ABBEY BANNER - St. John's Abbey

Aelred Senna, OSB
Daniel Durken, OSB
■ Directed by Michael Bik, OSB,
chaplain for retired and ill confreres, a
“Secret Santa” program began in Advent.
Monks randomly picked names
of St. Raphael Hall residents and
secretly gave them small, inexpensive
gifts during pre-Christmas weeks. Just
before Christmas the “Secret Santas”
gave their final gift and revealed their
identity. Presents included a 2010
calendar with pictures of Saint Augustine’s
Monastery in Nassau, Bahamas
for George Wolf, OSB, who worked
there for over 60 years; a “memory
jar” full of notes that confreres had
written of their memories of the recipient;
several murder mysteries and a
CD of favorite music.
St. Raphael Hall residents meet their
“Secret Santas.”
■ Your roving editor walked through
the monastery and counted 65 poinsettia
plants that brightened the church
and cloister with their brilliant red.
Italians call this colorful plant stella di
Natale, “star of Christmas.”
A shelf of poinsettias in the monastic
refectory
■ Almost 15 inches of snow fell
before, during and after Christmas Day
to force the cancellation of the Saint
John’s Boys’ Choir’s appearance at
Midnight Mass. Enough intrepid
travelers
plowed over
snow-covered
roads to
nearly fill the
main floor
of the abbey
church.
In his Christmas homily,
Abbot John considered the
mystery of the incarnation: “When I
reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ, I
can’t help but begin with the God who
is not contained in this vast universe
of 100 billion galaxies. When God first
thought of the incarnation, God must
have burst out laughing. It is so exactly
what we would NOT have done
as human beings if it had been
up to us. We tend to go toward
muscle, control, perfection. God
goes toward frailty, weakness,
vulnerability and the messiness of
human decisions. And so a child
is born, a Son is given to us. . .”
■ The 2009 Christmas Midnight
Mass from Saint John’s Abbey is
archived and available by following
this link: http://saintjohnsabbey.org/schola/christmas.html
■ The abbey
received a gift of
hand-carved wooden
statues of Mary,
Seat of Wisdom,
holding the Christ
Child, and Joseph,
holding a miniature
church as Protector
of the Church, both
created by Gerald
Bonnette, a 1953
art and philosophy
graduate of Saint
John’s who died in
1988. The statues
Daniel Durken, OSB
Aelred Senna, OSB
Hand-carved wooden
statutes of the Holy Family
by Gerald Bonnette, the
gift of Fr. James Notebaart
THE ABBEY CHRONICLE
were given by Father James Notebaart
of the Saint Paul/Minneapolis
Archdiocese, in memory of the late
Aelred Tegels, OSB, editor of Worship
magazine and liturgy professor in the
School of Theology•Seminary.
■ The Saint John’s Fire Department
purchased a 1991 Grumman 102-foot
ladder truck with a platform/bucket
that allows a number of people to be
evacuated from a location.Without it
the department would have to wait for
help from a nearby fire hall that could
mean a 20-minute delay in the rescue
effort. Bought in Alabama, the truck
has a service-life of 25 years.
The Saint John’s Grumman ladder truck
with platform/bucket.
As it begins its 61st year of service
to the campus, the Saint John’s Fire
Department includes Steve Berhow,
fire chief, assistant chiefs Bradley
Jenniges, OSB, and John Brudney,
OSB, drivers Dennis Beach, OSB,
and Neal Laloo, OSB, 15
certified SJU students and
three laymen.
Aelred Senna, OSB
■ Nathanael Hauser, OSB,
was featured in the December
issue of Minnesota Monthly
magazine. Entitled “Puppet
Master,” the article describes
Nathanael’s practice of the
Neopolitan art of crèche-dollmaking.
His Christmas scene
of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, a
kneeling shepherd and three
winged angels graced the
cover of the winter 2008 issue
of Abbey Banner and was
displayed in the Great Hall.
Abbey Banner Spring 2010 page 23