Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
November 8 , 2000
`Abbey Calendar' offers insight into monastic life
The "Abbey Calendar for 2001" celebrates the daily activities of the nuns of the Abbey of St. Walburga, the "living stones" that make up this household of God.
The seasons and major celebrations of the Catholic Church are indicated on each calendar page, as well as those saints' feasts celebrated at the Abbey. Each month features an original black-and-white photograph to help people become mindful of God's presence in their lives throughout the year.
The Abbey Calendar for 2001 sells for $9.95, postage paid. Please send orders (prepaid only) to the Abbey of St. Walburga, Virginia Dale, Colorado 80536.
The nuns of the Abbey trace their origin to the early nuns and monks of the desert, who sought to live the Gospel of Christ wholeheartedly. St. Benedict (480-543) distilled his Rule from this living tradition, and its observance spread throughout Europe.
The Abbey is named for St. Walburga, 710-779 A.D., an Anglo-Saxon nun who worked to spread the Gospel among the German peoples. Her relics and memory are preserved today at the Abbey of St. Walburg in Eichstätt, Bavaria. This monastery, established in 1035, founded the American Abbey nine hundred years later, when three sisters were sent to a then-remote farm near Boulder, Colorado. With their numbers growing, the nuns needed to expand their living and working space. In 1997, after five years of planning, discussion, and preparation, the community of twenty-one nuns relocated to Virginia Dale, Colorado. In Nov. 1999, they moved into the completed portion of the new monastery building, which includes the Abbey Church.
Determining the daily course of the nuns' monastic life is the communal praise of God in the Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours. In these ancient services, the inspired words of the Psalms are sung seven times a day.
The community supports itself by a variety of activities, including retreat work, agriculture, contract computer work, altar bread distribution, writing and crafts. Until the retreat wing of the permanent Abbey building can be completed, the Abbey Retreat House is housed in modular buildings, and welcomes inquiries from people seeking time alone with God.
