Newsletter
for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas,
11 of May 2020 No. 966 Extra
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Dear
Friends,
This
is Part 2 of the material prepared by Jan Koenraadt and consists of interesting
articles on Mt. St. Benedict. The words
in italics are Jan’s commentary, while the plain text is his translation of the
originals. It covers the period from
1937, the 25th Anniversary or the Priory, until 1947, when the
Priory became an Abbey.
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1935 Advertisement in the Pius Almanak in the
Netherlands published once a year between 1934 and 1939.
Mission of E.E. P.P.
Benedictines of Our Lady in Trinidad (Mount St. Benedict's Priory, Tunapuna,
Trinidad, B.W.I.).
About 14 Dutch people are
associated with that Priory as priests or brothers.
The procurator
of this mission is Dom Willibrord van Nierop O.S.B. of the Keizersberg Abbey in
Leuven.
Young
people who wish to volunteer for this mission can turn to this procurator.
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October
21, 1937 Article in De Tijd (The Times), a nationwide newspaper in the
Netherlands for the catholic people at the 25th anniversary of Mount
St. Benedict. This article and the next
one are lookalikes but contain difference.
BENEDICTINES
ON TRINIDAD
In the British West Indies is the island
of the Trinity, on which the 275-meter high mountain "St. Benedict"
rises. Here the monks and brothers live
according to the rule of life of St. Benedict. The major part of the community consists of
Dutchmen, who through their contemplative life have devoted themselves in
prayer and labor to Christ's glorification. Twenty-five years were spent in
saving love for the neighbour, twenty-five years of labor in the vineyard of
God. Beauty and Peace have grown here
out of Christ Himself; beauty in their religious mysticism, peace in their
community and in their souls.
At half past four in the
morning, while Trinidad is still asleep, the Monks and Brothers rise to sing
praises to the Holy Trinity and to beg the divine blessing on the work of the
priests and nuns on the island. Seven
times a day, the monks unite in the chapel to offer the Almighty the hymn of
their worship, for the benefit of themselves and of the 425,000 Trinidadians,
whose sanctification and salvation is the object of their constant prayer. Built in 1914, the chapel endured twenty-three
seasons of tropical sun and rain. One
enters and with astonishment one sees the artful work of the monks, high in the
mountains. Altars and choir benches are
made of beautiful wood and shine from maintenance. After the chants of the monks, there is a
silence in the chapel, which is moved and filled with a holy peace, the peace
in Christ.
In the next building, where
the brothers undergo the novitiate, they study, and the cells are next to it. The white, clear spaces are their paradise of
pleasure; above the door everyone has the name of a saint. You will find the same simplicity, which is
also greatness. The day is dedicated to
the labor of the mind and hands. The
monks teach, the brothers patch the shoes, build and restore the buildings; all
find God's blessing hand in their labor.
The new guest house, built by
Brother Gabriël, is located on the mountainside. It invites everyone and enters
through the wide entrance gate, where the word "Pax" is written
above. "Peace...". It is a modest size, which feels so soft and
peaceful in these confusing days. It is the genuine Benedictine hospitality
with which one is received, and the visitor becomes a friend of the Benedictine
life. Retreats are also given in the
guesthouse, which will give strength to man and awaken him to spiritual life. In the silence of the falling night one feels
God's closeness so well and many lost people were brought back to God here. It is a building that can compete with the
most modern hotel in terms of modern comfort. The bedrooms and sitting rooms
are well furnished and spacious. Each
bedroom has a modern washbasin with running water. There are bathrooms and showers, electric
light; everything is at the service of the visitors and guests. The beautiful Trinidadian landscape surrounds
it on all sides, from window to window, God's mild nature speaks His beauty.
Looking back at this
twenty-five-year Benedictine life in Trinidad, feelings come to mind that are
related to the words that a Trinidadian newspaper wrote about twenty years ago:
"We can only joyfully consider the vast revival of the Order. We are comforted, with the Benedictine Order
appearing in our midst, which carries with it the exalted and beautiful
traditions and makes us feel the influence of its peace in us, exemplifies an
untiring zeal in industry and science."
