Men’s Communities Archives
Carthusian Monks to Receive Papal Visit
(September 30th, 2011)
As part of Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to the Calabria Region of Italy this month, he will visit the famous Carthusian monastery of San Bruno. The Pope will celebrate vespers and deliver a homily in the church of the Carthusian monastery of Serra San Bruno, after which he will meet the monastic community and visit a cell and the infirmary of the monastery.
Among the monastic religious families, Carthusians live in greater solitude. The monks and the nuns of the Order, while living separately in their own monasteries, share the same rule and follow a unique model in the person of their founder, Saint Bruno (c. 1030–1101).
The Carthusian monk does not live alone, as the monastery is a community. Nevertheless, he will pass the greater part of his life in his cell where he prays, works, takes his meals, and sleeps. During the course of the week, he only leaves three times a days for the Liturgy of the Hours and communal Mass: in the middle of the night, the Night Office, the morning Eucharist and Vespers towards the night.
The Carthusian can be a cloistered monk or a brother, two different ways of living the same vocation of solitude. This solitude is not lived for its own sake, but as a privileged means of attaining intimacy with God.
View a first-time documentary video on the St. Bruno Carthusian monastery in Italy.
A Life of Holiness: Carmelite Monks of Wyoming
(July 15th, 2010)
This video is an explanation of the contemplative life of monks made by the Carmelite Monks located in Wyoming. The monks live a life of prayer, solitude, penance, and strict separation from the world. Their lives are completely dedicated to interceding for the Church and the world. St. Thérèse proclaimed the Carmelite vocation as being “love in the heart of the Church.” As the heart circulates blood throughout the whole body, so the Carmelite is called to circulate grace throughout the Church. View video.
Oldest Building in Western World Is Former Cistercian Monastery
(July 1st, 2010)
Did you know that the alleged oldest building in the Western Hemisphere dates from 1133 A.D., and is located in Miami? The Spanish Monastery Cloisters were first erected in Segovia, Spain as a Cistercian monastery. Centuries later, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst purchased and brought them to America in pieces. The carefully numbered stones were quarantined for years until they were finally reassembled on the present site in 1954.
Visit here for more information and photos.
Monastic Vocations on the Rise Worldwide
(June 21st, 2010)
In the Western world, we see continuous and progressive changes, all of which weigh heavily on religious vocations. And although there has been a general decrease in the number of vocations to the consecrated life in the last few decades, vocations to the contemplative life of women are increasing in comparison with those of active communities. In places such as Africa, Asia and in many countries in Latin America monastic and cloistered life of women religious is flourishing in such a way that they continue to open up new convents and send out vocations to replenish dwindling monasteries elsewhere.
Here are some numbers offering a more precise idea of the monastic presence in the Church. According to recent Vatican statistics, there are 12,876 monks residing in 105 monasteries worldwide. In addition to these, there are 48,493 nuns living in 3,520 monasteries of which 2 out of 3 are in Europe.