young idealists. Now they find themselves seasoned veterans of the monastic journey—no less generous, but surely wiser and less triumphal then a half century ago when the order was expanding at such a phenomenal, yet unrealistic rate. Those who have joined the pioneers over the years, and who have persevered in their vocation, are equally committed to continuing their contemplative monastic life of celibacy, joyful submission to authority, frugality in the use of material goods, work, prayer, and effective separation from the world. Separation from the world, however, does not conflict with monastic hospitality. Hence, in accordance with the Rule of Saint Benedict and Cistercian tradition, Holy Trinity Abbey has always maintained a guesthouse where retreatants share in the monastic experience by silence, solitude, and assistance at the liturgy. Monasticism was conceived in the spirit of the New Testament, which teaches that the Christian life is itself a continual worship of God, and a building up of the community of the elect. The monks of Holy Trinity Abbey strive to fulfill the injunctions that govern all Christian lives: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7). Living in an environment in which the awareness of God’s presence becomes habitual, they have “tasted the goodness of the work of God and the powers of the age to come” (Hebrews 6:5). Note: Information for this historical review of the Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville was taken from a pamphlet produced for the monastery, entitled “Abbey of the Holy Trinity.” |