Catholic Netherlands, Mount
"St. Benedict" counts on your prayer and generous support. Pray God that the untiring work of the
Benedictines may bear its fruit!
Dutch sons of the Holy
Willibrord, Trinidad awaits you!
There is still much work to be
done, and the cropland of which Christ spoke is open to you under the
Trinidadian sun.
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25 Years of the Benedictine Mission in Trinidad
August 1, 1938. Article in the monthly Illustrated magazine
"De Katholieke Missiën" (The Catholic Missions) in the Netherlands. The magazine was published by the missionaries
of Steil in Uden, a minor village in the south of the Netherlands. Why does a magazine in almost unknown Uden
publish this? It might be because the
future abbot Dom Adelbert van Duin went to school in Uden before he went to
Mount St. Benedict.
In the British West Indies
lies the island of the Holy Trinity, Trinidad, on which the 275-meter-high mountain
"St. Benedict" rises. On the
mountain, the monks and brothers live according to the rules of Saint Benedict.
25 Years have been spent in saving love
for one another; 25 years of hard labor in the vineyard of God. Beauty and peace have blossomed there; beauty
in their religious mysticism; peace in the community and in the souls. . .
25 Years ago, four men, tired
and packed, were seen climbing a mountain on Trinidad.
(According to Wikipedia there were three men, Dom Ambrose, Dom Paul, and
Dom Mayeul. They were housed in the
Parish of Arouca. A month later they
were joined by brother Joseph Kleinman the carpenter. and brother Donatian
Marcus. Brother Kleinman converted the
small existing hut into two rooms, an oratory and a dormitory. He also brought fresh water to the monastery
by laying down several thousand feet of pipe to bring fresh water at a rate of
five gallons per minute. As they
travelled on the 6th of October, the first whole day on the mount
was the 7th of October. That
was the day of Our Lady, and they were monks of exile from Brazil. So, I assume it is there where the name of the
monastery "Our Lady of Excile" comes from. The first Holy Mass in the chapel was August
10, 1913.)
Beneath them lay the valleys
in which industrious people were working; up against the slope was a lonely
country. Nature is rich. Palm trees rose against the blue sky, in which
the song sings of God's sumptuous works. Four monks came here and found what they had
sought in vain in the busy hasty life: silence and loneliness. High in the mountains they wanted to pursue
their life purpose: to glorify Christ
through the contemplative life in prayer and labor. The abbot, Dom Mayeul de Caigney O.S.B. with
three members of his congregation, decided to buy 66 morgen land, located on
the slope of the St. John's Village.
(Please look up what is a morgen land in Wikipedia. It is also an English word but it comes from
the Dutch and German morgen and that means morrow (where the English say
tomorrow), and that is what it is, the amount of land you can plough in a
morning, a little less than one hectare. According to Wikipedia the land was bought
from the Trinidadian Andrew Gomez.).
They built a hut that would
grow into a thriving Priory in 25 years. God has blessed the efforts and gradually the
monastery buildings expanded. The
Paradise of natural beauty became too small. Now it covers over 600 hectares. Cocoa plantations are located around the Priory.
Thus, a difficult work that began 25
years ago has been rewarded and blessed with a steady expansion. The mountain was soon named after its
inhabitants, Mount St. Benedict.
On the
mountain
Mount St. Benedict is a
mountain of picturesque solitude. Sheltered from every storm, it lies in an
eternally restful clean nature.
In the middle of this nature
lies the Priory with its large and beautiful buildings. It is half past four in
the morning and Trinidad is still asleep. But on Mount, monks and brothers have
risen to sing praises to the Holy Trinity. The voices sound even and clear in
the early morning as they beg the Divine blessing on the work of the priests
and nuns on the island. Seven times the monks unite in the chapel to offer the
Almighty their worship for the benefit of themselves and of the 425,000
Trinidadians, whose sanctification and salvation is the object of their
constant prayer.
When the last notes of their
song have died away in the evening, the Priory is enveloped in a silence, which
is moved and filled with a holy peace, the Peace in Christ. . .
The
Priory
The Priory has 50 members, the
majority of which are Dutch. Built in 1914, the chapel has endured twenty-three
seasons of tropical sun and rain.
