Sub Tuum: Details on Cistercian photo

Matt at Badger Catholic runs what has become the web’s premiere source for Catholic news from in and around Wisconsin. [Wow, thank you!] (I'll admit I’m still trying to figure out where the Packers are mentioned in the Creed, but maybe it will be clearer in the new translation.)[Haha, side note folks, leave the Packer gear at home for Mass.  Dress for God during Mass and the Pack during the game.] He’s been very kind about looking in on life here and reporting the bits he thinks might be of interest to his readers.  [I've learned alot following Sub Tuum about the Cistercian way of life.  It ain't as bad as I thought!]

Last week, Badger Catholic ran the photo above showing our original church at Oconomowoc. You’ll notice that the photo shows two monks kneeling in front of the exposed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance on the high altar. This wasn’t a photo from a special occasion. During the early years, the house had several hours each day of Adoration, with two monks taking their place in the church for each rotation, as Church law then required.

The Divine Office at Marienkroon.

The custom of Adoration can be traced to the Dutch monks of Marienkroon, who provided the main body of the community from the early 1930s through the late 1940s and again from the 1960s until the death of the last Dutch Fathers a little more than 20 years ago. Marienkroon was the daughter of the French abbey of Pont Colbert, founded by Fr. Paul Marechal, a member of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and a disciple of St. Peter Julian Eymard[Fr. John Hardon wrote at length on St Peter Julian].

In 1892, after the death of his saintly mentor and after his own proposals for the Blessed Sacrament Fathers to adopt the Rule of St. Benedict being rejected, Fr. Paul, who became Dom Marie-Bernard, founded the Abbey of St. Mary of Pont Colbert near Versailles as an enclosed monastery dedicated to Adoration. The house was incorporated into the Cistercian Order and there were hopes that a Cistercian Congregation of the Adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament might evolve. Sadly, this was not to be the case, and the last remnants of those sent to North America to found new houses eventually found a home at Spring Bank after the closing of the monasteries of Val d’Espoir in Canada and Our Lady of Gerowval in Mississippi.

While the hopes for a Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament might be said to have ended here, its monks did have a lasting impact on the character of the house. The Dutch monks’ formation and their tenacity in regard to their identity tipped the balance for the house keeping its contemplative character at more than one point in its history. We also retain several artifacts from our French and Dutch forebears, including at least two chasubles from Pont Colbert and the humeral veil we use on solemnities. In recent years, the custom of Adoration has been somewhat revived, with an optional period of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament being held three afternoons each week before vespers in addition to Benediction on all Sundays and Solemnities.

Sub Tuum

Thanks for posting on this Br. Stephen!