St. Gregory's Abbey, Three Rivers

St. Gregory's Abbey is an American monastic community of men living under the Rule of St. Benedict within the Episcopal Church. The abbey is located near Three Rivers in St. Joseph County, Michigan.

Abbey church
Marble cross in the abbey's cemetery

History
Grave markers in the abbey's cemetery

In 1935, a group of American Episcopalians went to England to be trained by the Anglican Benedictines of Nashdom Abbey in Buckinghamshire. Some of this group returned to the US, became life-professed monks, and in 1939 formed St. Gregory's House in Valparaiso, Indiana. It soon became St. Gregory's Priory.

The monks initially gained their living by taking charge of three mission churches in Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana under Bishop Campbell Gray. The three missions were: St. Stephen's in Hobart, St. Andrew's in Valparaiso and St. Augustine's Episcopal Church (Gary, Indiana). In 1946, the community moved to a rural setting near Three Rivers, Michigan, and grew considerably under the leadership of Dom Paul Severance.

For 30 years, the monastery was a dependency of Nashdom Abbey and relied on the careful shepherding of its abbots. In 1969 St. Gregory's became an independent abbey, and the community's prior, Benedict Reid, was elected first abbot. In 1989, Andrew Marr was elected as his successor.

Monastic life

The monastery housework is done by the monks. This includes a good deal of outside work such as landscaping, gardening, and grounds maintenance.

There are classes for the monks, correspondence to answer, sermons, retreats, and special ministries to prepare for. Community members occasionally minister in parish churches and other religious houses, and retreats conducted at the abbey. The frequency of external activities incidental to the normal life of a monk is regulated by the necessity of preserving Benedictine life.

Work, study and prayer are the main activities, with prayer being the most important. The conventual Eucharist is the center of each day. In the past, the monastery celebrated the Tridentine Mass in Latin, but Mass is now celebrated from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and with the celebrant facing the congregation.

References

    Further reading

    Wells, Wallace L.; "Prayerful and Militant", The Living Church, 1960

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