St. Michael's Abbey (Orange County, California)
Encyclopedia
Saint Michael's Abbey is a monastery of Roman Catholic Canons Regular
of the Order of Premontre
in Silverado
, Orange County, California
.
The members of the community combine a monastic-style life with the active ministry of ordained priests.
The Abbey is located on 35 acres (141,640.1 m²)
on El Toro Road
at the juncture of English Canyon and Live Oak Canyon
in Trabuco Canyon
.
, St. Michael's founding Abbot, Ladislaus Parker, O.Praem.
(19 Dec 1915 - 3 Jan 2010), decided "to hold steadfast to all that was good in the old and not to shy away either from that which is new."
Confreres wear the traditional white habit of the Premonstratensian Order. The Abbey is well known for its use of Latin
Chant
, of which two albums have been released.
: Fresno
, Los Angeles
, Orange
, San Bernardino
and San Diego
. Priests of the Abbey serve in high schools, parishes, offer retreats and spiritual direction.
Activities of the Abbey also include the operation of St. Michael's Preparatory
and local parish ministry. An annual summer camp gives local youth a chance to experience the religious life of the monastery.
St. Michael's is an affiliate of the Institute on Religious Life. Roughly half of the nearly 70 members live at the monastery itself with the rest living in dependent houses.
and philosophy
, after which the brothers are sent to study at the Norbertine Generalate in Rome
for a further four years. At the conclusion of this formation the brothers may then be ordained as deacon
s and then priests before beginning to serve in the various ministries of the Order.
, Hungary
, whose roots go back to the 12th century. The founders originally left Hungary
to avoid oppression soon after Communist officials nationalized Catholic schools in 1948. On the night of July 11th, 1950, word came to the abbey in Csorna that the police would arrive the next day to arrest the confreres and suppress the community. That night, seven priests left, in two groups, to hike across country to the Austrian border. Arriving in New York in 1952, they were welcomed by the Abbey of St. Norbert in De Pere, Wisconsin
, with whom they worked for several years, saving money to begin their own monastery.
James Francis McIntyre, Archbishop of Los Angeles, they first moved to Santa Ana, California
in 1957 and taught at Mater Dei High School
, establishing a monastic community the next year. The founding abbot was the Rt. Rev. Ladislaus Parker, O.Praem.
In 1960 the Norbertine Fathers purchased the current site from Jack Cook, the founder of nearby Cook's Corner
.
St. Michael's opened a junior seminary in 1962, which evolved into the present day St. Michael's Preparatory School. The status of Abbey was conferred on St. Michael's in 1984.
More recently, plans have developed for an expansion project to develop a new site, due in part to geological instability at the current Abbey.
. On January 29, 2011, the sisters community in Tehachapi was incorporated into the world-wide Norbertine Order. In a ceremony at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Fresno, the first nine sisters made their solemn profession as members of the newly established Canonry of the Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph, in the hands of the Norbertine Abbot General, Most Reverend Thomas Handgratinger. Their total membership is 20 sisters, the majority of whom are still in stages of formation before perpetual vows. In that same ceremony the abbot of St. Michael's Abbey, Abbot Eugene, was named the father abbot of the Sisters' Canonry and as such serves as the sisters' external superior.
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
of the Order of Premontre
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...
in Silverado
Silverado, California
Founded in 1878, Silverado , a California Historical Landmark, is an unincorporated community in Silverado Canyon, which is located in the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, California. Portions of the town sit on a former Mexican land grant Rancho Lomas de Santiago. The majority of...
, Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
.
The members of the community combine a monastic-style life with the active ministry of ordained priests.
The Abbey is located on 35 acres (141,640.1 m²)
on El Toro Road
at the juncture of English Canyon and Live Oak Canyon
in Trabuco Canyon
Trabuco Canyon, California
Trabuco Canyon is a small unincorporated community located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, California, and lies partly within the Cleveland National Forest.Trabuco Canyon is north of the town of Rancho Santa Margarita...
.
Liturgy
Upon the conclusion of the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, St. Michael's founding Abbot, Ladislaus Parker, O.Praem.
(19 Dec 1915 - 3 Jan 2010), decided "to hold steadfast to all that was good in the old and not to shy away either from that which is new."
Confreres wear the traditional white habit of the Premonstratensian Order. The Abbey is well known for its use of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Chant
Chant
Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...
, of which two albums have been released.
Ministries
Confreres of the Abbey serve in five dioceses in Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
: Fresno
Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is a particular church of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region of the United States, in the State of California. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles...
