This week I’m traveling to Norcia, Italy, the birthplace of St. Benedict and his sister St. Scholastica. The ancient town and the Basilica and monastery dedicated to St. Benedict have been destroyed by the powerful earthquakes that have devastated towns and rural communities in central Italy since August. A recent social media post from the monks reported that in addition to losing their church and residence, the monastic library, which is at the heart of any Benedictine community, has also been destroyed.
Books are important to the monastic way of life which is comprised of prayer, work and holy reading (lectio divina). A monastery without books is unthinkable. The wisdom of human history is preserved in monastic libraries—not in a stuffy, museum-like way, but with the dynamism that results from loving reflection on the Truth as it reveals itself in science, history, poetry, literature and theology.
Monastic libraries are like granaries. Seeds of wisdom are stored there to be scattered generously in fields throughout the earth. When one of these storehouses of wisdom is destroyed—as happened in Norcia last month—the world is diminished and the light of Truth is dimmed (at least temporarily).
I am visiting Norcia to see Prior Cassian Folsom, O.S.B. We have been friends for more than 30 years, and I have tried to support him in the great work that he and his young confreres are doing in the birthplace of St. Benedict. Monasticism in Norcia was suppressed at the time of Napoleon, and for many years the Benedictine way of life was just a faint memory there. Father Cassian and his brothers have done a remarkable job rebuilding Benedictine monasticism in the heart of Italy, reviving the ancient chant that echoes throughout the centuries and brewing beer (Birra Nursia) to support themselves and to help the monks performs works of charity such as supporting the families and small businesses who have been deeply hurt by the region’s earthquakes.
Following the earthquakes last summer, the Monks of Norcia initiated a major fundraising effort, “Deep Roots,” designed to help them rebuild the monastery and church inside the city walls as well as their property (including a new location for the brewery) “outside the walls.” The more severe earthquake on October 20 has forced the monks to reassess their situation and their funding needs. While the details of this rebuilding effort are still being formulated, what is absolutely certain is that the Monastery of St. Benedict will be restored. The Benedictine way of life that the Monks of Norcia have committed themselves to reviving in the birthplace of their founder will flourish by the grace of God and with the help and support of many people in Europe, the United States and many other parts of the world.
I’m grateful to my colleagues at GP Catholic Services and Graham-Pelton Consulting for giving me the opportunity to travel to Norcia and offer assistance to the monks there. GP Catholic Services was formed from Graham-Pelton Consulting to partner with Catholic organizations in carrying out the Church’s mission. Pastoral Planning, Communications and Professional Fundraising are our areas of expertise. We combine the global perspective and experience of Graham-Pelton with the shared understanding of GP Catholic Services regarding the Church, evangelization, discernment and the opportunities and challenges posed by the world we live in today.
How can we help the monks of Norcia? That remains to be seen. At the very least we will contain to pray for them and for the success of their efforts to rebuild. We will certainly also offer whatever advice and encouragement is appropriate to the success of their Deep Roots campaign. If we can provide more assistance in the organization and implementation of this campaign, we will do so gladly. We share the monks’ confidence that God has a plan for them and that the earthquakes they and their neighbors have suffered is not a sign of God’s absence or abandonment. On the contrary, it is a call to come closer to Christ by rebuilding his Church —spiritually and materially.
“Monks make a vow of stability, which includes love of the place,” the monks write in their campaign’s Case Statement. “We love this place, and so we are committed to rebuilding. Natural disasters have a way of bringing us back to the essentials. The earthquakes changed our interior landscape and made us look at our present reality with fresh eyes. Just as the resurrection of Christ made all things new, so these earthquakes present the monastery with new opportunities to strengthen our monastic foundations and build more securely for the future.”
I’m looking forward to my visit to Norcia this week, and I promise to share with you what I learn there. God has blessed this Benedictine monastery with the grace to plant deep roots in the soil of an ancient monastic “place.” May they persevere in prayer, work and holy reading in spite of all obstacles (natural and man-made) and may the Truth which is Christ be revealed through them for many generations to come!
That in all things God May Be Glorified.
Copyright © 2016, Daniel Conway Permission is given to copy and distribute this Good Steward Newsletter for use in religious or educational settings provided that proper attribution is given to the author. This publication may not be sold or distributed to the general public without the express permission of the author.
