On Sunday, November 13th, the Church of the Holy Land celebrated the abbatial blessing of Dom René Hascoët, the fifth abbot of the community of Trappist monks of Latrun.
Don René received the emblems of his office from the hands of Mons. Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo: the Rule of St. Benedict, the mitre, the ring and the pastoral staff.
“This blessing is public,” said Mons. Marcuzzo in his speech to the new abbot, “to show how deeply rooted the monks are in the universal Church and in the local Church. This is why the bishop is giving it.”
In addition to Mons. Marcuzzo, the Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Antonio Franco and two bishops from the Oriental Catholic Churches were also present: Mons. Paul Sayyah of the Maronites and Mons. Pierre Melki of the Syriac Catholics. The Abbot Fathers of Sept-Fons, the founding Abbey of Latrun, of Timadeuc (France), where Dom René entered in 1974, before being sent to Latrun in 1992, and of Bricquebec, also came especially from France.
The Abbot and his community were also surrounded by the love and prayers of other monastic communities of the Holy Land, in particular those that live according to the Rule of St. Benedict: the Olivetans of Abu Gosh, the monks of the Dormition and the Benedictines of the Mount of Olives.
Other neighbouring religious also joined in the Mass of thanksgiving.
“We feel an integral part of the local Church,” the abbot stressed at the end of the celebration, "although our vocation distinguishes us from the others. The monastery, says St. Benedictine, must not be an isolated church, but the heart of the Church. And this is what we want to be: a home of prayer in the heart of this Church we love.”
The fourteen monks of Latrun are not only men of prayer, but also men of work. In true Cistercian tradition, the monks live on the fruits of their manual labour: honey, olive oil and the well known vineyard of Latrun.
The Trappist monks are a reformed group of the large Cistercian monastic family which obeys the Rule of St. Benedict.
Article and Photos by MAB
Don René received the emblems of his office from the hands of Mons. Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo: the Rule of St. Benedict, the mitre, the ring and the pastoral staff.
“This blessing is public,” said Mons. Marcuzzo in his speech to the new abbot, “to show how deeply rooted the monks are in the universal Church and in the local Church. This is why the bishop is giving it.”
In addition to Mons. Marcuzzo, the Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Antonio Franco and two bishops from the Oriental Catholic Churches were also present: Mons. Paul Sayyah of the Maronites and Mons. Pierre Melki of the Syriac Catholics. The Abbot Fathers of Sept-Fons, the founding Abbey of Latrun, of Timadeuc (France), where Dom René entered in 1974, before being sent to Latrun in 1992, and of Bricquebec, also came especially from France.
The Abbot and his community were also surrounded by the love and prayers of other monastic communities of the Holy Land, in particular those that live according to the Rule of St. Benedict: the Olivetans of Abu Gosh, the monks of the Dormition and the Benedictines of the Mount of Olives.
Other neighbouring religious also joined in the Mass of thanksgiving.
“We feel an integral part of the local Church,” the abbot stressed at the end of the celebration, "although our vocation distinguishes us from the others. The monastery, says St. Benedictine, must not be an isolated church, but the heart of the Church. And this is what we want to be: a home of prayer in the heart of this Church we love.”
The fourteen monks of Latrun are not only men of prayer, but also men of work. In true Cistercian tradition, the monks live on the fruits of their manual labour: honey, olive oil and the well known vineyard of Latrun.
The Trappist monks are a reformed group of the large Cistercian monastic family which obeys the Rule of St. Benedict.
Article and Photos by MAB