Saint Meinrad Archabbey welcomes five novices into community

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Criterion staff report

The Benedictine monastic community at Saint Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad welcomed five novices on Jan. 19 in a brief ceremony at the monastery entrance.

They now begin a year of monastic formation, including study of the Rule of St. Benedict and monastic history.

Novice Peter Szidik, 25, of Grand Rapids, Mich., is a 2011 graduate of the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

He worked for three years as a production manager in the byproducts and coal handling divisions at United States Steel near St. Louis. He also served as a college intern for two summers in Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology’s “One Bread, One Cup” youth liturgical leadership program.

Novice Jinu Thomas, 24, is a native of India who moved to the United States in 2009. He studied engineering physics at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2014.

Novice Timothy Herrmann, 27, of Findlay, Ohio, is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication management in 2010.

He worked as an associate editor for the national office of Beta Theta Pi fraternity from 2010-11, then at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology as director of alumni relations from 2011-14. He also served as a college intern for three summers in the “One Bread, One Cup” program.

Novice Thomas Fish, 24, of Poway, Calif., graduated in 2013 from Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology.

He has been a youth ministry volunteer and an intern at St. Gabriel Parish in Poway, and worked in the shipping department of a moving company.

Novice Jonathan Blaize, 28, of Mount Carmel, Ill., is a graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Ill., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature.

He also earned an associate degree at Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, and studied drafting and design at Ivy Tech Community College in Evansville, Ind.

Novice Jonathan formerly worked as a tool and die machinist and a design engineering technician at Hansen Corporation. He attended Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology for one year before entering the monastery.

This was the most novices that Saint Meinrad has received on one occasion since 2004. They also now have seven novices in the community, the most since 1997.

Novices at Saint Meinrad take a year off from formal studies and trades. The novitiate is a time of prayer and learning intended to help a novice discern his vocation as a monk.

At the end of this year, a novice may be permitted to profess temporary vows of obedience, fidelity to the monastic way of life, and stability in the community of Saint Meinrad.
 

(For more information about Saint Meinrad Archabbey, log on to www.saintmeinrad.org.) †