Saint Anselm’s Abbey marks its 100th

As this week’s edition of the newsletter was being prepared, most of the monastic superiors of the world were gathered for two weeks for the first time in eight years in Rome for the Congress of Benedictine Abbots. Generally held every four years, it had been sidetracked, along with so many other things, by Covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings. Abbot Michael Brunner was present at the Monastery of Sant’ Anselmo atop the Aventine Hill when, on Saturday, September 14, a new Abbot Primate was elected to replace the retiring Abbot Gregory Polan of Conception Abbey in Missouri. The new superior of all Benedictines everywhere is Abbot Primate Jeremias Schroeder of the St. Otillien Archabbey in Emming, near Eresing, Germany. Much like our English Benedictine Congregation, the St. Otillien Congregation is one of many that exists within the larger Benedictine Confederation.

One American superior unable to attend the Abbots’ Congress was Abbot James Wiseman of Washington, D.C. While not at Sant’ Anselmo in Rome, he stayed behind in his own home monastery of St. Anselm’s Abbey in the District’s NE section known as “Little Rome.” The day after the election, Sunday, September 15, marked the exact date in 1924 of the founding of the men’s house which he heads, and it was important that he stay behind to preside over the events and the Mass. The founding of Portsmouth Priory in 1919 and that of St. Anselm’s five years later in 1924 are closely linked. They are the oldest of the three American EBC houses, with St. Louis Abbey appearing on the scene decades later in 1955.

Jeremias Schroeder,
newly elected Abbot President
of the Order of St. Benedict

The shared history of Portsmouth and St. Anselm’s offers interest and intrigue. In his homily for the anniversary Mass held in the Devine Theatre next to the monastery, Abbot James shared with the 350 in attendance that it was exactly 100 to the day when the earliest monks took up residence in a converted sausage factory on Sargent Road and began to pray the liturgy of the hours. Leading the group of four monks was Fr. Thomas Verner Moore of the Paulist Congregation, and the group’s connection to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, was through Fr. John B. (Hugh) Diman. Fr. Hugh, well-known to the Portsmouth community, was a convert from the Episcopalian Church and had previously founded in 1896 St. George’s School in Middletown (situated between Portsmouth to the north and Newport to the south), as an Episcopalian school for boys. Several years later, in 1912, he also founded the Diman Vocational School in Fall River, Massachusetts, and both of these institutions continue in operation successfully to this day. Fr. Moore remained in Washington and eventually became the prior of the community at St. Anselm’s from 1939 to 1946. The overseeing English houses of Portsmouth and St. Anselm, namely Downside in England and Fort Augustus in Scotland, came to make decisions reshaping these two nascent American communities.

In his book, Real Lace Revisited, James P. MacGuire ’70 picks up the story: “[Father Hugh Diman] was ordained in September of 1921 and spent a year as a school chaplain and then another in New York as a parish priest before joining the founders of St. Anselm’s Abbey, a fledging Washington Benedictine community founded from Fort Augustus in Scotland, in 1924. In a surprising turn of events, this small group was asked to establish a preparatory school, and Abbot Leander Ramsay of Downside Abbey in England offered to donate the property at Portsmouth for this purpose. As the founder of two successful schools already, Father Hugh was the obvious choice to lead this new effort, and he set about contacting parents, drawing up the prospectus, and planning the first year for a school of about fifteen first and second formers (seventh and eighth grades).” The dynamic and highly talented Fr. Diman, to the enduring chagrin of those in the small Washington group, thus found himself transferred to Portsmouth, where he would spend the rest of his life.

One hundred years later, the Anselm’s project has survived and itself subsequently added its own school. When asked about the impact which this anniversary has had on him as a new priest, Fr. Ignacio Gonzalez of St. Anselm’s (who did part of his early formation at St. Louis Abbey) said, “It is no coincidence that our anniversary is the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, because the Lord knew that in Washington, D.C., it was vital for Benedictine monks to pray for the nation. So, a little more than 100 years ago, the Holy Spirit called five men to be formed in the venerable English tradition of Benedictine monasticism. In Washington, DC, we monks are neither Republicans nor Democrats. We are Benedictines who have answered Jesus’ call to follow Him and establish His ‘school for the Lord’s service’ in our nation’s capital. Thank you, Jesus, for 100 years! Please send us more men to join in our prayer and work for years to come.”

