Saturday evenings I treat on some subjects which concern our own monastic life and ways and aspects which are derived from the impressions on the Congress of the Arts in Rome. To now we haven't spoken about that really. We needed a little time to kind of digest these impressions and then to make them fruitful somehow also for our own.

[01:03]

That, of course, is the main point in these conferences. Now, it was very evident in this gathering of about 150 albots and priors of monasteries all over the world, also Europe, also many, naturally, from North America, South America, Brazil, and Australia. Also Asia was represented through Vietnam and England and so on. So these, one could right away see that there are, let us say, two general groups, and what I say you are familiar with, just to bring it to mind again, that was Jean Leclerc in his book on the, what is it, it's called on the letters, you know, the letters.

[02:27]

Yeah, that one. Distinguishes the end, Benedictine one and Benedictine religieux. Monk Benedictines and Benedictine religious. That's an attempt, you know, to kind of bring it on to a formula. If one looks at the Benedictine religious, Then there are evidence that they are represented externally, mostly by the Ossians and the Bavarians, maybe more strongly and most clearly by the Ossians and the Bavarians. They stress the needs of the church in our days.

[03:31]

They feel that it is their bounden duty to help, to help in the present apostolic needs, and mostly in parish work and in educational work. that is this as I think it's a fact one must keep clearly in mind that the Bavarians and the Austrians and also the Hungarians for that matter have a distinct feature in this that they all were formed by the what we call Josephinism. Josephinism, you know, is a system originated, maybe not only originated, but under the emperor by the emperor Joseph II, son of Maria Theresia in Vienna, who was emperor from 1765 to 1790.

[04:53]

And this Joseph II was a very unruly little fellow and gave Maria Theresia many headaches. Nobody could really get control of him. Every means of the time were used. His dear mother tried to frighten him with the spirit world, and that didn't work anymore. She turned to the Jesuits to train him, but he strongly appealed to supernatural motive just didn't gain any ground on the contrary they were one says I don't know one says that his religious instruction was not the most inspiring kind and just didn't catch his imagination while on the other hand the material things I mean all these problems of

[06:23]

the welfare of the people, the legal problems of the Enlightenment, and the economical problems, new ideas of how to bring about a greater degree of material welfare. All these things were strongly to his taste. He also, I think, lived a little under the shadow of Frederick the Great. And, of course, resenting Frederick the Great's victories and seeing the great success of the civilization, say, of northern, Protestant northern Germany, and comparing it unfavorably with the Catholic South of Voltaire and people like that.

[07:28]

So he tried to wake up in his people a new sense of, say, personal responsibility. He believed in education, in knowledge, and so he was a strong adversary of the monastic life, which in his days was still immensely strong in Austria. But one also must say the monastic life of his days was languishing, stagnant, that there were too many monasteries. Even now, after Joseph II has, as I must say, cleaned up so much, entering into Austria, one still has the feeling that there are too many monasteries left, at least for the present, not for the knees, I mean, but for the present, for the number of occasions and so on.

[08:38]

They have a very terrific struggle to keep up their works and their their monastic, their life, these various stifts. Where I was visiting Irlach, I was right next to Irlach, there was one premonstratenschen stift, right about half an hour's drive from Irlach. Then about three-quarters of an hour, there was a cistercien stift, And then a little more, there was an Augustinian choir cannon stiffed. And then there were also one, the only Trappist settlement, who was also in that corner. So all kinds of events, who all live, if one looks at them from the outside, maybe also the inside, essentially live the same kind of life.

[09:40]

They are all... They have their state revenues for their teaching and for their parish duties. That is the way Joseph II did it. He suppressed about 300 to 400 monasteries in Austria in his time. And then what was left, he put in charge of parishes and schools. And then he endowed the monasteries accordingly and gave them the suppression of about 400 monasteries, provided the means for the so-called religious fund. And this religious fund then was used to pay salaries to those who would teach in the schools and do service in the parishes as pastors. The important thing, I think, of this reform is that through this Josephinism, as far as I can see for the first time, and only time, say, in history, at that time, in the 18th century, the activity, the outside activity, parochial and educational work, became the very basis on which the entire existence of the monastery rested.

