The feast of Saint Benedict and the blessing of new oblates
Each year on 21 July, Benedictine communities honour the father of Western monasticism. At Mother of the Redeemer Monastery in Plaisance, Louisiana, that observance belongs to the monks’ rhythm of prayer, communal work and shared celebration. The monastery is an Olivetan Benedictine community within the Diocese of Lafayette, and the Feast of Saint Benedict brings together its history, its members and those who support the community from beyond its walls.
For Australian Catholics, the blessing of new oblates offers a familiar theme in an unfamiliar setting. Oblation is not a religious vow of poverty or obedience, nor does it make a person a monk. It is a way of associating with a monastic community, living according to its Rule and sharing in its prayer. Observances in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth provide the context for understanding how this ancient Benedictine commitment can belong within family, parish and working life.
| Aspect | Benedictine observance | Australian expression |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Benedict’s feast | Scripture, Eucharist, monastic renewal and the blessing of new oblates | A saint’s day Mass and parish gathering in communities across Australia |
| Oblation | A lay commitment to live with the Rule and pray with a monastic community | Involvement through a parish, household, workplace and prayerful friendship |
| Relics | Reverence given to bodily remains through which a holy life is remembered | A familiar Catholic practice of honouring saints and seeking their intercession |
| Hospitality | Guests are received with respect, guidance and quiet | Volunteers, morning teas and parish networks help people feel welcome |
The feast at the heart of Benedictine life
Saint Benedict wrote a Rule concerned with both spiritual depth and the practical organisation of daily life. Its emphasis on prayer, obedience, stability and the common good explains why his feast is more than a commemoration of an individual. It is an occasion for the community to renew the commitments that make its Benedictine identity visible. For the monks of Mother of the Redeemer, that renewal takes place within a community whose contemplative life is expressed through the liturgy, silence, study and manual work.
A fitting observance places the Eucharist at the centre, accompanied by the reading of Benedictine teaching, the blessing of new oblates and the community’s prayer for its members and supporters. In Louisiana, July is hot, but the season can sharpen the symbolism of Benedict’s words about the “straight path” of charity. For Australian readers accustomed to 21 July being winter, the connection becomes tangible in parish lunches of soup, bread and damper. Such meals, held after a saint’s day Mass, express fellowship in a recognisably Australian way.
What the oblation changes
An oblate is a Christian layperson who chooses an intentional bond with a particular monastery. The relationship is called an oblation because the person offers a way of life to God and aligns it with the monastic community. In return, the community receives the oblate’s friendship, prayers and practical support. This reciprocal exchange is sometimes described as spiritual friendship, but it does not remove the distinction between lay affiliation and monastic profession.
The blessing of new oblates makes that bond public within the worshipping community. It expresses hope, welcome and a willingness to be accountable to the Rule. Monks, by contrast, profess solemn vows and live entirely within the monastery, while oblates retain their responsibilities in the wider world. Their contribution is not remote: they bring the concerns of families, workplaces and neighbourhoods into the monastery’s prayer, while the monks offer the perspective of a community ordered towards God.
For Australian Catholics, this distinction can clarify the meaning of vocation without making monastic life seem distant. An oblate might support the monastery through parish fundraising, skilled work, regular prayer or a connection with a religious community in a capital city. The commitment need not be dramatic to be genuine. Its measure lies in faithfulness, while the Rule provides a shared language for repentance, balance and attentive love.
Prayer that shapes ordinary life
The monastery’s prayer is the beating centre of its existence. Monks gather for the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, and they also make time for silent meditation, the reading of Scripture and Lectio Divina. Outside formal liturgy, silence and common work allow the same attentiveness to shape their conversations and decisions. On Saint Benedict’s feast, these habits are placed together in a celebration that points towards the ordinary days on which the community continues to live its Rule.
Australian parish life offers many ways to participate in such a celebration. Some communities meet for a weekday Mass, others arrange a quiet afternoon of prayer, and online gatherings can connect distant friends with a monastery or retreat centre. The local parish market is another familiar setting: cake stalls, raffles, bottle drives and a sausage sizzle can turn the saint’s day into an expression of practical solidarity. Such customs do not replace the monastery’s worship; they help local communities participate in its wider mission.
The link between contemplative prayer and outward service deserves particular attention. Benedict’s Rule does not separate contemplation from action. An Olivetan community seeks to hold them together, recognising that prayer changes how people meet the needs of others. Oblates can therefore become trusted partners in this work. Their support, friendship and advocacy connect the sanctuary with Australian families and communities, while the monastic rhythm offers a steady centre for their own spiritual lives.
