ABBEY NEWSLETTER Assumption Volume 49, Number 1 Richardton, ND 58652 January, 2021 Because the covid-19 virus has become so pervasive, particularly in the United States, it is hard to ignore, and, in a sense, has defined this era. Some questions were asked of Abbot Daniel Maloney and his answers are shared with you here. As a monastic community, we are already removed in many respects from everyday life on the outside. How has that changed with the impact of the pandemic on the community, if at all? We monks have had to curtail our hospitality; no longer are we able to receive visitors and guests to our fullest extent, as we would like. We have far less contact, severely limiting the number of guests, visitors and groups. Actually, we have virtually no contact with groups that still come to the Abbey, even though they are allowed to use our facilities, to a certain extent. Groups using the North Lounge and Schnell Hall are not allowed into the cafeteria, the choir of the monks, the Gift Shop, or the wine cellar. There are no official tours. We’ve asked that no tour buses stop here. The very limited traffic has cut down on bread and Gift Shop sales, and because the Photos by Jacy Abbot Daniel Maloney Monastic Life During a Pandemic –an Interview with Abbot Daniel Maloney Bishop has decreed that communion be received only under one kind—that is the precious body in the form of bread—our sale of altar wine has fallen to less than half of what it was. Also, we are not sending out priests as excurrentes, or weekend sub- stitutes. Assumption Abbey monks live as a group, in community. What special challenges does that pose during a pandemic? The danger always exists that a monk who has gone out returns to the Abbey with the virus, and covid-19 would likely spread to many here. If a monk has been out for an extended period, we quarantine him in one of the guest rooms and take his temperature several times a day. But some people are a- symptomatic, and because a test from the clinic takes four days for a result, it’s difficult to know what to do. Furthermore, monks must go to appointments at clinics, dentists and optometrists. It’s impossible to have total protection. We require all monks dealing with visitors to wear masks. Other monasteries are restricting traffic even more than we are, and wearing masks far more than we do. St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, practices a good deal of social distancing within the monastic com- munity, but they have the room to do that. It is nearly impossible for us to be six feet apart from each other at all times. Do you have concerns about any particular vul- nerabilities of the Abbey community to covid-19? Of course. We are concerned about the older members of the community, and anyone with preexisting conditions. A health center would provide extra protection, but we are not able to do that here. We have no infirmary. Currently, we do not have any
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ABBEY NEWSLETTERAssumption
Volume 49, Number 1 Richardton, ND 58652 January, 2021
Because the covid-19 virushas become so pervasive,particularly in the UnitedStates, it is hard to ignore, and,in a sense, has defined this era.Some questions were asked ofAbbot Daniel Maloney and hisanswers are shared with youhere.
As a monastic community,we are already removed inmany respects from everydaylife on the outside. How hasthat changed with the impactof the pandemic on thecommunity, if at all?
We monks have had tocurtail our hospitality; no longerare we able to receive visitorsand guests to our fullest extent,as we would like. We have farless contact, severely limitingthe number of guests, visitorsand groups. Actually, we havevirtually no contact with groupsthat still come to the Abbey,even though they are allowed touse our facilities, to a certainextent. Groups using the NorthLounge and Schnell Hall are notallowed into the cafeteria, thechoir of the monks, the GiftShop, or the wine cellar. Thereare no official tours. We’veasked that no tour buses stophere. The very limited traffic hascut down on bread and GiftShop sales, and because the
Photos by JacyAbbot Daniel Maloney
Monastic Life During a Pandemic–an Interview with Abbot Daniel Maloney
Bishop has decreed thatcommunion be received onlyunder one kind—that is theprecious body in the form ofbread—our sale of altar winehas fallen to less than half ofwhat it was. Also, we are notsending out priests asexcurrentes, or weekend sub-stitutes.
Assumption Abbey monkslive as a group, in community.What special challenges doesthat pose during a pandemic?