[11:09]

so that without that, the monastery would not exist, could not exist. The same thing was true later on by the resurrected, among the resurrected Bavarian monasteries, Mitten first, and then others who were resurrected only under the condition while we were the first to teach. And without that, they would not have receive, their property would not have restored to them. So, there was a tremendous reaction, and we don't live in those times, but I can imagine that this reaction, one thing is absolutely certain of that, is that the population was on the side of the emperor. The people considered that as a thing. only right and just and serve the welfare of the whole state, the public welfare.

[12:18]

And we one can understand that those monasteries were in times of old endowed with enormous endowments, forests, even now people are in monasteries like Admon, and also the little English cell, the Trappist ones, enormous forests, you know, that are under the administration of seculars, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. And therefore I have great wealth, But Joseph II gave them that under the condition and for the maintenance of these public institutions. So that by that, naturally, all those who enter into this kind of sit-up, to them the monastery is first of all a means of their social security.

[13:23]

That's the way in which they receive their income in which their life is made possible and these monks who live on various parishes outside also have their own they have their own furniture and so on they they are transferred they go with their move with their furniture one more house to the other and so on we have this so the therefore that next i think that's very important that we realize that there the um the activity enters into, I would say, into the very essence of that kind of stift life, monastic life, the very essence of it. And naturally the rule as such has to be then adapted to these external needs. It's also very interesting to see, and that was very evident from

[14:25]

with various abbots, the Congress. It's very interesting that in those countries in which Josephinism had this strong influence, up to this time, up to this day, the monastic, I mean strictly monastic vocation, for example, vocations through the Brotherhood are very, very scarce, exceptional. reason is easy to see. The whole mentality of Josephinism is education and working through education, and education of course leads eventually, necessarily, to the priesthood, so that the priest is considered the, let's say, the full religious who has a true raison d'être, while the brother who really, in a much greater degree, lives or has to live the monastic life for its own sake, is considered as useless, as somewhere else lost to society and to the needs of the time.

[15:52]

And their letters then came out very clearly in various talks and links in the Abbott's Congress that, you see, this group, in my head, you know, this group of Austrian, Hungarians, Bavarians, with their strong, one can say really very strongly active and also maybe to a certain extent, although they are very, I mean, one shouldn't underestimate that. The individuals who serve in these monasteries have strong, majority strong, good piety. Piety. But a piety which is a kind of inheritance from a good catholic home from a good catholic parish but it is not something which would find its essential and necessary expression in the monastic life as such no it's alive it's a piety which is nourished in devotions and devotion to our lady devotion

[17:19]

the sacred heart, the popular counter-reformed devotions, and the general spirit of the Baroque age. There are those who strongly, for that matter, strongly appealing to the sentiments, right, you know, the triumphant masses on feasts and so, then these glowing churches. By the way, it's very interesting to see that after the war, many, many of these splendid Baroque churches have been restored to their former glory. St. Peter's in Salzburg was shown to us at night. And I must say, with the electric effects of our age, These ceilings and these pillars and these gold-leaf Baroque decorations, you know, were magnificent, giving the impression of tremendous, festive, exuberant elegance.

