St. Mary's & St. Scholastica, Petersham
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St. Mary's & St. Scholastica, Petersham |
St. Mary’s Monastery and St. Scholastica Priory are twin Benedictine communities in rural, central Massachusetts. The two communities share 200 acres just north of the town of Petersham with thePetersham State Forest bordering one side of the property and the Harvard forest the other. Founded less than 25 years ago, both communities are members of the Subiaco Congregation. St. Scholastica, the nun’s house, is a daughter of Stanbrook Abbey in England, the model for Rumer Godden's novel, In this House of Brede. St. Mary’s is a dependent house of Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland, a restored 13th Century Cistercian Priory and itself daughter house of Prinknash Abbey. The liturgies follow the modern Solesmes books, supplemented by the older texts where the new have not yet been issued. The psalmody, responsories, and the ordinary and minor propers of the Mass are in Latin. The liturgical style is spare and reverent and the alternating choir of monks and nuns has a remarkably good sound. As contemplatives with no exterior apostolates, these communities listen seriously both to St. Benedict’s teachings on poverty and his to injunction to “prefer nothing to the Work of God." In my visits there, I have found their lives as joyful as they are simple. One can hardly doubt that God will bless them with numbers to match their devotion in the future. Photos & Sound Files from Palm Sunday 2008 Photos Sound Files (MP3) Benedictus & Antiphon Horarium Links |
