What is new at Klosterneuburg:

• Pictures for this year's Annual Men's Pilgrimage

  The theme for the pilgrimage was faith, life and sacraments.  The pilgrims meditated, sang hymns and prayed litanies along the way.      (Right) The novices Dom  Rudolf, Dom Clemens and Dom Josef wait to greet the pilgrims to the Stift
  Dom Simon	Dom Hildebrand and Fr. Clemens
  Listening to the homily	Dr. Matthias Roch preaches
  renewal of baptismal promises	contemplation
  The dean, Dom Benno, brings the Blessed Sacrament for Solemn Benediction	The relic of St. Leopold for public veneration

   

• Memorial of St. Lawrence of Dublin
  Thursday, November 14th   
  This 12th Century Irish saint brought the regular life to the canons of the cathedral of Dublin when he became Archbishop in 1161.  He donned the habit and lived the common life with his canons to the fullest extent possible.
  
  Beginning in 1170 St. Lawrence served frequently as a mediator between the Irish princes and the invading Anglo-Normans.  He returned from the Third Lateran Council in 1179 and convoked the synod of Clonfert to deal with numerous abuses in the Church in Ireland.  He died in Eu, Normandy in 1180 on the way back to Ireland from a diplomatic mission to the Norman King.
   

• Leopoldifest (Feast of St. Leopold)
  Friday, November 15th

One of the principal feasts on the Austrian calendar is the feast of St. Leopold who is esteemed as the Patron of Austria.  For Stift Klosterneuburg he is also important since it was he who founded the Stift.  Moreover, it is here that he is buried, and where to this day the faithful venerate his relics which surmount the Verdun Altar.

Celebrated as a solemnity, it lasts two days, beginning on the afternoon of Thursday, November 14^th:

• The Propst presides at Pontifical First Vespers at 3:00 p.m. in the basilica.  He will be assisted by Fr. Clemens and Frater Josef.

• The Dean presides at the solemn Office of Readings at 5:15 p.m. in the basilica.

The feast continues on Friday, November 15^th:

• Lauds at 7:45 a.m. in the basilica.
   

• Pontifical Mass at 10:00 a.m. at which His Eminence, Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, will be the principal celebrant.  He will be attired in the antique St. Leopold vestments.  The music for the Mass is Joseph Haydn’s Paukenmesse (“timpany Mass”). 
   

• At noon the canons host numerous civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries for a convivial banquet.
   

• The Propst presides at Pontifical Second Vespers at 3:00 p.m. in the basilica.  He will be assisted by Frater Rudolf and Fr. Elias.

Throughout the weeks surrounding St. Leopold's feast day people from all over come to participate in the centuries old custom of Fasslrutschen, sliding down the giant (1000 bucket) barrel.
 

• Annual Altar Server Pilgrimage
  Saturday November 16th.
  
  Altar Servers from all over lower Austria come on pilgrimage every year to Stift Klosterneuburg to give thanks to God for the privilege of altar service.  The culmination of this pilgrimage is the offering of the Mass.  The principal celebrant this year is the Propst of Herzogenburg, another Stift of canons regular.