Propst Bernhard and Novice Master, Fr. Markus, with the Juniors and Novices:

Fr. Elias, Fr. Bruno, Josef, Lukas, Georg, Fr. Clemens, Maximilian, Olav, Hugo

What is new at Klosterneuburg:

• New Link
  
  Thanks to Stefano and Maximiliano we have an updated link to the Italian Province of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. 
  
   

• Profession of Vows
  
  Unfortunately we have not yet received any photos.  When we do, we shall upload them.  Needless to say, it was a blessed and joyful day for the community.  With one solemn profession and three simple professions we have much for which to thank God.
   

• Clothing of the Novices
  
  Like any family, a religious community rejoices at the arrival of new members. 
  
  This year the Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with four vocations to the Canonical Life.  Each has his own unique story of grace and conversion, which has led him to Stift Klosterneuburg.  Their stories now join the larger story of this community, which has for 870 years provided a home for those who striving for holiness in the priesthood and the common life.
  
  These four men have entered Klosterneuburg at an exciting time.  For example, this November we will begin to care for our first parish abroad in Bergen, Norway, a country which has sent six men to the community.  Dom Alois, currently the pastor of Nussdorf, and Dom Clemens, one of the three newly simply professed Kleriker will be the first Canons Regular to serve in Norway since the Protestant Reformation. 
  
  The acceptance of the novices into the community occurs prior to the celebration of the first Vespers of the Solemnity of Our Father of the Order, St. Augustine of Hippo.  The Propst, Dean, Novice Master, the Chapter of the Klosterneuburg, the Juniors and friends of the community all assemble in the St. Leopold's Chapter, our Chapter House in former times, to witness this happy event.
  
  The Rite incorporates the candidates into the community through the profession of their desire to enter the Canonical Life, the giving of the habit and a religious name.

Einar Tesdal, Timothy Heffron, Fr Richard Semple and Stephen Storczer

our four new novices

The Chapter

The Propst receives the candidates in the St. Leopold chapel in the Chapter House.

The habits

The Propst blesses and incenses the habits.

Collars...

cassocks and sashes...

Sarozium...

Surplices...

The new novices, Bruno and Georg,..

 
 Olav and Maximilian take their place at the front of the procession.
 

The Propst and Maximilian

Dom Markus serves water and orange juice, while behind him

Frau Fritizi, our German eloquence teacher, speaks with Frau Lange, our Greek teacher.

The reception in the Propst's Red Room.

The Propst and Georg

Olav

Lukas smiles, as Dom Clemens gives his vocations pitch.
 

The Propst and Olav

The Propst and Fr. Bruno

Dom Elias and Dom Clemens

Dom Anton and Dom Bertrand speak with Olav.

• Retreat in Vorau
  
  Prior to taking any important step in one's vocation, it is fitting to set some time aside to listen to God and seek His will and the counsel of those who are already further along the way in their vocations.  The four novice candidates and three novices spent five days at Stift Vorau to pray and consider their vocations to the Canonical Life.
   

Stift Vorau in Styria

The Novice Master, Dom Markus Eidsvig, directed the retreat for the novice candidates and Dom David Foster, a Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey in England, directed the retreat for the novices preparing to take simple vows.

A religious is offered the privilege to dedicate his entire life to God.  This is made possible not only by a call from God, but also a community which is already striving for holiness and seeking to live the religious life.  Without the divine call and the human community, there would be no religious life.

 

The retreat therefore offers the candidates and novices alike a chance to ponder their call from God and the community to which He has drawn them.  For the novice candidates this means opening himself up to the possibility of the common life as envisioned by St. Augustine, lived down the centuries by the canons and embodied by the canons regular of Klosterneuburg.  The community welcomes these new candidates with generosity and gratitude to God.  They are clothed and receive a new name in the community, symbolizing their belonging to a new spiritual family.  Moreover the community assumes the care of their needs.  Truly it is a privilege to receive so many blessings.

 

The novices approach the retreat having completed their first year in the common life.  They have begun to live as religious, daily putting into practice the canonical vocation of the Sacrificium Laudis (Sacrifice of Praise) and the Caritas Pastoralis (the love of the Good Shepherd).  Now the time has come for the next step: to make a deeper commitment to God through the profession of temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

 

The vows are intended to set the religious free, so that he might dedicate himself more and more to God.  The freedom from the cares of the world and the freedom for love of God and service to Him through the liturgy and love of neighbor are the fruits of the vows.  In the next three years, the young religious seeks to know God's plan for him and to prepare for solemn vows, by which He gives back his life to the One who has given him life itself.

 

 

 

Enjoy a few photos from the retreat.

 

 

           

Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction

led by Dom David Foster, O.S.B.

assisted by Dom Josef

 

 

                       

The novice candidates join Dom Markus for a break from their conferences.

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Heffron, Einar Tesdal and Stephen Storczer

 

 

 

 

 

Dom Clemens

 

    

Dom Clemens and Tim Heffron.

 

 

 

 

Dom David and Dom Clemens

Prayer