Becoming an Olivetan Benedictine: a vocation of prayer and work

The phrase "Olivetan Benedictine" carries layers of history within its two words. It points to monks who live by the sixth-century Rule of Saint Benedict while drawing their particular spirit from a reform begun in 1313 on a Tuscan hillside called Monte Oliveto. The Order of Monte Oliveto, as it is formally known, was founded by three Sienese nobles who withdrew from city life to seek a stricter observance of the Rule. Within a few generations the community had reached across Italy, and today its houses are found in the Americas, Africa, and beyond, each carrying the same quiet charism of prayer, work, and silence.

For Australians who feel a quiet tug toward contemplative prayer, the road crosses hemispheres. In the parishes of western Sydney built by post-war Italian and Irish migrants, and in the bush churches of outback Queensland where Mass is sometimes celebrated once a fortnight, Catholic life has long cultivated vocations to religious life across Australia. The Olivetan tradition, though rooted in Italian soil, finds a welcome hearing in a country where the monastic round of prayer and labour still speaks with uncommon clarity against the rush of contemporary life.

Roots on a Tuscan hillside

The Olivetan reform emerged during unrest in fourteenth-century Italy, when many monastic houses had grown lax and the Avignon papacy had unsettled the rhythms of Western Christianity. Three friends from Siena withdrew to a property near Arezzo and began a life of prayer and manual work that strictly observed the Benedictine Rule. They were named Olivetans for the olive groves surrounding their first monastery, Monte Oliveto Maggiore, which still rises above the Tuscan landscape in its massive Gothic-Renaissance cloister.

Their reform emphasised three commitments that still define the order: personal humility, communal stability, and the dignity of work. From the start the Olivetans supported themselves through labour rather than begging, a practice that gave them both self-sufficiency and a quiet independence from local political factions. As the order grew, monasteries were founded across Italy, France, Spain, Austria, and the Americas, each keeping the same round of prayer and the same expectation that every brother would carry his weight in the kitchen, the garden, the scriptorium, or the workshop.

The prayer that orders every hour

The heart of Olivetan life is the Liturgy of the Hours, the sevenfold prayer of the Church that marks dawn with Vigils and closes the day with Compline. The monks gather in choir several times a day, chanting the psalms in a plain but heartfelt tone. Between the hours there are long stretches of silence, broken only by the readings monks know as the "little hours," Terce, Sext, and None, which fall like small posts across the morning and afternoon.

For Australians accustomed to the bright noon of arvo meetings, this unchanging schedule can feel both unfamiliar and deeply attractive. The monks do not own watches in the ordinary sense; their day is shaped by the bell tower, by the time of Prime, by the moment the bell rings for None. The prayer is not a private devotion but a public work, undertaken on behalf of the whole Church. It is the Opus Dei, the work of God, before which every other labour is set in second place.

Stability, obedience, and the conversion of life

The three vows that Benedictine monks take — stability, obedience, and conversion of life — sit at the centre of Olivetan identity. Stability means pledging oneself to one specific community for life, not to an order in general but to the brothers who pray beside you in this particular choir stall, who eat beside you at this particular refectory table. Obedience, in the Benedictine sense, is not a passive waiting for orders but an active listening that seeks the will of God through the voice of the abbot and the rhythm of the community.

Conversion of life, the third vow, is the broadest and the most elusive. It refers to the lifelong work of turning away from self-will and self-regard, of letting the rough edges of character be filed down by the patient abrasion of communal life. For Australians raised in a culture that prizes a "fair go" and a certain rugged individualism, the vow of stability can seem counter-cultural. Yet many who visit return home saying that what they saw was not a closing but a kind of freedom, the freedom of a life ordered by prayer rather than by the demands of a 24-hour news feed.

Manual labour as a sacred rhythm

Saint Benedict himself wrote that monks are "truly monks" when they live by the labour of their hands, and the Olivetans have taken this teaching with particular seriousness. From the beginning their founders refused to live by alms alone and insisted that every brother take his turn at the work of the house, in the garden, the bakery, the kitchen, the chapel, or the construction site when a new building was rising.

This work is not a utilitarian necessity but a form of prayer in itself. The monk who kneads bread for the brothers kneads it as an act of love; the monk who repairs a roof tile or prunes an olive branch does so as a continuation of the chant that left his lips an hour before. For Australians who come from a land of wide pastoral stations and a hard-working agricultural tradition, this joining of prayer and labour often strikes a deep chord. The community's reflections on the place of work in monastic identity, including its piece on manual labour as a vocation, set this out with characteristic clarity.

Hospitality as a corner-stone

Hospitality has been a Benedictine virtue since the time of Saint Benedict himself, who devoted an entire chapter of his Rule to the reception of visitors. He wrote that all guests who arrive should be received as Christ, and the Olivetans have preserved this tradition with care. At monasteries across the order, guests are welcomed for retreats, days of prayer, or simply a quiet hour in the chapel.

For Australians who travel to Louisiana, the practicalities of arranging such a visit benefit from a little forethought. The community offers helpful guidance for those considering a group retreat, with practical notes on arranging a group visit, including what points of arrival suit a coach, where to park, and how to keep the day orderly. The monks themselves keep most days for ordinary tasks, but they welcome visitors for Mass, for the Liturgy of the Hours, or for private retreat.

Discerning the call from a far country

Most Australians who feel drawn to Olivetan life will not live next door to a monastery. The order's houses are spread across the world, and a young man discerning a call may first encounter the community through its website, its written publications, or the witness of a friend. Some who browse the monastery's online library come across pieces that surprise them by their breadth, including an essay with the unusual title gokken goede dag versus slecht, a Dutch reflection on the contrast between a clear and a clouded day of discernment.

This breadth is characteristic of the Benedictine literary tradition, which has ranged from studies of Scripture to essays on bees, herbs, and the tides of fortune. The work of discernment itself often moves through such contrasting days. Some days the call is clear; other days the same call feels distant and elusive. The monks invite those drawn to such a life to come and see, to stay a few days, to pray beside the brothers and let the call settle in the heart.

Practical ways to draw closer to the Olivetan life

Visit the monks in Plaisance

The abbey church at Mother of the Redeemer Monastery, in the small Louisiana town of Plaisance, rises beside the woods and the bayou. Visitors are welcome to attend daily Mass, join the brothers in the Liturgy of the Hours, or spend a few days in retreat. The brothers keep a quiet guest house, and the office can help arrange visits for those coming from afar. If you feel a stirring in the heart, do not let the day pass without asking the monks what the life is like. Send a note, plan a visit, and let the bell at the chapel door describe what the abbey has to offer.