The danger always existsthat a monk who has gone outreturns to the Abbey with thevirus, and covid-19 would likelyspread to many here. If a monkhas been out for an extendedperiod, we quarantine him inone of the guest rooms and takehis temperature several times aday. But some people are a-symptomatic, and because a testfrom the clinic takes four daysfor a result, it’s difficult to knowwhat to do. Furthermore,monks must go to appointmentsat clinics, dentists andoptometrists. It’s impossible tohave total protection. Werequire all monks dealing withvisitors to wear masks. Othermonasteries are restrictingtraffic even more than we are,and wearing masks far morethan we do. St. John’s Abbey in
Collegeville, MN, practices agood deal of social distancingwithin the monastic com-munity, but they have the roomto do that. It is nearlyimpossible for us to be six feetapart from each other at alltimes.
Do you have concernsabout any particular vul-nerabilities of the Abbeycommunity to covid-19?
Of course. We areconcerned about the oldermembers of the community,and anyone with preexistingconditions. A health centerwould provide extra protection,but we are not able to do thathere. We have no infirmary.Currently, we do not have any
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conditions. A health centerwould provide extra protection,but we are not able to do thathere. We have no infirmary.Currently, we do not have anymonks in nursing homes.
How does the experienceof the pandemic over the pastmonths affect the pace ortempo or focus of monasticlife?
We have become moresecluded, and the pace of dailyactivity has slowed downsomewhat. With far lesscontact, we have become morecontemplative in character,which is a benefit.
During your monastic life,have you experienced orwitnessed other events thatwere comparable to the currentpandemic, in terms ofpervasive significance?
No. There has always beenworry about the flu. That hasn’tchanged. Because of the flu,holy water has been removedfrom Catholic churches, thesign of peace has beensuspended, and communionhas been restricted for a shorttime to bread alone. But I haveseen nothing like this pandemicbefore. The Abbey sufferedfrom the big flu epidemic of1918-1920: the school wasclosed for the fall term in 1919.Some students and some monksdied. But of course I wasn’talive then. These are unusualtimes, and we are anxiouslyawaiting a vaccine. �
September 2: The goodBrothers Placid and Jacob tookout a gate-system siphon for theAbbey lake installed in 2004,meant to control the water leveland to provide fresh waterbelow the dam to cattle,especially in dry autumnmonths. The gate systemreplaced an earlier siphon thatrequired too much work tomaintain, with several monksneeded in a coordinated effortto get the water flowingthrough a long steel pipe. The2004 replacement plastic gate-system worked after a fashion,but eventually broke andwashed out a good deal of thedam around the head of thestructure on the lake-side of thedam. And so, under Br. Placid’sinstruction, and with Br. Jacob’smuscles, the whole thing wastaken out. Quite a feat,considering that it was put inby a construction company! Itwas replaced with plastic pipethat will maintain the waterlevel pretty much where it isnow all year round. The Abbeylake averages 15’ deep andcovers 35 acres, according to theUS Consolidated Farm ServicesAgency. On Google Maps thelake appears with the name“Abbey Lake” although for aslong as anyone can rememberit has been called “Benet Lake”by the monks and by locals.
SEPTEMBERCHRONICLE
A 2020 picture of the Abbey lake looking southeast.
The new Benet Lake outlet , Sept. 2020.
There have been many“lakes” created by the monksover the years, most of themmore like ponds than lakes.Exactly when Benet Lake wascreated is open to question,although the dam creating thelake was rebuilt and mademuch higher in 1954. Withoutriprap, the dam immediatelybegan to erode, until Fr. ClaudeSeeberger’s famous days asprocurator when he got thebright idea of reinforcing thestructure with old car bodies.According to Br. Placid, sixty-four old automobiles werehauled in and dumped on thelake side of the dam, but as their
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lake side of the dam, but as theirmetal parts rusted away theireffectiveness as riprap lessened.
Under Fr. David Wolf’sterm as procurator, concretewas hauled in when the NDState Highway Departmentreworked parts of Interstate 94.The concrete was pushed overthe edge of the dam into thewater, rather than beingcarefully placed. As a result, onwindy days the lake watersplashes around the largechunks of concrete and intohollow spaces beneath, washingout dirt. That and burrowingmuskrats have undermined thedam.