One enters the chapel and with
amazement one sees the artful work of the monks. Altars and choir stalls are
made of beautiful wood from the forests in the work shop of the monastery.
Although the chapel is simple, the liturgy is performed in all its details and
with all the splendor.
The novitiate of the brothers is housed
in the next building. The white, clear cells above the door bear the name of a
saint. In the cell one finds simplicity, which is also their greatness; it is
the place where one withdraws in solitude, it is also their
"university".
The day is dedicated to the
labor of the mind and hands. The monks also provide education. At San-Fernando,
the island's second city, a school has been established by the Benedictines,
while they carry out the missions on the island of Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, a hundred small islands. The island of St. Vincent, with Honduras,
is the only country where the Caribbean is still found today, the original
Indians, formerly a powerful warlike people. Every month these islands are visited
by a missionary in a sailing boat; such a sea voyage lasts from 14 days to a
month, wherever the wind blows. With it all stands for 2000 souls to 1 priest;
so there is still a significant shortage of Benedictine missionaries.
The brothers work in various
crafts and in the cocoa plantations, where they lead the natives. Although the
crisis has also seriously affected its influence here, this culture is slowly
emerging again. This is how the monks and brothers live and work in Trinidad.
The
Guest House
The new guest house is built
against the mountainside, built by the Dutch brother architect Gabriël. With
genuine Benedictine hospitality you will be received there and the visitor will
soon become a friend of Benedictine life. Retreats are also held in the guest
house. 1937 saw more than 1,000 guests coming up hill for peace and finding
peace. In the silence one feels God's proximity so well and many a lost soul
was brought back to God here.
The work is difficult, but
Mount St. Benedict counts on the support of the Catholic Netherlands. Pray God
that the work of the Benedictines may bear fruit.
Trinidad: the cocoa fruits are
brought together in one place in the plantation, opened there and the salty
contents are brought to the sweat chamber in baskets and dried in the sun.
After that, the natives are fed with bare feet by the natives, which gives the
beans a high shine.
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March
19, 1942. Article in Amigoe di Curaçao
Priestly
ordination of Dom Bernardus Vlaar by the Archbishop of Port of Spain.
On the feast day of Saint
Joseph, March 19, His Highness Your Excellency the Archbishop of Port of Spain
visited the Benedictine Monastery at Mount St. Benedict in Trinidad. He
administered the priestly ordination to the Dutch Dom Bernardus Vlaar from
Hoorn. Two days later at the feast of St. Benedict, this new Priest first
celebrated his Holy Mass.
(Please lookup in Google Maps the location of the town Hoorn in the
Netherlands. It is some distance above Amsterdam. It is a trade-harbor with a
rich agricultural environment behind it.)
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Mei
28, 1943. Article in Amigoe di Curaçao
Mount
St. Benedict Dutch Dom Wilfridus Broens deceased 64 years old
Father
Broens
On May 28, the Dutch Father
Dom Wilfridus Broens O.S.B died in San-Fernando, Trinidad. Born in Wychen in
the Netherlands (that is in the east near
Nijmegen). He was 64 years old, 28 years professed, and 23 years priest.
Was ordained a Priest in Port of Spain and was in our station of St. Vincent
Island for several years, then in various places in Trinidad. The funeral took
place at Mount St. Benedict in our own convent cemetery and was performed by
His High Excellency the Archbishop.
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January 10, 1944
article in Amigoe di Curaçao
A
beautiful mission post of Dutch origin.
We learn from the "Port-of-Spain-Gazette"
that His High Excellency Mgr. Finbar Ryan O.P., Archbishop of Port of Spain,
Trinidad, ordained three Benedictines there as priests. Two of these are Dutch:
Dom Anselmus van der Heydt O.S.B. and Dom Paul van der Eijnden O.S.B., and the
third is a Chinese, scholared with the Dutch missionaries, Dom Chrysostomos Lee
Sing O.S.B. The former Father van der Heydt still has an uncle in the same
monastery, Dom Odo van der Heydt, who is sub-prior there.
