St. Andrew Abbey in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio is a monastery of 25 Benedictine monks living, working, and praying together under the Rule of St. Benedict.  I, Father Conrad, am one of the monks of St. Andrew Abbey, but where did Benedictine monks come from, and how did I end up as one of them?

It all started about 1,500 years ago in Italy with a man named Benedict of Nursia who founded a place called a monastery for men who wanted to live a life dedicated to God through prayer and work, while living in a community with others who shared the same goal. Benedict wrote a guideline for how monks are to live together, known as the Rule of St. Benedict, which monks follow to this very day.

Due to Saint Benedict and the men and women who came after him, monasteries spread throughout Europe and, eventually, to North America.  The first Benedictine monastery in the United States was opened in 1846 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania by a group of monks from Germany.  That monastery, St. Vincent Archabbey, today has over 160 monks.

So how did I get interested in monks?  Well, I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia not far from a monastery that my father and I would visit sometimes when I was a boy. Their chapel was a beautiful place that seemed really large and almost magical to my eyes. The monks seemed like such mysterious figures to me because they were very quiet, they were dressed in robes, and they were always praying the rosary or reading from the Bible.

Until one day I spoke to one of the monks, Father Anthony.  He smiled at me and said ‘Hello!’  I didn’t know they could talk, let alone smile!  We talked for several minutes and he told me about his job making the chocolate fudge that the monks sold to support themselves.  I learned that monks not only pray but do real work too, like other people.

From Father Anthony and my repeated visits to his monastery over the years, I came to respect and admire those who would leave life in the outside or regular world and join a community of likeminded people who wanted to grow closer to God through a life of prayer and work.  In fact, the Benedictine motto is ‘Ora et Labora’ – Pray and Work.

Many years later I made the decision myself to join a monastery.  St. Andrew Abbey was founded in 1922 by immigrants from the Central European country of Slovakia.  We monks pray together four times a day, and our work is centered on teaching and service at Benedictine High School.  As St. Andrew Abbey approaches its 100^th anniversary, I am happy to be part of this community of faith in the heart of Cleveland.