Solemn Vows Ceremony
On July 11, 2025, Brother Lazarus and Brother Maximilian made their Solemn Vows. In this ceremony, Brother Lazarus and Maximilian made the Solemn profession of the Benedictine vows of stability, obedience, and conversion to a monastic way of life - a commitment to faithfully live as a monk until death.
Stability: By the vow of stability, the monk commits himself to remaining in the monastery where he professes vows until death. This binds the monk both to the community itself and to monastic life in that particular community. Stability fosters his abiding love of Christ as he lives out his days within the concrete circumstances of this particular monastic family.
Conversion of Life: By the vow of conversion of life (conversatio morum), the monk commits himself to the ascetical labor of sharing Christ's passion by dying to sin and choosing that which leads to the life and freedom of the resurrection. This paschal character of the monastic way of life shines forth in the monk's following of Christ through his poverty and celibate love.
Obedience: Christ, following the will of his Father, laid down his life for all and opened for the future the hope of resurrection. Through his listening for and heeding God's will as it comes to him both through the abbot and in the needs of his brothers, the monk seeks to express through his life that Christ is his Lord and King. In this spirit, the monk vows to obey his superiors, in accordance with the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Constitutions of the congregation to which the community belongs.
Brother Lazarus had this to say about the Solemn Vows ceremony, “The whole ceremony was profoundly full of meaning. Having my family there as Matthew 19:29 was being read was one of the most moving parts and just knowing everything in my life thus far has been leading here and everything after will be shaped by this moment of choosing God above all and dying and rising with him.”
Brother Maximilian echoed a similar sentiment, “When I commit to this place, I die to my old self ; my ambitions, my hopes, the things I want and the things I long for. Being human, I still very much have my own wishes and ambitions but they come second to the community. Legally I'm the man I was before, but in every other respect I am to become the new man God wishes me to be, according to the needs of the community and in obedience to the abbot and my other just Superiors. The promises at the beginning of the profession remind me that failure to do so is a mockery of God.”
Congratulations to Brother Lazarus and Brother Maximilian! We are excited to see the work you all continue doing for this community.