Fr. Gabriel Myers on piano,
violinist Seamus Greiner

Another monk, one who is integral to the musical side of the abbey’s liturgies, Fr. Gabriel Myers, has been in residence at St. Anselm’s for 37 years. In speaking to him about the anniversary planning, he spoke of the full community involvement, including two of the school’s young men whose talents came into play at the Mass, two brothers as it turns out. Fr. Gabriel noted, "An anniversary inspires creativity. One monk collected photographs of many faces and many ages in many activities. The pictures (on large screens) show the monks, present as well as past, who make the abbey what it is. Two other monks wrote a history. Again, it reminds me that what is happening right now is as important as 'big events' of the past. I was inspired to write a few lines of verse describing Abbey life, then setting them, with a great poet's words, to Henry Purcell's baroque melody, Fairest Isle. Two abbey boys, a gifted violinist and a gifted singer, worked hard with two monks, to present it to the congregation of the centennial Mass. I, for one, was very moved by their work and art.” Fr. Gabriel spoke of his own inspiration from texts by John Dryden and “the great hymnist Charles Wesley.”

I, too, could not help but be moved by that particular rendition of Fairest Isle. At the reception immediately following Mass, I had an opportunity to speak with the two brothers, and was happy to hear of their connection to Portsmouth Abbey. Seamus Greiner, Form VI, was the violinist and his younger sibling, Eamonn, served as a singer, along with Br. Maximilian Castonguay, accompanied by Fr. Gabriel on the baby grand piano. The grandfather of the two young men turns out to be Charles Donahue, a 1959 cum laude graduate of Portsmouth Priory School (and “first in his class” as his C.V. indicates), celebrating his own 65th high school commencement anniversary this year.

Group of attendees of St. Anselm’s 100th (l to r): Br. Sixtus, Oblate Michele Rentschler; Thomas J. Belcastro ’22 PAS; Allegra Cermak, St. Louis; Fr. Dominic Lenk, St. Louis Abbey;
Catherine & Ryan Linkul, ’08 St. Louis Priory School.

Portsmouth’s Abbot Michael Brunner, in a message written on September 3 to Abbot James prior to his departure for Rome, included this sentiment, “On this special day during which we are celebrating our patron, and on behalf of the community here at the Abbey of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, and St. Gregory the Great, I would like to extend to you and your community heartfelt congratulations and best wishes on the 100th anniversary of your founding. We shall be sharing in your joyful prayers of thanksgiving on Sunday, September 15, when you gather for Mass.” St. Louis Abbey was represented by Fr. Dominic Link who lived at St. Anselm’s for three years in an advisory capacity, along with St. Louis Priory School alum, Ryan J. Linkul ’08 and his wife, Catherine Chestnut Linkul, both of Miami. Representing Portsmouth Abbey School was Thomas J. Belcastro ’22, a junior at George Washington University. Michele Rentschler of Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania, represented the Oblates of Portsmouth Abbey and a special guest was Allegra Cermak of Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally (ACTG) in Bethesda, Maryland.
The introduction to the informative takeaway booklet, St. Anselm’s Abbey: 100 Years in Our Nation’s Capital, concludes by saying, “In meditating on the history of St. Anselm’s Abbey, including the faith and perseverance of the founders, we can look on the past with gratitude and towards the future with hope knowing that Christ continues to work through St. Anselm’s Abbey. We pray that more men are inspired by the example of the men who have come before us to take up the mantle, to become men of prayer for the school, for the District of Columbia, for the Church, for the world, and for our God.”

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Br. Sixtus Roslevich transferred his stability from St. Louis Abbey to Portsmouth in 2019. He serves as Director of Oblates.