Father Edward Mazuski, O.S.B.

In 1990, faced by clear signs of an oncoming shortage of clergy, Pope John Paul II called a synod to discuss vocations to the priesthood, as well as the formation of priests. This led to his 1992 Apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, a letter written to the bishops, clergy and faithful on formation of priests in the present day. The scheme he laid out has become the default used for formation for priests. He says there are four essential types of formation required for every priest: human formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation and pastoral formation. The English Benedictine Congregation’s Ratio Institutiones, the document that forms the basis for the postulancy, novitiate and juniorate at Portsmouth Abbey, follows this same scheme. The place of novitiate classes within this scheme lies primarily in intellectual formation: deepening the novice’s understanding of the monastic life so that it can be lived out in the fullest possible manner, sanctifying the individual novice throughout the rest of their monastic life, and sanctifying the community through them. 

In the current schedule, the classes are: Monastic Theory and Practice (Fr. Gregory Havill), Monastic History (Fr. Paschal Scotti), Monastic Spirituality (Prior Michael Brunner), Liturgy (Br. Sixtus Roslevich), Latin (Abbot Matthew Stark), and a weekly chant practice led by myself. These courses help to get at the core both of what a Benedictine life is and how it is lived today. 

The Monastic Theory and Practice course uses the Rule of St. Benedict as its basis, and covers most of the basics about the monastic life as applied anywhere there is a Benedictine monastery. What do the vows of stability, conversatio morum and obedience taken by Benedictine monks mean? How does the Benedictine life take into account the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience? What are the main themes of the Rule? Monastic History starts from the beginning of a recognizable eremitical life in the Egyptian desert and looks at how that influenced the gradual development of monastic life in Western Europe, with John Cassian as a key figure, leading eventually to St. Benedict and the spread of Benedictine monasteries throughout the Middle Ages. At that point, the course shifts to a more local focus: the history and development of the English Benedictine Congregation, and the historical peculiarities that continue to shape who we are as a house and as a congregation.  

Monastic Spirituality also starts from the desert, through an exploration of the sayings of the Desert Fathers themselves and how to apply those within our monastic lives. It looks closely at the traditions of prayer that characterize EBC life, particularly the thirty minutes of meditation and thirty minutes of lectio that each monk is required to do on a daily basis. Liturgy looks at the communal prayer of the monastery, both in the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office, as well as the daily Mass. This is analyzed through both a practical and theoretical lens: both how are things done here and what is the significance of the particular rubrics and texts we use, as well as getting a broader understanding of the place of the Mass as the source and summit of the Christian life, and its centrality within the Monastic life. Chant practice looks at one very practical element of the liturgical life: how to sing it as well as we can. This involves first practicing some of the simpler chants, especially the Ordinaries (the parts of the Mass that don’t change) that are sung most frequently. This allows a focus on maintaining the pitch, and producing the right tone, a voice that blends in smoothly with the community. After solidly establishing these, the focus shifts to learning how to read the music from the graduale and establishing a natural sense of musicality. 

These courses constitute much of the intellectual formation necessary to be a good monk, and look at answering some of the fundamental questions that any novice will need to start to answer before taking vows. Monastic Theory and Practice answers the question: what is a monk? Monastic History answers the question: how did monasticism develop? Monastic Spirituality answers the question: how do monks pray by themselves? Liturgy answers the question: how do monks pray together? Chant and Latin supplement the other courses. Currently the only course that meets twice a week is Latin. Latin serves as an essential backdrop for the monastic life. It is both the official liturgical language of the Roman Rite, as well as the original language of the Rule of St. Benedict. This means that understanding the nuances of the Latin language can both help illuminate the texts of the liturgy, most of which are translated from Latin, and some of which remain in Latin, and help deepen the understanding of the Rule itself by allowing one to look more directly at what St. Benedict himself wrote. 

Importantly, some of the most essential formation done through these courses goes beyond the material itself, to the personal monastic experience of each teacher. There are currently six courses, each of them taught by a different monk. This means that, each week, a novice can spend time learning about the monastic life from six different Portsmouth Abbey monks, with six different sets of experiences that have formed their monastic lives. Each of these sets of experiences comes with wisdom that the novice can learn from in order to develop his own monastic life. This is what it means to say that formation is the work of a community. God willing, this formation will help the novice prepare for simple vows, then solemn vows, ultimately passing on the wisdom and experience he has received to the next generation of monks.