The reason for creating adam was mainly to provide forthe needs of livestock and theirgreat demand for water. Afterthat, a place to fish was alluring,and as time went on, the drawof water birds and wildlife wassatisfying, too. These days, thelake contains mostly fatheadminnows, and green sunfish notbig enough for pan frying butjust right for kingfishers,cormorants, pelicans, seagullsand the many kinds of ducksthat are drawn to the lake:mallards, wood ducks, wigeons,teal, canvasbacks, gadwalls andmergansers. Geese and swansare also found there.
When the dam was first
When the dam was firstbuilt, the monks used the lakefor recreation. A diving boardwas once part of the dock on thesouth shore. Monks had asailing boat, and when theAbbey had bigger boats, it wasa good place for water skiing.Whenever the summer weatherwas right, the monks wentswimming and water skiing onSunday afternoon. These days
Sunday afternoon. These daysthe old monks are too old tohobble down to the lake, andthe young monks wouldn’t becaught dead in what theyconsider to be dirty green water.Truth be told, by the end ofAugust, the lake is nearlycovered over with algae andweeds, killed each winter sothat the lake appears clean againin the spring. �
Brother Placid Gross skating on the lakein 1977 at the age of 43.
September 3: Br. Hermanfound four baby birds on theground after last night’s stormand passed them along to Br.Stephen who tried to feed themworms. They opened theirmouths wide but did not wantwhat was offered. One of themswallowed a worm, and it cameout the other end completelyunchanged. No one couldidentify these little things: theywere not robins, doves,woodpeckers, crows, starlings,sparrows, finches or swallows.And it was awful late in theseason for baby birds. Since theydid not seem to want anythingBr. Stephen could feed them, theonly thing he could do was putthem back where Br. Hermanfound them and hope that themother might feed them. �
September 7: Br. Symeon isoff to Bismarck for anothersemester at the University of
Mary. The school has an honorcode for social distancing andcontact tracing that can’t beworse than the Abbey’s. Wewill miss Br. Symeon.Meanwhile, the day began withrain, and the temperature beganto drop. Fr. James, Br. Stephenand Br. Michael rushed out torescue the rest of the tomatoesbefore the freeze. They called itquits when it began to sleet. Theold butcher shop near the walk-in freezer is filled with greentomatoes. �
September 8: Even thoughit froze last night, Brs. Louie,Maximilian and Stephen arepicking pears, sweeter for thecold snap (the pears, not themonks). Inside the house, nearthe community bulletin board,we have a new weather station.Lightning blew out our old one.The new one is a Davis VantageVUE that not only gives thetemperature, but also thehumidity, wind direction,barometric pressure, time ofsunrise and sunset, and a dozenother things. The only thing itdoesn’t do is talk, and givehaircuts. �
September 9: Brs. Josephand Stephen are making relishwith produce from the garden.You just put it in the blenderand turn on the switch! (Okay,maybe it’s a little morecomplicated than that!) We’vebeen eating delicious sweetmelons from the garden. �
September 10: Br. Louie isout picking apples and pearsagain, trying to rescue the last
September 10: Br. Louie isout picking apples and pearsagain, trying to rescue the lastof the season from the deer. Heand Br. Stephen are makingpear cider. Apparently one
Published Quarterly in January, April, July and Octoberfor friends of Assumption Abbey.
there is a Vienne, France, aswell as a Vienne, Austria. TheFrench city, south of Lyon,might be even older than theAustrian one: it was the capitalcity of the Allobroges,transformed into a Roman cityin 47 BC by Julius Caesar.Emperor Augustus Caesarbanished Herod the Great’sson—the ethnarch HerodArchelaus—to Vienne in 6 AD.Eventually it became aChristian center, and theCouncil of Vienne wasconvened there in 1311. SaintClarus of Vienne was aBenedictine abbot who wasborn in 590 AD, and whosewidowed mother gave him tothe Benedictine monks while
she herself, and her daughters,joined the Benedictine mon-astery of St. Blandina, also inVienne. Saint Clarus wasappointed bishop of Vienne in620 and held that office for fortyyears, until his death. He servedas confessor and spiritualdirector to his mother’smonastery. It was said that hewas so holy that he stopped aflood in the Rhone River.During his last illness, hepredicted that his abbey wouldbe destroyed by the Saracens,and he received a message fromSaint Blandina that he woulddie on January 1, 660, whichactually happened. His feastday is January 1.