The Prior of the monastery,
Dom Huug van der Sanden O.S.B. attended the ceremony, as did many North
American chaplains and officers stationed in Trinidad. Almost all officers
during the ceremony were Dutch. The Archbishop said in His sermon that many
cannot now be ordained a priest in occupied territory, and that he was
therefore delighted to be able to consecrate people of occupied countries to
the highest wisdom of priest in free territory. His High Excellency also
emphasized the importance of native priest.
In the priory of Mount St.
Benedict, apart from fathers, there are now also a few indigenous people from
Trinidad, including two local people and a Chinese. This ties the priory even
more with the people. A small seminar has now also opened, where there are
already 6 students. Then there is a boarding school for boys who study for the
English Acts.
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October
4, 1944 article in Amigoe di Curaçao
Festival
of Priest van Ars, patronage of Seminary Mount St. Benedict
The
Dutch Benedictines in Trinidad
These days the Dutch
Benedictines celebrated with great luster in Trinidad the feast of the Holy
Pastor of Ars, patron of the Archiepiscopal seminary at Mount St. Benedict. The
Archbishop of Port of Spain and a large crowd of clergy attended the ceremonies.
The Holy Sacrifice was
commissioned by Dom Bernard Vlaar, Rector of the Seminary, assisted by other
Dutch priests.
In an address, the Archbishop
pointed to the importance of a native clergy in spreading religion. The seminar
headed by these Dutch Benedictines works for this purpose.
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March
29, 1947 article in Amigoe di Curaçao.
14th
centenary of the death of the Father of the monks Saint Benedict.
The
ideal of Benedict in the West Indies
All over the world people
commemorate the 14th centenary of the death of the Father of the monks Saint
Benedict. His ideal is also being pursued in the West Indies.
In Trinidad people know Mount
Saint Benedict, where Dutch, Flemish and English fathers try to realize the
ideal of Benedict in the twentieth century. "Receive the guests well", Benedict
said, many know in Curaçao that when they arrived at Mount Saint Benedict the
prior welcomed them very warmly to his guest quarters. It is not yet a grand abbey there in Trinidad,
but it is reported that the priory will now become an independent abbey. The work of the Fathers is known, they have
their agriculture and their workshops, especially the beekeeping is so good
that they have been able to market their honey in England under a special
brand. The work of the fathers was very
difficult during the war, as no working people could be obtained. People walked away to the military base of the
Americans where there was plenty of work for a very good pay.
The Fathers also participated
in direct soul care, such as in places like San-Fernando, where they work as
chaplains.
After the war, new monks
arrived from the Netherlands so that we hope that they can start the work with
new enthusiasm, especially the beautiful work of their own seminary for
Trinidad, a task that the Dominican Archbishop of Trinidad dedicated to them.
The Benedictine fathers are
also known in Caracas, where they built the monastery of San Hosé de Avila on
one of the hills outside the city center, they spread the St. Joseph devotion,
and they also worked to improve youth.
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June 16, 1947 article in Amigoe di Curaçao
Dutch
abbot elected in Trinidad
The first abbot of the monastery of the
Dutch Benedictines Mount St. Benedict's Priory in Tunapuna, Trinidad B.W.I.,
has been elected Father Dr. Dom Adelbertus van Duin O.S.B. The abbot ordination took place in Trinidad on
June 16. The new abbot was born January
25, 1915 in Rotterdam, studied at the college of the Holy Cross in Uden and
completed his higher studies at the monastery of Mount Saint Benedict. He was ordained a priest at Trinidad B.W.I. on
July 27, 1939. He obtained his doctorate
in philosophy and canon law in the Collegio di San Anselmo in Rome. In 1946 he returned to Trinidad.
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January 2020: A translation with Google Translate by Jan
Koenraadt. Articles found in the website www.delpher.nl. Just type Mount St. Benedict, but what you
will get will be in Dutch.
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EDITED
by Ladislao Kertesz, kertesz11@yahoo.com,
if you would like to be in the circular’s mailing list or any old boy that you
would like to include.
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Photos:
34JK0011MSBEDI, The crafts shop
34JK0012MSBEDI, The noviciate of the brothers
34JK0013MSBEDI, The church of the priory
34JK0014MSBEDI, Cacao estate
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