On the Hill

In a brief ceremony at the monastery entrance, Owen Meredith was clothed in the Benedictine habit at Saint Meinrad Archabbey on August 5. The novice now begins a year of monastic formation, including study of the Rule of St. Benedict and monastic history.

Novice Owen, 34, is from Forest City, IL. He was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Manito, IL.

He attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL, graduating in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in theater technology and minors in music and religious studies.

Before joining the monastery, Novice Owen served as a handyman for the Hermits of St. Mary of Carmel in Houston, MN. He has experience as a contractor, general laborer, and landscaper and built a home for his parents in Manito. He also was a seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, studying for the priesthood at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO.

As a novice, he will 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.