With the eruption of the new academic year, the slate of events for the monastery has begun to populate vigorously. We immediately see, with the weekend of this publication, the visible return of students to the Sunday liturgy, greeted with much joy yet also this year with the reintroduction of extended COVID-related liturgical protocols. The following weekend brings Reunions for the School, which will include next Saturday a special Requiem Mass for deceased alumni of major reunion years. The weekend also marks one of the important meetings of the School’s Board of Regents, which includes several of the monastic community. The Portsmouth Institute similarly picks up its pace, notably with the Providence Symposium (October 7), featuring Robert Royal and James Matthew Wilson.  

Dr. John Perreira, Fr. Edward Mazuski, and Prior Michael Brunner at the 2019 Abbot's Reception

A sense of construction and reconstruction continues in the monastery, and not due solely to a busier schedule, nor to the physical renovations that have for months left significant portions of the north wing uninhabitable. A much more significant rebuilding of the monastic community has been underway. The completion of the transferal of stability to Portsmouth of three monks, a change requiring a process of acceptance from both original house as well as the receiving house, has invigorated the core community, as has the addition of two novices and the preparation of a junior monk for solemn vows. The community has also received an increasing number of inquiries and visits, bolstered by these additions as well as by its web presence. The creation of an in-house novitiate program, described elsewhere in this issue, is indicative of the vitality and the resources available here now. And the collection of all of these signs of growth together leads us to the prospect of an upcoming abbatial election. None of these events happens on its own, and there has been a good deal of activity “behind the scenes” to make each of these developments possible. The monastic Chapter, which refers to the members in solemn vows, is the body empowered to finalize the acceptance of the requests for the transferal of stability, which it completed over the summer. The monastic Council recently accepted Brother Benedict’s request for solemn vows. These two moments carry profound significance for the community, providing some of the spiritual “masonry” entailed in constructing from these “living stones” the household of the monastery. The establishment of an abbey, with its status of being presided over by an abbot, is indicative of meeting the kind of benchmark level of size and significance. While our superior, Michael Brunner, has led this community over the past two years as “Prior Administrator,” the community looks forward, with details still to be determined, to an abbatial election. The process has been somewhat impeded by the pandemic and the difficulty for travel of the Christopher Jameson, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation (EBC), this may happen within the calendar year. 
 

Fr. Paschal Scotti with representatives of the English Benedictine Congregation at the 2017 General Chapter at Buckfast Abbey, UK

As part of the EBC, the monastery also periodically sends some of its members to the “General Chapter” of the congregation. This Chapter is slated to begin on Benedict’s feast, July 11, 2022, and is hosted by Buckfast Abbey in England. In preparation for the General Chapter, and as a means for ongoing reflection on the mission and purpose of monastic life, member houses have been asked to reflect on three focus topics: the love for the Gospel, the fundamental reason for the existence of the congregation, and diversity within its communities. In 2017, the General Chapter of the EBC created the Continuing Formation Commission, in part to support EBC communities in “discerning how a culture of continuing formation can grow.” This discernment sees the collaboration between the monasteries as crucial, “for their well-being and even for their survival.” Fr. Cuthbert Elliott, a monk of St. Louis and headmaster of its school, and currently the sole American member of the commission, will visit Portsmouth prior to the General Chapter, together with Fr. Laurence Kriegshauser of St. Louis, leading the ongoing exploration of these themes.

The monastery also exists within a diocese, in a relationship that also continues to develop. The year 2022 marks the 150^th anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese of Providence. The feast of the Nativity of Mary this Wednesday, September 8, marked the inaugural moment for the diocese’s celebration of this anniversary, with Bishop Thomas Tobin leading prayer entrusting the diocese to Our Lady with a night of Marian devotion through prayer, reading of Scripture, the Holy Rosary, and a litany and procession. The diocese has a full slate of activities planned over the year to celebrate this milestone. The monastery has been invited to participate in this celebration, and will join the diocese in a number of ways. Notably, in Advent, the Abbey will hold Solemn Vespers with Benediction, inviting the diocese to join and livestreaming the liturgy. Our connection to the diocese will also be expressed through the participation of Brother Sixtus and Brother Benedict in the 3rd Annual Diocesan Youth Day, taking place Saturday, September 11 at Our Lady of Fatima in Cumberland. The two will represent the Abbey and the Benedictine tradition, participating in various events designed to connect the youth to the variety of expression of Christian life within the diocese.