[18:37]

And that is... that is, of course, that's a source of inspiration for this. It's a deliberately world-opened spirit. The Baroque, I think you can see that very clearly, the Baroque is in many ways the Catholic way to react against the a sternness of the Gothic age. The Gothic age, in comparison to the Baroque, is really a dark age. These Gothic churches are dark. They have a certain stern note. The Baroque, that's all, it's a feast. And it's a wedding feast between

[19:41]

the heavenly world and the earthly world. Very interesting was the church in Niederallteich. The abbot Emanuel Holfelder established his monastery. And that was built by an abbot in the 18th century when Niederallteich celebrated its thousands anniversary of thousand years of existence in 1760 or 1338. 1738. Hence, there is a whole system of the correspondence between this world here and the heavenly world. For example, in the side aisles, side aisles is kind of is molded into various chapels and each one of these chapels has a theme and for example one one of these two theme or one of these chapels was authority and there is then in the lower region then it's there each one of these chapels has a ceiling but in this ceiling is a hole

[21:09]

All oval, you know, I mean, the forms are always oval. Never a circle and never a rectangle. It's all like this. And then you look through this oval... I don't know what you call it, you know. It's a hole. This hole is surrounded with beautiful, baroque, iron, wrought iron... Balustrade, you know, beautiful rail, you know. And then through that rail you can see up in the ceiling on another, you see, another level. And there is always, the Baroque thing is always so, have abundance of lights but never see the windows, the sources of it, you know. And that's why I think it's a system. Then you look through that, and then, of course, this upper story above the chapel has big windows, you know, lots of light coming in there.

[22:16]

So you see there, and there you see then the Mother Church, and you see the Father as the head and source of all authority in the heavenly world. And down in the chapel there is the crown of... The prince of Bavarian. And then up there it goes to Bavarian. Yeah, it's a way, you know, to kind of, I think much can be said in favor of the Baroque, but it's the way of the Baroque to show the sacramentality of the church. but as a transparency, as something that fuses into, or leads to, or opens up into the heavenly world. There is, of course, it's all clouds, it's all, you know, it's all dance, it's all the movements, you know, and der Heigen der Freude.

[23:22]

And so the... And therefore the Baroque is in some way a representation of the Church in her, let's say, eternal or supernatural trial over and beyond all the powers of this world. So, but done in a very, let's say, not in the way of the Mysterium. The same principle, I mean basic principle, that you have in the Baroque, you have in some way also in the catacombs. And the Baroque church in the catacombs is about maybe the greatest contrast one could imagine. When we go into the Priscilla catacombs down there, then we see, of course, we see there also the...

[24:23]

We see on one side, we see the elegant, and, let's say, yeah, elegant, for example, a room with walls painted like marble, you know, this illusion, marble, or, for example, painted like a, what do I say, the name of these, in a garden, one has these little, Bowers? Bowers, you see, bowers. The whole thing there, a catacomb, the whole room there, painted like the bower. That could be the baroque age too. They love to paint bowers. And with the little shepherd in it and so on. But then, and so that is in the catacombs too, in order to represent the presence of the refrigerium, of that refreshment in which the soul lives after leaving this world in the peace of Christ.

[25:35]

But then you have the ceiling, and up on the ceiling in the catacombs, then you'll see the heavenly world, you'll see the Good Shepherd, or you'll see little putties, angels, you know, things like that. So, I mean, that's two. Still, the difference, you know, is that the Baroque is much more an attempt at a direct, you know, sensible, or how it is not sensible, but tangible, realization so that the one who is who looks at it, you know. It's just like the music, you see. One moves in exuberant music. One kind of has the kingdom of heaven right on earth, you know. One doesn't know quite, you know, where it begins and where it ends. A man begins and a man ends. The spirit begins and the spirit ends, you see.

[26:38]

I mean, it's in some ways a kind of an ecstasy, you know. And ecstasy, of course, applied to the masses, you know. I mean, a church like that, Niederaltach and so on, of course, they want the celebrating throng, you know, see. And the Baroque is that way, processions and canons. cannons shooting, the Blessed Sacrament, all of the Blessed Sacrament, and all that. And then the soldiers all marching, and the court marching, and then there was the... Now, Vienna didn't have much of a metropolitan in those days, or Salzburg or Passau. So, I mean, there is that very strong, I can say, this worldly attempt, you know, at this worldly representation of the power and the glory and the majesty of the Mysterium of the Church, of that heavenly

[27:58]

elements, that eternal element in the church, of the triumphant element in the church. And so how did we get to this? But that is that, this world of the Josephinism, in which also there that fusion, you know, of the imperial splendor and of that ecclesiastical splendor, you know. The two, they kind of fuse in a hymn, you know. God save the king, you know. And the... Therefore, these monasteries, by the way, connected with and part of the monastery is the imperial wing.

