As this issue goes to print, we are in the final few days leading up to the priestly ordination of Br. Benedict Maria, O.S.B. In our next issue, we intend to have images and news from that event. Many readers will, however, be receiving this issue shortly after the ordination, God willing, has happened.
Invitation to the OrdinationThe program of formation leading up to this ordination has included several years of training at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. The seminary offers a range of active and engaged ministerial opportunities, while remaining grounded in study and prayer. It’s direct focus in preparing men for the priesthood enabled Br. Benedict to fulfill all ecclesial requirements in his preparation and to gain extensive knowledge of the sacramental life of the church. Br. Benedict was unique in his class as a Benedictine, already in solemn vows and committed to life as a consecrated religious. His ordination offers the community of Portsmouth wider sacramental opportunity, both within the monastery and in service to the needs of the School.
Br. Benedict with a Eucharistic mosaic he produced during his time of formation (includes St. John Vianney, patron of priests)We have noted in previous articles in The Current the journey that led Brother Benedict to Portsmouth, originating in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, passing through Philadelphia where he worked for years in software, and eventually winding its way to Aquidneck Island. Br. Benedict is the youngest of four siblings, and has been blessed to have his family join him at critical moments in his vocational journey, including arriving for his ordination to the priesthood. The Jesus Youth Movement was and remains important to him in his life of faith. As he worked with his Jesuit Spiritual Director, he had considered a return home: “I wanted to go back to India and be a missionary priest. But God wrapped me in his mystery and held me here in Portsmouth Abbey.” Having visited the Abbey for a retreat and further visits, he entered the program of monastic formation, first as a postulant and then as a novice, completing his novitiate year at St. Louis Abbey. He took his simple vows in December of 2018, and with solemn vows became a professed member of Portsmouth on the Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2021. Br. Benedict with Richard Henning, then Bishop of Rhode Island (2024)The monastic community, together with the extended circle of our oblates and friends, together with the entire School community, anticipates with the joy of the Easter Season the culmination of these years of preparation and the bestowal of the grace of the priesthood upon our brother, Benedict Maria, O.S.B.