From the Refectory

What is new on the website:

• Provosts of Klosterneuburg  <click here>
  Learn about both the office of the provost and the 66 men who have governed this community for nearly 900 years.
   

• More Panoramic Photos  <click here>
   

• Photo Gallery of all the Canons of Klosterneuburg  <click here>

What is new at Klosterneuburg:
 

• Nikolausfest -- On December 6th every year the community celebrates the feast of St. Nicholas.  At the evening meal, there is always a visit from St. Nicholas or someone like him from the novices.  This year Rudolf came as St. Nicholas giving gifts to all the good canons.  His Nikolausfest skit found its theme in his own training in wine making.   It was in fact through Klosterneuburg Weinbauschule ("school for wine making"), founded in 1860 by Probst Adam Schreck and as far as we know the oldest such school in the world, that Rudolf came into contact with the canons.  Though the school is now owned and operated by the state, the canons of Klosterneuburg still celebrate Masses for the students.

Each canon received a special little bottle of table wine with a unique label describing some characteristic or quality of the man.  Rudolf made a lot of us laugh and it was a very successful evening.  Even the rest of us novices along with all the other guests present and members of the community, received a bag of chocolates, cookies, fruits and nuts.


The pictures starting from the top left and going around are St. Nicholas makes his pronouncements, St. Nicholas gives Dom Martin, then Dom Gerhard and finally Dom Mattias their gifts.
 

 

 

• December 9th: memorial of St. Peter Fourier, priest   
  Peter Fourier was born in Mirecourt in Lothringen, France and made his solemn profession as a canon regular in the abbey of Chaumousey.  After his priestly ordination he was given the care of the poor little parish of Mattaincourt where his distinguished himself through his pastoral zeal and love for God and his people.  Together with St. Alexia de Clerc (feast day January 9th) they founded in 1597 the Congregation of the Canonesses of Our Lady, who dedicated themselves to the education and formation of girls as well as the praise of God through the sacred liturgy and Divine Office.  St. Peter proved to be a great and farsighted pedagogue.  He reformed the communities of canons regular throughout Lothringen and founded the Congregation of Our Redeemer.  For political reasons he was exiled to Gray in Burgundy.  There he dedicated himself to the care of plague victims.  He died on December 9, 1640.  Like St. Vincent de Paul, he is a sign of the flowering of sanctity that occurred in France in the generation born after the reforms of the Council of Trent.
  
   

• December 11: optional memorial of St. Vicelinus, bishop 
  Around 1090 St. Vicelinus was born in Hameln, northern Germany to an aristocratic family and later he worked as a teacher in Paderborn, Bremen and Laon.  In 1126 he was ordained priest and undertook the painstaking work of evangelizing the Wendes in northern Germany.  To accomplish this goal he with his fellow canons regular founded two canonries in this region in Neumunster and Segeberg.  The flowering of sanctity was immediately evident.  These foundations produced two blesseds within the lifetime of St. Vicelinus.  They were Bl. Volker of Segeberg († martyr 1132) and Bl. Dietmar of Neumuenster († 1152).  Both the communities later relocated -- the first went to Bordesholm and joined the Windesheim Congregation.  St. Vicelinus died of exhaustion after a life full of trials and difficulties on December 12, 1154 as Bishop of Oldenburg.
   

• December 12: memorial of Blessed Hartmann, bishop
  Born in Passau, Bavaria, Bl. Hartmann was both educated by the canons and entered their community at St. Nikola.  Bishop Konrad of Salzburg appointed Bl. Hartmann the Dean of the cathedral to "regularize" his clergy, i.e. make them canons "regular" living under the Rule of St. Augustine.  He then went on to become the provost of the canonry in Herrenchiemsee.  St. Leopold requested his management of Stift Klosterneuburg which would henceforth be a house of canons regular after a brief period at its founding of being community of secular canons.  Wherever he worked, he succeeded through his virtue and capabilities and especially by prudence.  As Bishop of Brixen, in South Tyrol, he founded near the city a community of canons regular, Neu Stift, and throughout his life he remained a faithful supporter of the papacy during a time of strife between the emperor and the pope.  He died in 1164.

 

Advent prayer by Fr. Elias In preparing for Christmas this year, the Holy Spirit has led me to consider three points which may be assist you as well.  They are summed up in three words: desire, hope and joy. Desire Advent is a season to ask for renewed longing for Jesus; to ask Him to come again into our hearts.  Desire is not something we control.  Many times we become exhausted, bored or indifferent to God.  Our desire for Him is weak.  This is where we start in Advent.  But we do not have to arrive at Christmas exhausted.  A simple frequent prayer to Jesus will change this.  Jesus, fill me with desire for you!  Moreover it a good time to consider what does He desire for me?  He tells us this in the Gospels.  We should seek to discover the desires of God.  What does He hope for me?  Whatever His hopes are for me, He has gone to a lot of trouble to speak to us by becoming one of us.  Praying to desire Jesus and to be filled with His desires is the first point.   Hope Advent is a season that looks to the first coming of Jesus, which we celebrate on Christmas.  However, it is also a season for looking to the future.  In the spiritual life this touches upon the theological virtue of hope.  It is through this gift, which we have received at our baptism and was strengthened and completed at our confirmation, that we are able to persevere. Hope in practical terms deals with trusting in the promises that God has made to us.  We might begin by considering these questions: What are these promises?  Do I know them?  What do they mean to me?  Where do I find them? Then we search the Gospels.  Jesus will speak to us through the Holy Spirit.  There is a promise that He wants us to consider.  What is it?  Perhaps I might consider in whom do I put my trust?  This will help us discover where my relationship with God is weak because I will find that I trust in many things and persons other than Jesus.  Here is where Jesus comes to our assistance, by empowering the virtue of hope to trust where I have so little.  Knowing the promises of God and trusting in them is the second point. Joy Desire for Jesus and possession of Him, who loves us, as well as trusting in Him, who hopes for our happiness and salvation, leads to joy.  There is no better gift of the Holy Spirit than joy for it lightens the load that we each bear, makes good times better, gives sweetness to our daily life, brings good cheer to those with whom we share our lives and is the infallible witness to holiness.  If I want to be a saint, then joy ought to pervade my life.  If we want to spread the Gospel and help those who are alienated from God or ignorant of Him, then let us ask to be filled with joy. The gift of joy is the third point.