[29:02]

For example, in St. Florian, big monastery, but there's no essential difference whatsoever between the monastery and the royal palace, imperial palace. Architecturally, the same. And if one walks in these long corridors, on one side the monks live, on the other side is reserved for the court. But architecturally, it's the same thing. Only that, of course, in where the court, the rooms for the court, how they are. Of course, the room for audiences, receptions. and things like that, you know, in a more splendid way, but still, for example, the architectural unit of the emperor's rooms and of the monks' rooms is essentially the same.

[30:12]

So, therefore, a very This worldly attitude was the state under Joseph II. The state was the custodian of the church, as Frederick the Great always said of Joseph II with a smile. Our brother, the sacristan. He considered Joseph II as the sacristan of the church. And Joseph II really considered Bobby himself a little more than the sacristan. But in substance, the Austrians, of course, they have spoken, say, sacristan, they said. That was the idea of St. Joseph. St. Joseph, the cult. of Saint Joseph, what is that? Saint Joseph is the one who takes care of the infant and his mother.

[31:16]

That means of Christ and the church. And that's Saint Joseph. That's the reason why they're all called Joseph, you know, these emperors. That is a program. That is their idea of the relation between the church and the state. And Saint Joseph has the care For all the worldly, Joseph II didn't trust the ecclesiastic administration of property at all. He said that is a matter for the state. The priests just can't do it. So therefore, that whole thing, you see the economic side, But then also the education. I mean, you see, the church has to serve the public welfare. As one of his ministers, who was a little more liberal than he himself was, expressed it, he said, as long as people are not yet up to it, you know, to be governed by the police of this thing, they have to be directed by the police of the church.

[32:33]

The church is the police for a people which is still not enlightened enough. So therefore there is that strong this worldliness which is there. Also the whole emphasis on light is so evident in these structures. And therefore, the monks, you know, under the influence, you know, of this spirit, really became, of course, they were officials. They were officials of the state. They are up to now. As a monk, an Austrian monk, most of them are regierungsratus. So, you know, I mean, have a title, a worldly title, the state in their function as educators. So it's also interesting, you know, that this kind of thing, this strong fusion, I mean, not any fusion anymore, but this entering of the activity into the very fiber of the whole existence of such a shift is also a strongly Germanic notion.

[34:01]

Germanic notion is a... a thing which is in the German Germanic tribes there is then of course in Austria to Austria is a border thing you know that is a many nations come together that is a in some way a colonial enterprise in its origin the Germans come in as a colonizing force, therefore as a ruling force, that brings with it a very strong also this-worldliness. Anyone who lives in a colony, a colonist, must be, must become a this-world man. One can see that so evidently, for example in our days, in Algiers. That is one thing that the that Edmond Mischli, you know, said, told me, is one of the greatest difficulties at the present time of the example of elements, sincerely Catholic elements, in the De Gaulle government.

[35:17]

They are faced with this colonial element in Algiers, which just through the very struggle, you must always think, these people have cultivated or gained, you know, the soil of Algiers and made it what it is. through their own sweat, through enormous efforts, also through much shooting and fighting against enemies. And that, of course, produces, just as in the United States, the frontier mentality. It's also strong, this worldly mentality, as a realistic mentality, and a mentality which also wants to enjoy, then, the fruits of these tremendous efforts which they themselves or their fathers have put into the present prosperity that they have reached. So it's a very strong, this Germanic notion, which is not so neither in Italy nor in Spain nor in France, not at the present time, but in Bavaria and Austria, very strong.

