Brother Stephen

Dear friends,

For my day off this week, I headed down the road to Mount Angel, my home away from home, to spend some time in the monastery and enjoy the monastic liturgy, the worship of God, in the Mass and the Divine Office, chanting the Psalms 5 times a day. It is always refreshing when I get to visit and I hadn’t been down since the spring. I did get to do a little work on our crucifix, as Br. Claude drew another part of the image and I got to trace it onto the cross. Catching up with Br. Claude, I got to tell him about my pilgrimage to France. I am still relishing the experiences I had and each time I tell the stories the memories are rekindled and made new.

As I have related, I got to visit the great St. Therese of Lisieux. She is one of my favorite saints and the patroness of my mom as she was born on the old feast day and was baptized in Little Flower parish in Billings, MT. Although St. Therese lived to only 24, she has inspired many a vocation by her wonderful witness of trust in God’s great love. Talking with Br. Claude he related to me the story of a young man that entered the monastery this year, Br. Stephen Cox. On September 4^th Br. Stephen, who suffered from epilepsy, laid down on the ground in his cell after a seizure and suffering another seizure, did not wake up. He had entered the monastery in March and had just been accepted to officially enter the monastery as a Novice September 8^th. The following is from Br. Stephen’s obituary.

Br. Stephen awakened to a religious vocation at age 14 after viewing the Movie Therese by Leonardo de Filippis. He was profoundly moved by the film and immediately began to investigate religious orders to apply to.

First, Br. Stephen investigated religious orders which were in some way connected with St. Therese and the movie that was so instrumental in his vocational awakening. He was turned away in several instances because of his youth and the fact that he had epilepsy. Finally, he was permitted to apply and was accepted at Mount Angel Abbey. He began the postulancy on March 20th, 2014. He was ecstatic when he found out that part of the movie Therese was filmed at the abbey.

Br. Stephen was a very pious young man. He arrived at the abbey with all the zeal and romantic idealism that are typical of the young. He saw himself very much in the model of St. Therese of Lisieux. His aspirations were simple. As he put it in his application in response to the question “Why do you want to be a monk of Mount Angel Abbey?” He wrote, “Because I want to be a saint and I think that this is the best place for me to do that.”

Before I left on Wed. morning I went down to the cemetery with Br. Claude and our seminarian Matthew Lontz to pray at the grave of Br. Stephen who died as a Benedictine monk, pursuing his vocation to become a saint, at the age of 22. While many of us will have to spend some time in purgatory, this holy young man may have gone straight to heaven as he was ready and striving to arrive there. As we visit the cemetery this month and pray for our deceased brothers and sisters, may we be inspired by Br. Stephen’s witness and the desire to be saints so to arrive in heaven and be with our Lord forever.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Fr. Jack D. Shrum