Christmas scene icon by Nathanael Hauser, OSB - St. John's Abbey

THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
The 2005 Collegeville Colors
commemorative artwork by Sophia
Heymans
■ Saint John’s Preparatory School
sponsored two successful October
events: the Collegeville Colors
festival on October 1 and the
Black Forest Octoberfest Gasthaus
on the 6 th and 7 th . Perfect fall
weather brought more than a
thousand visitors to stroll the
wooded path to the Stella Maris
Chapel.
■ The Oktoberfest Gasthaus is an
authentic imitation of Europe’s
largest and most famous folk festival
in Munich. Two Austrian
chefs prepared such favorite cuisine
as Rostbraten, Wienerschnitzl
and Apfelstrudel.
■ Magnus Wenninger, OSB,
was honored on October 6
by three of his former students
at Saint Augustine’s
College, Nassau, Bahamas,
and by members of Colina-
Imperial Ltd., of that city on
the occasion of the sixtieth
anniversary of his arrival in
the Bahamas and the twentyfifth
anniversary of his return Father Magnus helps students
construct a polyhedron.
to Saint John’s Abbey. Father
Magnus has a world-wide
reputation as the author of several
books on how to use paper for
page 20 The Abbey Banner Winter 2006
making polyhedron
and spherical models.
■ The world premiere
performance of
the commissioned
opera The Star
Gatherer, commemorating
the
twenty-fifth anniversary
of the Saint
John’s Boys’ Choir,
was presented at Saint John’s on
October 20 and 21. With music
by Stephen Paulus, libretto by
Gene Scheer, the production’s
design inspired by the painting
of Jerome Tupa, OSB, and
conducted by Paul Richards,
OSB, the opera focuses on the
youthful transition from boyhood
to young adulthood through the
boys’ awareness that they will be
defined not by what they have but
by what they give away. Three
full-house performances superbly
showcased the remarkable talents
of the Boys’ Choir.
■ Thanks to the summer gardening
efforts of Bruce Wollmering,
director, and Linus Ascheman,
Fintan Bromenshenkel, Isaac
Connolly, Dunstan Moorse,
Raphael Olson, Paul Richards
and Kelly Ryan, abbey meals
The Saint John’s Boys’ Choir in the world
premiere of The Star Gatherer
never lacked garden-fresh vegetables.
The mid-October inventory
of abbey produce includes this
partial list (in pounds): tomatoes:
1,029; corn: 145; cucumbers: 305;
watermelon: 491; cantaloupe: 105;
squash: 1,186; golden and green
beans: 66.
■ “No Winter lasts forever,” wrote
the poet Hal Borland. As proof of
that, on a mid-October afternoon
Master Gardener John Elton and
Novices Nickolas Becker and
Dan Morgan planted five hundred
daffodil bulbs. +
St. Cloud Times/Paul Middlestaedt