[36:30]

And as you know, from Bavaria, it came to this country, to North America, which is also, as I said, a pioneer country. The monastery and monastic foundations were made in pioneer times for pioneer families, St. John's Abbey or Latrobe, and these places where, therefore, have a very strong I want to say this worldly notion to them one only must say that there is a difference between the as I say the Austrian and Bavarian attitudes we find them and for example here in this country the American North let's say the American Cassinese And that is this, you see, that while the Austrian tradition, since the Enlightenment, is not essentially changed, the mentality, however, here in these immigration countries, you know, is to a certain extent, you see, that took place in 1850, 1848, 1850, in these years,

[37:55]

when the Catholics came into this country and there was among them, you see in the 1850s, there had taken place what we call the Catholic Revival. And this Catholic Revival is strongly influenced, we call it sometimes also the Romantic Age, And this romantic age is, for example, characterized, you know, by people like Schlegel. And there is a deliberate reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment period. And this romantic reaction took a great hold of the, let's say, the bourgeois, the Catholic bourgeois, population in Germany, in the Rhineland, and also in the Frankenland, in Pfalz, in these countries.

[38:57]

And the immigrants, of course, came from these countries around that time here to this country, so that there is also, let's say, a deliberate, now, you know, under the guidance, inspiration greatly, for example, of Pio Nono, and all I have there, an enormous influence on the formation of this romantic, one can call it, Catholic reaction against enlightenment. And that, of course, has also something to do with the spiritual attitude in the, for example, in the American Cassinese monasteries in this country. It is not simply enlightenment, and it is not simply this kind of harmony, even kind of continuity, if not identification of the state and an enlightened church.

[39:59]

But it is, there is also a certain difference. There is a church which has reawakened, has been reawakened to her own existence and in opposition to the political forces, which was really It happened under the leadership of Pius IX. And the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is a kind of banner for that kind of reassertion of the Church in her, I want to say, supernatural claims and powers against this Enlightenment mixing and mingling of state authority, church authority, and so on. So that is one. You see, another thing is, you know, that this, let us say, this Josephinism also had its influence, strong influence, indirectly, on the what we today have in Brazil, you see, of monasticism.

[41:10]

Brazil and, yeah, mainly in Brazil, because that was strongly also under German influence, the reawakening of monasticism there. And so that is one group, you know, a strong group in the present Benedictine setup, and that was very clear at this Abbot's Congress. However, of course, that is not all. We have outside of this, let us say, Josephinistic block, we have another. One couldn't call it a block, but it is more a group. And I kind of tentatively only say that, you know, according to... maybe superficial impressions that I gathered, you know, during this gathering, during this Congress, there is, you know, in the old ages, I mean, even in the Holy Rule, I think you can see that there are, for St.

[42:15]

Benedict in the Rule, there are two sources of vocations. One source of vocation in the Rule, certainly the regular one, is through conversion. That means from the world, as St. Benedict himself, as a student, he is and enters the monastic life as a life of conversion and a life of penance. And then you have the other group, the other recruiting way of one monastery, and that is if parents bring their children to the monastery, and offer them up at the altar. Now, St. Benedict accepts that. He accepts that way of the recruiting. And based on these two, as you know, you have the two groups in medieval monasteries very strongly distinguished, the Converse and the Nutriti. The Nutriti are those who have been brought to the monasteries as little boys

[43:23]

and have received their entire education in the monastery. The conversi are those who have, before they entered the monastery, done everything but. Then the notriti, you see, are therefore boys who grow up in the monastic environment protected against the bad influences on the world. It's a system of protection, a system, let's say, of keeping the innocence. While the conversing are those who come to the monastery through their own personal conviction and through a break in their life, and therefore take the monastic life much more deliberately as a way of salvation. But both, in that way, both the Nutriti and the Confiasi, of course, agree that for them, the monastic life is the haven which protects them against and saves them from the dangers of the world.

