Saint John's Abbey Oblates
Annual Summer Retreat 2008
Contact the Oblate Office about accommodations for the
annual retreat that will take place on campus, 10-12 July 2008.
Introduction and Origins of the Oblates
An Oblate is a lay or clerical, single or married, person formally associated to a particular monastery. The Oblate seeks to live a life in harmony with the spirit of Saint Benedict as revealed in the Rule of Saint Benedict and its contemporary expression.
Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) had fostered the development of Benedictine Oblates, men and women who desire to mold their lives according to the principles and ideals of the Rule of Saint Benedict and share as members of the monastic family in the spiritual work of the monks.
Abbot Alcuin Deutsch OSB received the first sixty Oblates at Saint John's on the Feast of Saint Benedict, 21 March 1925. The movement was fostered in the missions, schools and parishes attached to the abbey. A strong spiritual bond was in this way created between the Oblates and Saint John's Abbey and its activities, while an understanding and devotion to Saint Benedict's way of life was given a fresh impetus.
At the present time the Oblates of Saint John's Abbey number about 750. Oblates are invited to come to Saint John's for the Annual Oblate Retreat in July and the Days of Recollection offered in Advent and Lent, but they are welcome to visit us at any time.
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