SAINT NORBERT ABBEY
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Aerial view of St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, WI
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St Norbert Abbey Church exterior
Saint Norbert Abbey ([1]) is one of many abbeys world-wide belonging to the Premonstratensian Order (O. Praem.)([2]), also known as Norbertines, and in England, the Canons Regular of Premontre (C.R.P.)
In 1893, Frs. Bernard Pennings and Lambert Broens, along with Brother Servatius Heesackers, came from Berne Abbey, the Netherlands, to the Diocese of Green Bay, WI at the invitation of Bishop Sebastian Messmer to work among Belgian immigrants in an area known as the Belgian Peninsula.
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Delwich, now Namur, WI c.1897
Five years later, with the addition of several more Norbertines from the Netherlands, Fr. Pennings and 3 other confreres moved to St. Joseph Parish in DePere, a few miles south of Green Bay, on the west side of the Fox River. After Fr. Pennings took up residence at the parish, two young men approached him, asking him to teach them Latin, since they were interested in studying for the priesthood. Fr. Pennings agreed, and within a few days, has several more students. A larger residence for the growing community was built next to St. Joseph Church, and the number incresed to 12. By 1903, there were enough students that the curriculum was expanded to include other Humanities courses and some Business courses, and the number of students required that a new building to house and teach them had to be constructed. Thus, the beginnings of St. Norbert College.
Some of the students asked to join the community, and were accepted as novices as early as 1902 when the small community became St. Norbert Priory. American vocations continued to join the community and by 1912, a total of 26 men had come from the Netherlands to augment the number of community members. Parish work continued, not only in the Belgian Peninsula, but also in places outside the Diocese of Green Bay, and even in Canada. The College, which by this time included a high school and a college section, continued to grow and in 1914, 2 other buildings were constructed, a classroom building and a heating plant for the whole complex.
American vocations continued to be attracted to the community, and in 1925, the Priory was raised to the status of an abbey, with Fr. Pennings as the first Abbot. In 1932, priests from the Abbey were sent to Claymont, DE to begin a high school which still flourishes there, Archmere Academy. Two years later, yet other priests were sent to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to staff a new diocesan high school, Southeast Catholic. The high school in DePere was separated from the college and became St. Norbert High and later, Abbot Penning High School in DePere. In 1941, priests from the abbey opened a new high school in Green Bay, Central Catholic. The Bishop turned over St. Willibrord Parish in that city to the care of the Abbey. Later, a new school building was built for the high school, which was renamed Our Lady of Prémontré.
In 1955, Abbot Pennings died at the age of 93, and was succeeded by his Coadjutor Abbot, Sylvester Killeen, who had been elected in 1947. The College had grown to such an extent that more and more buildings were constructed, and the community had outgrown the abbey buildings. Abbot Killeen began the construction of an entirely new abbey building on a large plot of land on the east side of the Fox River in DePere. That building was completed in 1959, and the community, except for the priests teaching at St. Norbert College, moved to the new site on Feb. 1. The new abbey church was consecrated on June 16, 1959.
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St. Norbert Abbey Church Interior, De Pere, WI
The number of community membership was large, and a good number of young men had joined from the two communities in Delaware and Philadelphia. Abbot Killeen gave permission for the confreres in the East to purchase land for an eventual new foundation. They did so, and for several years, new vocations from the East completed their novitiate at the new house in Daylesford, near Paoli, PA. In 1963, the Eastern house was given its independence and became Daylesford Priory, and in 1968, Daylesford Abbey. In that same year, 1963, responding to the appeal of Pope John XXIII for American Religious to help the struggling Church in South America, DePere Abbey sent its first missionaries to Lima, Peru.
Dwindling numbers of vocations and the deaths of elderly priests required some consolidation in the 1960’s. Southeast Catholic in Philadelphia, which had been moved to a new building in 1953 and renamed Bishop Neumann, was merged with a Catholc highs school for girls and the merged school became known at Neuman-Goretti. The 2 Norbertine schools in DePere and Green Bay were united with St. Joseph Academy, a school for girls in Green Bay and located at the Prémontré site as Notre Dame de la Baie Academy. Parishes in the Belgian Peninsula were turned back to the diocese, as were parishes outside the diocese that had been staffed by Norbertines.
One wing of the abbey building was converted into the Norbertine Center for Spirituality, which offers both daily and extended programs dealing with theological, scriptural and spiritual issues. The Center includes residential facilities for retreats and other long term offerings. In 2007, more than 6,000 people attended programs offered by the Center.
At a Chapter meeting in 1984, the abbey community voted to establish a new foundation house to enable confreres to work with Hispanic Catholics. After some visits and consultations with a number of diocese in the Southwest, the community chose the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM, and sent the first Norbertines to minister there. The priests lived first at the parish rectory of Holy Rosary in Albuquerque, and served the needs of that parish. Soon, they transferred to a property on the southwest mesa of the city and established a foundation house, the Priory of S. Maria de la Vid ([3]), eventually adding a Church building, another residence hall and a library to the complex. The community serves Holy Rosary and St. Anne parishes in the city, as well as supplying hospital chaplains and a chaplain for St. Pius X High School Albuquerque.
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Santa Maria de la Vid Priory, Albuquerque, NM
In 1989, the first confreres were missioned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson, MS to serve primarily among African-Americans. They first lived in the rectory of St. Mary Parish in Jackson, and soon were given responsibility for Christ the King parish. In 2000, the community purchased land a few miles outside the city, in the town of Raymond, and built a community residence, the Priory of St. Moses the Black ([4]). The confreres serve the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Raymond, help out on weekends at other diocesan parishes, and have established a Center for Spirituality that offers one day retreats and conferences, and is available for diocesan meetings and ecumenical work.
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St Moses the Black Priory, Raymond, MS
The daily singing of the Divine Office and the daily celebration of the Eucharist at the abbey are open to laity, who join the community in the choir for the Liturgy of the Hours and share Eucharist daily and Sundays. Lay Associates have been accepted into the community. These men and women share in some of the abbey ministries, and are formed in monthly meetings to develop their own spiritual lives in keeping with the Norbertine charism of communio, i.e., living with and for one another, developing a spirit of cooperation, mutual esteem, love, sharing within the context of public and private prayer.
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First Mass of Rev. Bob Campbell, O. Praem and Blessing of his parents on their wedding anniversary