[44:38]

You see, that is, of course, a concept which you see that right away. which in, let us say, roughly, in a Josephinistic monastery, is not very strong. The idea that the monastery is a haven against the evils of the world, because the world may not even be considered as such a tremendous evil. I don't think that Joseph II did tell that. The world is very well off under a good state, you know. The state can't take care of that. So, therefore, they are much more in conformity with this world. But the others, there is an opposition.

[45:39]

But then there are these two groups, and one can say, again, I say kind of roughly, you know, the, let us say, today in our days, the Nutriti group and the Nutriti spirit, you know, of protection against the world, you know, that is very strong in the Italian and in the Spanish monasteries. When we go to Montegasino, And then you see there, there is that novice table right in the refectory. There's that novice table, and at that novice table you see the, all, you see them down, you know, to about 14, 13 or 12 years of age, you know. So they all lined up and all taken with tremendous solenity and with little boys, you know, with great self-assurance, you know. taking part in all the monastic exercises, walking down two by two in groups, you know, these enormous corridors to their own quarters, and in choir, you know, having a place and singing, just like the old ones.

[46:49]

And so that, you see there, the kind of vocation that goes there, comes through the operate school. And that is, for example, very strong in a monastery like Monserrat. You see, in these monasteries, and to a certain extent one can add to them the Swiss monasteries. In Einzelnen or Engelberg, the school is an appendix to the monastery. And the students wear the castle. So they are, therefore, members of these little monks, members of that family. And that's the atmosphere in which they grow up. And in Einzelen it's very strong. If you have not been in the school of Einzelen, then to become an Einzelen monk is very different. Father Beatweiser, who had not been to the Einziedeln Gymnasium, always told me, he said, my, I come from Swabia, you see, but I tell you, I never really got into it, you know.

[48:04]

If you haven't been raised in Einziedeln and you are not, you may do what you want, you'll never become a real Einziedeln bum. So that is, you know, I only say that so that you may see what I mean with this Nutriti group, you know, see. Don't tell that any... But I mean, there is. Therefore, you know, the monastic, you see, the monastic routine, just as, you know, if you grow into something, then... The routine into which you grow is unquestioned, you know. It has been this way for centuries. That is the way I've learned it when I was 12 years old. And that is the way it is. Finished. There are no problems. There are no problems. And one always said that, you know. And that was the tremendous difficulty in all monasteries with the new treaty, you see.

[49:11]

They never made good abbots because they didn't know the problems. So that, for example, Cluny, I'm told, was really made great through the conversi, not through the new treaty. All the great abbots of Cluny, in fact, were conversi. So I haven't checked that up at this moment, but I mean that's, you know. And that is true, you see. You have then another group, and that are the conversi. Let's call them a conversion. And that is a strong, that to say, that gives a certain character, for example, to the French monasteries and also the German, Rhineland, Boiron, and so on. They are, that is based on the comparison. Now, we can see that in France, certainly Cluny, the monastic movement, was that way. The Cistercian movement in France was that way. The Trappist movement in France, that was all conversing.

[50:18]

And today, you know, too, the French movement, and I would say the primitive, so what we call Benedictines of the Congregation of Subiaco, you know, and also the Soleil. That is a... conversey, let us say, spirit and atmosphere. And that, you see that right away. If somebody enters the monastery for that reason, let's put it roughly, for the reason of penance, then, of course, the monastic life as such has a completely different meaning. you have three groups now. You have those who live in the monasteries, somehow, let us say, as officials, often public institution, educational or parochial. And you have those who live in the monasteries as the rotus conclusus, in which they have grown up since they were boys.

[51:20]

And you have those who live in monasteries and give, of course, as conversi. And those three Groups are really distinguished and visible groups in the whole, in such a gathering of the abbots. The riddle in this whole thing is the English comic book. Don't fit into it.

[51:52]

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