Abbey Banner
Magazine of Saint John's Abbey
Published by the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, Abbey Banner presents our monastic community’s mission and values as expressed through the monks’ prayer life and spirituality, work and stewardship, art and history. Edited by Brother Robin Pierzina, O.S.B., and published three times annually (spring, fall, winter), Abbey Banner is written for oblates, employees, friends, family, and benefactors of Saint John’s. The magazine is available online in PDF format for which an Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. For a printed subscription, contact:
abbeybanner@csbsju.edu or write to
Abbey Banner, Box 2015
Collegeville, Minnesota 56321
Please include your full mailing address. Subscriptions are gratis.
The Winter 2024–25 issue of Abbey Banner honors Nicholas Black Elk, candidate for canonization. Father John Meoska introduces us to iconography, which he calls “a form of prayer,” and explores the prayerful encounter of the iconographer and the person or reality being depicted. Father William Skudlarek outlines the centrality of mercy in the life and ministry of Pope Francis. Father Michael Patella addresses the feast of the Epiphany, the moment that Jesus showed himself as the Messiah. Prior Eric Hollas identifies the organizational reforms (impositions?) of Pope Leo XIIIon Benedictines—that he famously called “not an Order” but “a disorder”! In this issue we also learn about the 2024 Congress of Abbots, the concerns and recommendations of the Synod on Synodality, the value of fire in stewardship of the land, the latest titles from Liturgical Press, and more.