Saint Oliver of Ancona is aBenedictine saint of both the
Roman and the OrthodoxCatholic Churches. He diedaround 1050 and his feast day isFebruary 3. He was a monk ofthe abbey of Santa Maria diPorto Nuovo at the foot ofMonte Conero, just south ofAncona, where the calf is on theboot of Italy. Imagine amountain running into theAdriatic Sea, no village, noroads, only a narrow path thatmeanders up to the abbey: thatis where the tiny church stillexists, although the monasteryhas been destroyed. It isbelieved that Oliver was born inArmenia and was a Camal-dolese monk from Dalmatia.But of his life little or nothing isknown, except that he was holyand we ought always to followhis example.
Saint Bertulf of Renty wassteward to Count Lambert ofArtois who, because of Bertulf’sfidelity, gave him land. Bertulfbuilt a monastery on it and, afterthe count died, became aBenedictine monk there. Hedied in 705 and his feast day isFebruary 5. He is often depictedwith a ship in his handsbecause, in Germany and in theNetherlands, he is invokedagainst storms. He is otherwiseknown as Bertoul. �
The southeast corner of the Abbeycloister garth.
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Br. Aaron was my pre-decessor as librarian here at theAbbey and he enjoyed thenovels of Anne Tyler. I have toadmit that Br. Aaron got mehooked, too. Tyler is able to putout a book almost every yearand I try to keep my eyes openwhen the next one is available.To my joy, a new Tyler book hasjust been released, Redhead bythe Side of the Road. There aremany typical Tyler touches tothis story. Micah, the maincharacter, has a business called,‘Hermit Tech’ (which, naturally,tugs at my monastic heart) inwhich he makes house calls to
people who are having com-puter troubles. Often thefamilies in her books have achaotic side (in a warm ratherthan a crazy sense) and Micahhas a family whom he loves, butdrives him crazy. Finally, Micahdoes not really realize theimpact he has on those aroundhim and how many people relyon his goodness. Finally, thereis an amazing amount of gracesurrounding all of the char-acters (Tyler would probablynot use this word, but I reallysee this).
Grace abounds in her workand part of the joy of reading
Grace abounds in her workand part of the joy of readingher books is that the charactersdon’t always realize the smallyet important impact they haveon others. Her characters arenot the movers and shakers;they are us. In this book, the sonof a college girlfriend shows upat his house thinking that Micahmight be his real father. Thispotential relationship thenstarts to change otherrelationships. Tyler is a masterat describing those quotidian oreveryday activities that weundertake, often not realizinghow important they are (okay,as a monk who lives under avery regular daily schedule, thisalso tugs at my heart). I don’tbelieve that this is Tyler’s bestwork, but it is still lovely toread. When mentioning mylove of Tyler’s books, othershave agreed, but it is strangehow we all have differentfavorite ones. One of Br.Aaron’s was The Clock Winderand mine is Saint Maybe. Eitherway, I don’t think one can gowrong with delving into someTyler this winter. �
From theLibraryBy Br. Michael Taffe
October 15: Flu shots areavailable at the RichardtonClinic. No appointment isnecessary. They have informedus that they will not be comingover to the Abbey to giveshots—as they have done inyears gone by—for fear ofcovid-19. Several of the monkswalk over for a quick in-and-outvisit for inoculation becauseanything helps during thesetimes of uncertainty. �
October 17: Snow covers theground this morning and Br.Jacob is out shoveling thesidewalks bright and early. Heis so very good and faithfulabout keeping snow off thesidewalks, which becomes icewhen trampled. �
October 21: Our formationpeople—Br. Maximilian, Br.Joseph and Br. Stephen—movebenches inside for the winter.It’s nice to have some toughyoung backs! �
October 22: We are hostinga group of quilters but no onewould ever know it: because ofthe pandemic we do not seethem or even hear them; theyare in the North Lounge belowthe dining room and will notjoin us for meals or anythingelse. Does not seem hospitablebut we have no choice. �
October 25: Just outside thecafeteria windows a hugegolden eagle flies by, a trulyawesome sight. �
October 27: Brs. Louie andStephen finish making apple
juice from orchard apples,approximately 15 gallons! �
October 31: Our cook, Jane
October 31: Our cook, JaneMayer, goes all out, as she does,for Halloween, with ghoulishdecorations, interesting namesfor salads, and most of all hercostume, which is alwaysclever. This year she appearedas “Devil Woman.” �
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Br. Michael Taffe, O.S.B.