Relics and the Australian devotional home
In Catholic tradition, relics are treated with reverence because they recall a person whose life bore witness to faith. They are venerated rather than treated as objects of divine power. This distinction is especially helpful for visitors who come from Protestant backgrounds or who have little familiarity with Catholic devotional customs. The approach is not based on curiosity about a fragment of bone or cloth, but on hope that the saints can be remembered in prayer and can intercede with God.
For further background, the monastery’s relic veneration guide explains the Benedictine understanding of relics and the proper disposition of veneration. The guide also places this practice within the wider life of faith, where the whole person, including the body, is honoured as a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Saint Benedict’s feast may prompt reflection on how physical objects and places can carry memory, but the centre remains his Rule and the Gospel.
Many Australian Catholic homes have a modest sacred corner containing a crucifix, holy cards, devotional books or a saint’s medal. A Benedictine medal or a small image of Saint Benedict could become part of that daily prayer. Such a simple domestic practice can accompany the monastery’s observance without claiming to reproduce it. It also offers a practical connection for people who wish to pray with the monks but cannot travel to Louisiana.
Hospitality at the monastery gate
A monastery guest is not simply a visitor. Guests may arrive for prayer, a retreat, liturgical participation or quiet reflection, and their first contact often establishes the tone of their stay. Silence, privacy and the needs of the resident community all matter. This is why the traditional role of the porter is more important than the word “porter” might suggest in a contemporary visitor centre.
The monastery’s porter’s welcome guide describes the porter as a guardian of hospitality. This person greets arriving guests, explains the rhythm of the monastery and helps them understand where they may go and how they can participate. The work combines friendliness with attentiveness: a visitor should feel expected, while the community’s enclosure remains protected. In Australian terms, it resembles the trusted volunteer at a parish information desk, though it also carries a distinctly monastic sense of service.
Hospitality is not limited to formal retreats. It is expressed through the meal shared after an event, the assistance given to a guest who is unsure where to sit, or the quiet welcome offered to someone who has never encountered monastic life. Those details reveal the Benedictine meaning of welcome. Guests are received not for their status or usefulness, but as neighbours whose presence can enrich the community. Such hospitality also prepares the ground for the new oblates, whose lives are being offered within a community committed to prayer and care.
Planning a pilgrimage from Australia
Visitors from Australia should contact the monastery before making a journey to Plaisance. Retreat dates, liturgical opportunities, accommodation details and the practical requirements of a visit can change, so assumptions based on another monastery may lead to disappointment. Current retreat dates, contact details and directions are published by Mother of the Redeemer, the monastery’s official website. It is also the best place to ask about joining a particular prayer service or arranging a period of personal retreat.
Travel planning requires a little adjustment. Plaisance lies in Louisiana’s Central Time Zone, while Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth use Australian Eastern, Central and Western Time. During daylight saving periods, the difference can reach seventeen hours between Louisiana and Perth. Visitors joining an online prayer should confirm the local time rather than relying on a calendar invitation alone. July also brings Louisiana heat and humidity, even though the same month is winter in Australia, so seasonal clothing needs to suit the destination rather than the date.
On arrival, guests should observe the monastery’s guidance about phones, photography, silence and participation. Closed shoes and clothing suitable for a place of worship are usually sensible, but specific requests should be confirmed in advance. A retreat is not a sightseeing excursion, and even an informal period of quiet reflection benefits from an unhurried attitude. When guests approach the monastery with reverence, hospitality becomes more fruitful for everyone.
Supporting the monastery’s next chapter
Mother of the Redeemer is planning a chapel expansion intended to serve its growing community of worshippers, retreat guests and oblates. Such a project involves more than bricks and roofs. A chapel must accommodate prayer, accessibility, visitors and the continued formation of people who wish to deepen their relationship with the Benedictine way of life. Support for the project therefore joins physical stewardship to the monastery’s mission of prayer and welcome.
Benedictine formation is not confined to Louisiana. A related perspective can be found at the Bosnian novitiate community, whose site illustrates how a young monastic community presents its life, work and formation to interested readers. Looking beyond one monastery reveals a wider pattern: contemplative communities seek to make Benedictine wisdom available to people whose lives are shaped by contemporary pressures, while remaining anchored in Scripture, tradition and communal prayer.
Choose a concrete way to participate: make a donation towards the chapel expansion, offer professional or volunteer assistance, connect with the monastery’s giving or retreat options, or commit to praying for its community. In sharing the Feast of Saint Benedict and the Blessing of New Oblates, you help a small Louisiana community keep Benedict’s promise of prayer, stability and hospitality alive in the Gulf South.