, Los Angeles
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the archdiocese comprises the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the...
, Orange
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange is a particular church of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church whose territory comprises the whole of Orange County, California, in the United States...
, San Bernardino
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino is a Roman Catholic diocese centered in San Bernardino, California. It was founded on July 14, 1978, and comprises San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The Diocese of San Bernardino formerly was part of the Diocese of San Diego...
and San Diego
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is a particular church of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the western region of the United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of San Diego and Imperial Counties in Southern California, with a Catholic population of 1,981,057...
. Priests of the Abbey serve in high schools, parishes, offer retreats and spiritual direction.
Activities of the Abbey also include the operation of St. Michael's Preparatory
St. Michael's Preparatory School (Silverado, California)
Saint Michael's Preparatory School is a private, Roman Catholic, college preparatory boys' boarding school in Silverado, California. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange....
and local parish ministry. An annual summer camp gives local youth a chance to experience the religious life of the monastery.
St. Michael's is an affiliate of the Institute on Religious Life. Roughly half of the nearly 70 members live at the monastery itself with the rest living in dependent houses.
Formation
St. Michael's Abbey accepts members who are between the ages of 18 and 29. The initial four years are spent in the monastery, studying spiritualitySpirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, after which the brothers are sent to study at the Norbertine Generalate in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for a further four years. At the conclusion of this formation the brothers may then be ordained as deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
s and then priests before beginning to serve in the various ministries of the Order.
Hungarian Origins
The Abbey was founded in 1961 by seven priests from the Norbertine Abbey of St. Michael in CsornaCsorna
- People :David Gestetner, inventor of the Gestetner duplicating machine, was born in Csorna on March 20, 1854....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, whose roots go back to the 12th century. The founders originally left Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to avoid oppression soon after Communist officials nationalized Catholic schools in 1948. On the night of July 11th, 1950, word came to the abbey in Csorna that the police would arrive the next day to arrest the confreres and suppress the community. That night, seven priests left, in two groups, to hike across country to the Austrian border. Arriving in New York in 1952, they were welcomed by the Abbey of St. Norbert in De Pere, Wisconsin
De Pere, Wisconsin
De Pere is a city located in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 20,559 at the 2000 census. De Pere is a suburb of Green Bay and is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Registered historic places:...
, with whom they worked for several years, saving money to begin their own monastery.
Foundation in California
At the invitation of CardinalCardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
James Francis McIntyre, Archbishop of Los Angeles, they first moved to Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
in 1957 and taught at Mater Dei High School
Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California)
Mater Dei High School is a private, Catholic, co-educational secondary school in Santa Ana, California. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. With an enrollment of 2,100 students Mater Dei High School is one of the largest Catholic high schools in the United States...
, establishing a monastic community the next year. The founding abbot was the Rt. Rev. Ladislaus Parker, O.Praem.
In 1960 the Norbertine Fathers purchased the current site from Jack Cook, the founder of nearby Cook's Corner
Cook's Corner
Cook's Corner is a Southern California bar built in 1884 that is popular with motorcyclists. It is located near Silverado in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California.-History:...
.
St. Michael's opened a junior seminary in 1962, which evolved into the present day St. Michael's Preparatory School. The status of Abbey was conferred on St. Michael's in 1984.
Recent History
The current abbot is the Rt. Rev. Eugene J. Hayes, O.Praem.,J.C.D.,S.T.L. He was elected for a life-time term as abbot with a mandatory retirement age of 75 years on June 27, 1995 and received the abbatial blessing on September 15, 1995.More recently, plans have developed for an expansion project to develop a new site, due in part to geological instability at the current Abbey.
Bethlehem Priory
In 1997 the Abbey founded a convent of Norbertine nuns in Tehachapi, CaliforniaTehachapi, California
Tehachapi is a city incorporated in 1909 located in the Tehachapi Mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County, California. Tehachapi is located east-southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of...
. On January 29, 2011, the sisters community in Tehachapi was incorporated into the world-wide Norbertine Order. In a ceremony at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Fresno, the first nine sisters made their solemn profession as members of the newly established Canonry of the Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph, in the hands of the Norbertine Abbot General, Most Reverend Thomas Handgratinger. Their total membership is 20 sisters, the majority of whom are still in stages of formation before perpetual vows. In that same ceremony the abbot of St. Michael's Abbey, Abbot Eugene, was named the father abbot of the Sisters' Canonry and as such serves as the sisters' external superior.