Dear Friends and Family,

The prophet Hosea gives us this warning: “The children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice and without altar.” To be able to sacrifice – to make offerings – to God is a great privilege. It is only possible because He first made the greatest sacrifice of all, that of His only begotten Son. Left to our own resources, we have nothing to offer Him. The holy season of Advent, then, calls us to make sacrifices and do penance in preparation for His coming. His gifts help us to receive the newborn Child worthily at Christmas. ...

To continue reading Fr. Prior's letter and other news about bell, incense and candle making, as well as construction updates, click here.

​Workers pour foundation-reinforcing cement into the base of the monastery's historic stone church.

​Workers begin work of fortifying the side chapels of the 16th-century, former Capuchin stone church that will be the future permanent church of the monastery.

Operai mentre stendono lo strato finale di stucco tra le pietre del muro di sostegno sul lato del monte.

Dear Friends and Family,

... This edition of the newsletter brings with it news of many activities: the missionary work of Fr. Cassian, a monk’s construction of a shrine, monk-led educational seminars for locals in Norcia and new shipping methods to get Birra Nursia to your door at lower costs. The prize promised to the Mary of the Assumption Gospel, which is the Virgin’s prize, can at least in part be ours also if in all our activity we remember the Unum Necessarium, which is His gift to us and not ours to Him. ...

Click here to continue reading the monastery's newsletter.

Workers nearing completion of an additional segment of the retaining wall on the mountainside. The small arch in the photo is in construction to one day house a statue of Our Lady.

​Workers at the site of the new monastery in Monte drill underground to prepare pilasters for the 16th century church.

On June 12, the monastery celebrated 20 years since its canonical founding in 1999. For this historic anniversary, it seems right to me to finally add a motto to the crest of the monastery: Nova Facio Omnia (“I Make All Things New”). Taken from the Book of the Apocalypse (Chapter 21, verse 5), it describes the New Jerusalem in all its splendor. I believe this verse captures both the spirit of our first twenty years and provides an orienting principle for the future. The search for what is new springs from the deep desire in the human heart for New Life, untouched by Original Sin.

Newness and youth go together, bringing joy to the soul which has yet to experience some of the harsher realities of life. The Church herself calls us always to renew that youthfulness, beginning the Mass with a reminder of how God blesses youth with joy: Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam ("To God who gives joy to my youth"). Sin makes us old, taking away our innocence and joy. One of Fr. Cassian’s first principles of the new monastery was the Restoration of Man through the Worship of God. Once established in Norcia, St. Benedict’s birthplace, the community knew that an old building would only find new life through the worship of God.

Youth and newness also have a great deal to do with Truth. As Pope Benedict XVI said so aptly, “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us, too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful." Truth never grows old since Truth is Christ Himself. It is ever fresh, new and innocent, sinless as He was without sin. It is we who lose heart, who lose faith and in these recent years, look not to Christ but to man for the signs of Spring. Man without Christ, however, can never bring the New. What men make new grows old before the ink is even dry. Nova Facio Omnia will keep this insight present in our minds.

​St. Benedict knew well that exterior change, of discipline or location, never in itself brings new life. For this reason, he gave his monks the vow of stability as a gift. Even when it seems that all external circumstances are against him, the monk must stay and grow in Faith. That’s because frenetic desires - to change, to move, to “adapt to the times” - are expressions of a wish to be in charge of our own lives. Such a will fears submitting in faith to God and accepting the timelessness of His Commandments. But God really is in charge. He is the only One who can truly bring about the newness and rebirth that we seek. God is the subject, after all, in Nova Facio Omnia.

​With this motto in mind, I am pleased to share our latest newsletter with you. Inside you will find Brother Augustine discussing his next step toward the priesthood, progress on our monastery reconstruction project, and an interview with Fr. Cassian recounting the foundation of the monastery 20 years ago. Our work here relies on your prayers and material support. Please consider a gift to our rebuilding efforts or consider signing up to be a monthly donor. Every amount, small or large, is a help to us as we press on raising the walls of our new monastery, hoping that through our work God will, at least on this mountainside, offer a foretaste of what it will be like when He finally makes all things new. In Christ, Prior Benedict Nivakoff, O.S.B.

We wish you and all of your loved ones a holy Easter week.

The Easter Solemnity this year brings us face to face with the mystery of death, new life and Christ’s sacrificial act which brings those two together. First with news of the fire at Notre Dame in Paris and then the stories of the hundreds of dead and wounded Christians in Sri Lanka, we try to unite our prayers at the foot of the Cross, with all those suffering from these tragedies, and we pray that the light of the Resurrection will come through the darkness of sin and death.

Our most recent print newsletter has just been sent to press, and in it, we have included some photos of the Easter Triduum at the monastery, details about our new canine guardians, and our progress in learning monastic sign language to maintain silence within the clausura. But because we want to share these many good things with you during this time of holy celebration, we’ve included a digital copy of the newsletter in this e-mail. You can view it by clicking here.

To close on a lighter note: Those of you who have been regularly following developments “in Monte” will recognize the name Tertullian; not the early Christian Latin author but the monastery’s tortoise who freely roams our cloister. Dug into the ground hibernating, as is his custom during the winter months, we had started to worry that we had lost him because he had been “away” for an unusually long period this year. However, recently, he emerged from his hole and is now trotting about (at a turtle’s pace) again, much to the delight of the monks.

May God bless you and reward you for your prayers and help as we, renewed with light from the Paschal mystery, continue to work to bring new life to Norcia through the rebuilding of our monastery.

​Prior Benedict Nivakoff, O.S.B.