We will again beparticipating in Giving HeartsDay this year, on Thursday,February 11ᵗh. The day isdedicated to online givingacross North Dakota andwestern Minnesota. Our hopeis that you, our generousreaders, will be able to help usout. You may use the envelopeincluded in this newsletter orgive Br. Michael a telephone call701-974-3315, or an email([email protected]) for more details.
Giving Hearts Day is calledthe most generous day of theyear and is hosted by DakotaMedical Foundation, ImpactFoundation, and the Alex SternFamily Foundation. GivingHearts Day is powerful becauseour combined efforts inspiremany generous people to give.New donors learn about greatcauses, and organizations learnabout people who want tosupport them and theirimportant missions. Last yearwas another record-breakingday when charities raised afigure of $19,087,916 from34,565 donors–approximately$3 million more, and 4,000 moredonors than in 2019. Moneyraised has been working toimprove health, stocking pantryshelves for the needy, pro-viding housing for thehomeless, funding art per-formances, providing mentorsfor children, and in countlessother ways doing good forpeople in our region.
We all know that the covidpandemic has been felt around
the world. One of the places thathas been affected is theneighborhood of our highschool of Colegio San Benito runby our monks in Bogota. Manyparents have lost their jobs andare unable to afford tuitionpayments. Assumption Abbey’sfocus for this year's GivingHearts Day will be to helpfamilies send students to ColegioSan Benito, so to ensure thattheir children continue toreceive an excellent education.We also want to make sure thatsalaries are paid to the teachersand other workers at the school.
On February 11 simply logon to impactgiveback.org andgo to Assumption Abbey tomake a donation.
Thank you so much for allthe support you give to ourAbbey. We appreciate yourgenerosity! �
monastery, durable signs madeout of brick and mortar. The oldwooden signs were on their lastlegs. The brick is not a perfectmatch with the Abbey buildingbut the arches match the churchand monastery architecture:
October 12: Father JamesKilzer is applying primer on theoutside stucco of the walkwaythat connects the church to thekitchen and dining room. Somemonks call this structure theSlype, which, according to theMerriam-Webster dictionary, is“a covered way or passagebetween a cathedral transeptand the chapter house ordeanery.” �
October 13: Father James isapplying the finishing-coat tothe Slype, which is a ratherstrong red, but a color chosenby a designer. The old color wasa pink, meant to match the lightbrown of the church andmonastery. The new color is adeep red which is supposed tomatch the dark brown of thelibrary building. Judge foryourself:
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This photograph, from thesummer of 1947, shows how afreight truck’s forward left-hand trailer tires have brokenthrough the north parking lotsurface. No doubt it haddelivered supplies needed forthe building of the Abbeylibrary in the background. Aman is bringing two screw jacksto lift the trailer out of the hole,and a third screw jack is seennear the men standing aroundthe truck. The wheels had falleninto an old buried well.
