This past Friday, on the feast of the Sacred Heart, Br Augustine Wilmeth, who hails from South Carolina, made his solemn vows as a member of the Benedictine Monks of Norcia, promising to live as a monk until the day of his death. Family and friends from the United States and Italy were present for the ceremony, which took place while a thunderstorm added its voice to the chants and ritual. (Photos reproduced with permission from the monks’ most recent newsletter; click here to subscribe though their website.)
Here we see a beautiful custom which formed part of the rite of religious profession among many different religious orders: the newly professed prostrates himself before the altar, and a black funeral pall is laid over him, symbolizing his death to the world, that he may rise in Christ.
After the ceremony, despite the rain, students from the juggling troupe of St Gregory the Great Academy, who had stopped in Norcia during their annual pilgrimage to Rome, performed for the monks and their guests.
