On the Hill

Father Colman Grabert, OSB, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, died on Sunday, August 4, 2024. He was 85 and in the 64th year of his monastic profession and the 59th year of his priesthood.

Born in Evansville, IN, on August 4, 1939, to Fred H. and Olivia Agnes (Thompson) Grabert, Father Colman was given the name Glynn at his baptism. He completed his elementary education at St. Benedict and Christ the King Schools, in Evansville, and entered Saint Meinrad High School Seminary in 1953. After graduation, he attended Saint Meinrad College and graduated in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He continued his formation for the priesthood at Saint Meinrad School of Theology in 1962.

After his sophomore year in college, he entered the novitiate at Saint Meinrad. He professed simple vows on August 15, 1960, professed solemn vows on August 15, 1963, and was ordained to the priesthood on September 5, 1965.

After his ordination, Father Colman pursued graduate studies in systematic theology at Ateneo Pontificio di Sant’Anselmo in Rome and earned a licentiate in sacred theology in 1967. He then returned to Saint Meinrad and began a long career of teaching at Saint Meinrad School of Theology as an assistant professor, a position he held through 1994, serving several times as chair of the Systematics Division.

His years of teaching included research and lecturing in the theological and monastic fields. He contributed to the 1979-80 Asian Benedictine Conference, which extended his classroom for a while to Taiwan and Japan. Father Colman would also teach in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. He was a member, past-president, and board member of the American Benedictine Academy. In 1980, he was an invited peritus at The Asian Monastic Conference in Sri Lanka.

For many years, he served as one of the Archabbey’s principal organists. He also served as secretary to the archabbot, house prefect, gardener, and in the mail service. Father Colman offered retreats and conferences to many monasteries and communities of men and women, as well as retreats at our own Guest House and Retreat Center.

The Office of the Dead was prayed on Sunday, August 11, in the Archabbey Church. The funeral liturgy was celebrated on Monday, August 12, with burial in the Archabbey Cemetery.