Great joy in the monastery about two new monks – Einsiedler Gazette
In a simple but touching ceremony, two young men made their vows on July 17th – Einsiedeln Abbey has two new monks!
PPS. «This is the day which the Lord has made; we want to rejoice and rejoice in him” – this is how the monks in the Einsiedeln monastery sang in the morning prayer from Psalm 118 last Sunday, July 17th.
This word from Scripture applied in two ways: on the Sunday after July 16, on which the Solemnity of Our Lady of Einsiedeln began, the monastic community was not only able to celebrate the external celebration with numerous pilgrims from abroad, but also one double simple profession!
In times when many monasteries have had children for years or even years, the hermit Benedictines consider themselves lucky that with Grégory Faye from Geneva and Benno Bonder from Salzkotten (D), two young men Yes to the call of God today say in their community. So on Sunday morning the two novices became Brothers Alban and Benno Maria through the simple profession of Lauds.
Initially limited to three years
After the psalms of morning praise and the questioning by Abbot Urban, the two initially committed themselves to the monastic community for a limited period of three years and took the Benedictine vows of obedience, permanence and the monastic way of life. If God becomes, the solemn profession will then take place in three years, whereby they will not only become members of the Einsiedler monastery community with all the duties of a monk, but also with all the rights (especially the right to vote in community decisions) of a Benedictine of Einsiedeln. The solemn profession is then taken for life.
Tension about religious names
The excitement was great on Sunday morning as to which religious names the two would receive. These had already been announced in the previous agreement by Abbot Urban, but it only became clear during the reading of the professorial certificates: Novice Grégory is now called Frater Alban, and is thus reminiscent of the first martyr in England, with Novice Benno almost everything remained the same, including him added the name of the Mother of God to his baptismal name. Frater Benno Maria has kept his baptismal name for good reason, as his namesake was the first successor to Saint Meinrad as a hermit in the “Dark Forest” – the memory of him lives on in the district name “Bennau” to this day.
As a sign of their devotion, the two newly professed lay their professorial certificates on the altar of the monastery church and sang “Suscipe me – Take me in, o Lord” together with outstretched arms.
Abbot Urban and the monastic community of Einsiedeln Abbey are delighted with the two young monks and thank God for the gift of their vocation in their community. The fact that the two newly professed people come from Geneva and North Rhine-Westphalia shows the charisma that Einsiedeln Abbey still has. May they be followed by numerous other young men who keep the monastery alive as a place of prayer and monastic life!
The two newly professed brothers, Brother Alban (second from left) and Brother Benno Maria, flanked by Abbot Urban (left) and master of novices, Father Justinus.
Photo: Father Philipp Steiner