New Seminarians Begin Semester

Monks and Seminarians returned to class this week with the beginning of the fall semester.  The new Saint Vincent Seminarians concluded orientation with a group photo in front of the Seminary residence. Eighteen new men join the seminary community from various diocese and abbeys, among them are Brothers Rafael Quesada O.S.B., Miguel González O.S.B. , Basil Alexander O.S.B. of Saint Vincent Archabbey, Brother Martinho Zevallos O.S.B. of Mosterio de Sao Bento in Sao Bento in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Brothers Thomas Sanders O.S.B. and Louis Carey O.S.B. of Saint Andrew’s Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio.

Please continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life!

Saint Vincent Hero

Fr. Emmeran Bliemel, O.S.B.

 Father Emmeran Bliemel, a monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey who was the first Catholic chaplain killed on the battlefield during an American war while attending to his men.  Several monks served in the Civil War, both for the Grand Army of the Republic (the Union Army), and for the Confederate Army. Father Bliemel served the Confederate Army as a chaplain for the 10th Tennessee Infantry and 4th Kentucky Infantry of the Confederate States of America. He was killed while performing last rites on a soldier during the Battle of Jonesboro, which marked the end of the Atlanta Campaign.  

Elizabeth Cousins, Saint Vincent Archabbey Public Relations 

Holy Cross Cemetery

Tuscumbia, Alabama

In 1860 Father Bliemel was assigned to a German Catholic parish in Nashville, Tennessee. Six months after his arrival most of the adult men of his parish joined the Tenth Tennessee regiment to fight for the Confederacy. After Nashville was occupied by Union forces early in 1862,Father Bliemel dedicated himself to giving aid to wounded soldiers in Nashville, whether they were Confederate or Union. Smuggling medicine to Confederate forces, Father Bliemel was arrested twice by the Union occupation forces. Eventually Father Bliemel decided that he had to take a more active role. The Tenth Tennessee had elected him in absentia their chaplain. Seeking permission from his bishop, which was reluctantly given, Chaplain Bliemel joined the Tenth Tennessee. On August 31, 1864, now a veteran of many battles, Chaplain Bliemel stood with the men of the Tenth Tennessee as they launched an assault on a Union position during the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia. In the course of the attack Father ”Emery”, as the men fondly called him, performed his customary duty of rendering assistance to the wounded and the Last Rites to the dying. Colonel Grace, the commanding officer of the Tenth Tennessee (an Irish-Catholic Brigade), fell to the ground mortally wounded. Immediately Father Bliemel was at his side administering the Last Rites. In the midst of the sacrament, Father Bliemel was decapitated by a cannonball. Father Bliemel was the first American Catholic Chaplain to die on the battlefield. 

By Donald R. McClarey

Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica 107th Anniversary of Consecration

Completed in 1905, the St. Vincent Archabbey Basilica has stood as a symbol of our founder, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer's unshakable faith.  Although he did not live to see its construction, the Archabbot always dreamed of building a magnificent Church for the early Catholic immigrants who struggled to keep their faith in a foreign land.  On August 24, 1905 his dream would come true when Bishop John Francis Regis Canevin of the Diocese of Pittsburgh solemnly consecrated the Archabbey Church.  Exactly fifty years later, August 24, 1955, His Holiness Pope Pius XII elevated the Archabbey Church to the ecclesiastical rank of Minor Basilica.  Now today, 107 years after its consecration, St. Vincent Basilica still stands witness to the thousands of people who come to pray and worship the God in whom all things are possible.

For more information on the Archabbey Basilica, read this article written by our confrere, Fr. Brian Boosel:

http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/saint_vincent_archabbey_basilica_one_hundred_years/    

St. Vincent's Newest Novice - Br. Lawrence

Mr. Shawn Machia, now known as Br. Lawrence, was invested with the monastic habit at Morning Prayer on July 10.  He will spend the next year in the novitiate studying the Holy Rule of Benedict and the Psalter.  

The Feast of Saint Benedict, Founder of Western Monasticism

St. Benedict (480-547) lived in the sixth-century Italy when the great Roman Empire was in a state of chaos.  Rome had fallen to the barbarians in 410 and war was a constant threat.  During this turmoil the young Benedict left his native Nursia to attend school in Rome.  However, disgusted with the paganism and immorality, the youth renounced the world and fled for a cave in Subiaco, some thirty miles west of Rome, and became a hermit.

At Subiaco, it did not take long for this holy man's reputation and the stories of his great miracles to spread through the land.  Soon after, a group of monks arrived at his cave requesting Benedict to be their Abbot.  However, frustrated with Benedict's strict way of life, the monks tried to poison him.  Leaving these defiant monks behind, Benedict went on to establish twelve monasteries before founding the monastery of Monte Cassino where he would go on to write the Holy Rule which is still followed by monks throughout the world even to this day.  It was there that Benedict would spend the rest of his earthly life.  Supported by his Brothers, Benedict died standing with his hands raised in praise of God.