Fr. Cosmas Epifano, OSB, left, and Edmundo Cruz clean the walls of Sts. Peter and Paul Church of St. Peter’s Abbey.

A cactus plant replaces flowers in the Abbey church during Lent. The cactus reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. A simple cross also replaces the more ornate one used during the rest of the year.

Br. Kurt Van Kuren performs, Tuesday, March 5, at the annual St. Peter’s College Medieval Feast.
The feast commemorates the end of Ordinary Time.
It was held the day before Ash Wednesday which begins the season of Lent.

Abbot Peter attended the Assembly of Western Catholic Bishops in Victoria at a
meeting starting Feb. 26. He is secretary of the group.

Canadians at Benedictine workshop

Three Canadians attended a workshop at Saint Bernard’s Abbey in Cullman, Alabama.
There were 65 abbots and prioresses present. Sister Barbara of Nanaimo is on the
right and Sister Virginia of Winnipeg is on the left.

Fr. Demetrius Wasylyniuk, OSB visited a quinzhee, made by the members of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild while on their winter retreat at St. Peter’s Abbey.
David Carpenter extends his arm to show the size of the quinzhee.

Abbot Peter attended the workshop for 65 Abbots and Prioresses at Saint Bernard’s
Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, Feb. 22 to the 26.

Each winter Whitetail deer use the Abbey grounds and the protection of the woods. In
winter they come to eat in the Abbey Garden. This February close to 20 deer have
their supper at 5:30 in the corn patch.

Whitetail deer feel free to roam around the Abbey grounds.

St. Peter’s Abbey was well represented at the Development and Peace meeting, Feb. 3, at St. Augustine Parish, Humboldt.
Br. Basil Schaan, OSB, Candidate Edmundo Cruz and Fr. Lawrence DeMong, OSB were in attendance.
With them are George Burton of St. Augustine Parish, left, and Sr. Miriam Spenrath, OSU, Muenster.
Fr. Paul Paproski, OSB, photographer, was also in attendance.

After a major snowstorm on Saturday, Feb. 2, Br. basil leads the way in cleaning up
the Abbey yard and parking lots.

Daniel Rosowsky, left, live-in at St. Peter’s Abbey, and Candidates Edmundo Cruz and Robert Janiga, stand outside North Star Pottery, west of Humboldt. They visited the business on January 18.

Mel Bolen of North Star Pottery, west of Humboldt, explains his business to: from left, Robert Janiga, Daniel Rosowsky and Edmundo Cruz. Robert and Edmundo are candidates at St. Peter’s Abbey. Daniel is a live-in. North Star Pottery is in the former Immaculate Conception Church that was purchased by Mel Bolen in 1974. The church closed in 1965.

Every week the kitchen staff provides fresh bread for the monks, students and
guests to enjoy.

On New Year’s Day the Abbey staff had a day off and the Monks and visitors enjoyed a
take-out Chinese dinner.

Hoar frost on the trees created a beautiful decoration on the walkway to the Abbey
church.

Candidates Robert and Edmundo set up the Christmas tree in our Abbey church on
December 24.

Br. Kurt and Br. Anthony decorate
the Abbey dining room on December 24 with Christmas decorations.

Fr. Joseph spent more than a week at the Abbey in the middle part of December due to
a need to clean his room at Bruno. At age 94, he is the oldest member of our
community. Here he joins the community for breakfast on Dec. 23.

The last week of Advent features the famous “O” antiphons sung at Vespers. A visual
reminder of each antiphon is given by a new symbol put up every day from Dec. 17
through the 24th.

On Dec. 18 monks joined the Abbey staff for a Christmas party in the afternoon.

Marikay Falby celebrated her 80th birthday in Saskatoon on Monday, Dec. 10. She is a
long time Benedictine Oblate of St. Peter’s Abbey. Abbot Peter was one of the 50
guests she invited to her party

A fog in winter creates a beautiful wonderland with hoar frost on the
trees. The beginning of December was marked by almost a week of continuous
fog at the abbey. It created a winter wonderland.

Candidate Robert lights the first candle on the Advent wreath as the Abbey community
opens the first Sunday of Advent after Vespers Dec. 1.