Historic image from Fu Jen University
(From Saint Vincent Archabbey and College archives)As we approach the end of our Lenten journey, the monastic community has largely remained close to home. Still, duty has called some of us out, including Abbot Michael, for a recent journey to Pennsylvania. The community which holds place of honor as the oldest Benedictine monastery in the United States, as well as the largest in the Western Hemisphere, is Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Located in Westmoreland County, it is an easy one-hour drive east of Pittsburgh and, besides being home to over 150 monks, the campus includes Saint Vincent College, Saint Vincent Seminary, and a beautiful historic basilica and parish. I know this place well having made my first visit there in 1982, shortly after a dear family friend, Fr. Paul Rubadue (1934-2022), transferred his vows as a Xaverian Brother (C.F.X.) to St. Vincent’s, changed his initials to O.S.B., and was ordained a priest. He had been a confrere in Leonardtown, Maryland, of my great-uncle, Br. Sixtus Demshock, C.F.X. (1897-1977), headmaster at Leonard Hall School, and cared for him until his death at age 79, after 64 years in the religious life. Both of those men exerted a long and fruitful influence on my life over a combined span of almost 70 years, more often than not implicitly, but later, quite explicitly. It was Fr. Paul who encouraged me in 1999 to investigate whether St. Louis had an Oblate program, and later guided me towards the permanent diaconate, but in the end encouraged life as a professed Benedictine.
Four souvenir coasters from St. Vincent’s College celebrationsSt. Vincent’s was a stopping-off point for over forty years of road trips back and forth from my home and work in St. Louis to my old childhood home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Full disclosure: my cousin, also born in Hazleton, is Fr. James Podlesny, O.S.B., a priest of St. Vincent’s for 45 years. I happily introduced several St. Louis monks to Fr. Paul and Latrobe on long drives, and Fr. Andrew Senay, now of Portsmouth Abbey, had the pleasure of enjoying their generous Benedictine hospitality in October 2021. I have long held out hope of introducing Abbot Michael Brunner to the community in Latrobe but he traveled there on his own for the first weekend of April. He represented the English Benedictine Congregation at the 100th anniversary celebration of Fu Jen Catholic University, founded in China by the SVA Benedictines. The institution was later relocated to Taiwan.
Fr. Andrew Senay, Fr. Paul Rubadue, Br. Sixtus Roslevich
at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (Oct. 2021)Abbot Michael attended the one-day academic conference titled “One Hundred Years of Faith, Education and Service: Commemorating Fu Jen University’s Benedictine Foundation (1925-1933)” which was held on Saturday, April 4, at the Fred M. Rogers Center. The day’s festivities concluded with a performance of ‘The Magic of Peking Opera’ by the Minnesota Chinese Opera Troupe in the Performing Arts Center. The president of Saint Vincent College, Fr. Paul Taylor, O.S.B., offered some background: “One hundred years ago, Benedictine monks from Saint Vincent began a new chapter for monasticism, the Church and higher education by founding the first major Catholic university in China. The difficulties of the times did not impede their enthusiasm for this new mission. We are proud of these monks and those who followed and are delighted to celebrate Fu Jen’s century of success.”

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