The windmill tothe old well can beseen in the archivebanner photo above,and in the picturebelow. More thanonce the well hadbeen filled withslurry. In 2006 itwas filled with CDF(control density fill.)
The monastery in the early 1900s with the windmill in the background.
October 5: Abbot Daniel andPrior Michael have begun theirannual visit to the variousAbbey departments—kitchen,maintenance, archives, giftshop, visitor center, laundry,library, oblates, computerservices, tailor shop, soap,newsletter, guest department,gardens and orchard, winesales, woodcrafts, elder care,business office—to see howthings are going and to listen toreports, complaints and sug-gestions. It’s nice to know thatmonks are industrious andwilling to provide services, andthat the Abbey is like a tightship in operation! �
October 6: Br. Stephen, whohas had six years of German inschool, is translating some of theAbbey Day Book from the early1900s, when logs were enteredin German. A great deal oftranslation was done by Fr.Louis Pfaller before 1979, whenhe was working in the Abbey
October 7: Reindel Masonryis putting up new signs in frontof the Abbey church and
Continued on page 6
From the Archives:
can’t just put the pears into asqueezer and turn it on. Theyhave to be stemmed, choppedup and then put into the press.�
September 13: It’s Sundayand some of the monks are outenjoying the biodiversity. A fullappreciation of that, quite un-fortunately, is the heavy smokethat can be seen on the horizonfrom huge western fires. �
September 15: Br. Alban hasbeen working like a beavergetting the courtyard ready forwinter. He is digging upmassive clumps of bulbs,weeding, and reconfiguring theflowerbeds and sowing grassseed. The place has neverlooked so clean! �
September 17: And now Br.Louie is making pear butter! Heought to have his own cookingchannel: Choosy Louie’s GroovyCooking. �
September 18: We willbegin hosting groups again,although we will not providemeals, and the monks are not tohave any contact with groupmembers. Masks, we’ve cometo learn, are very effective (andyou don’t have to smile if youdon’t want to!) �
of the garden company was acomplete review of their spork,so Br. Stephen did just that. Youcan see it when you sign in atwww.tdibrands.com�
September 28: For refectorybook we are reading Struggleand Ascent: The History ofMount Angel Abbey by FatherJoel Rippinger, OSB, and we’velearned that Mount Angelcelebrates Founders’ Day,which has led to a discussion ofwhat might be our Founders’Day if we had one. Our Fr.Julian Nix offers the Feast of St.John the Baptist (June 24) sincethat was the day when theDivine Office was begun here inRichardton in 1899. The monkswere living in the town rectorywhich had a small chapel. Ourmonastery history goes back alittle further however, to 1893,when a priory was establishedon the north shore of DevilsLake, ND. The monks movedfrom Devils Lake to Richardtonin 1899.�
September 30: Two Mor-mons involved in musicministry came to the Abbey tosee and listen to our RembrandtJohannus organ. They had beentipped off by the music directorat Dickinson State University–himself a Mormon–about ourorgan. They appreciated thevisit with our organist, Fr. Odo,and the delicious rhubarb crispthat the kitchen served. �
Brother Stephen with his new spork.
September 24: Fr. James isworking on the windows on thenorth side of the monasterybuilding. He is carefullyscraping away old flaking paintand repainting the frames. Itdoesn’t take long before onerealizes that there are a lot ofwindows in the building. �
September 19: Don’t hityour head against the wall ifyou don’t know what a gardenspork is. Friends of Fr. Damian,who own a retail gardeningstore, sent Brs. Symeon andStephen a spork to use in thegarden: it’s a combinationspade and garden fork. The toolis of excellent quality, some-thing that will very probablystill be in use here at the Abbeyin 100 years. One of the requestsof the garden company was a Father James working on the windows.
OCTOBERCHRONICLE
October 5: Abbot Daniel andPrior Michael have begun theirannual visit to the variousAbbey departments—kitchen,maintenance, archives, giftshop, visitor center, laundry,library, oblates, computerservices, tailor shop, soap,newsletter, guest department,gardens and orchard, wine
