Letter to our friends
September 2, 2005
First anniversary of the dedication of the church
Dear friends,
A year has gone by since the dedication of our church. You are doubtless interested in the life of our young community. It is growing in number, and, God willing, in wisdom perhaps as well…at its slow rhythm. Many young men call by God come to the monastery, and some remain. Their training requires long years of patience; the superior and the Novice Master give them their best attention in many personal dialogs, which are the force of our communities.
Personal education, the teaching given in Chapter and in the noviciate, are completed by a course of study in philosophy and theology, given by religious – often Dominicans and some lay people. The studying brothers have recently been divided in two groups: the novices and the students. The latter follow as well the best of the courses given in the Studium of Sept-Fons. This education, along with household tasks – kitchen and cleaning – make up the brothers’ time in the morning.
The afternoon is worktime: at Novy Dvur, half of the brothers work outdoors (upkeep of the forest, preparation of wood for heating, raising of sheep and taking care of the cowherd, gardening) and the other half is inside (production of mustard and various subcontracting work, in particular for Sept-Fons). Summer is a great time for these works. Sometimes a group of big scouts or our guests lend a hand. Winter is more autere, especially if the snow is abundant, as was the case last winter. We come back from work, for Vespers, after the sun has set.
Each time that I give news about the construction works, I realise more and more that we do not respect the deadlines. However, the works are going ahead. The sciptorium and the chapter are finished and the future infirmary is used as the guesthouse since mid-July. Some finish work – details of the façade, arrangements in the kitchen… are still waiting. The restoration of the baroque sheep barn is coming along nicely: the slate roof is finished, the restoration of the façades is coming along with a fresco of Our Lady of Skoky, venerated in the region. A hallway under the building will allow access to the bedrooms, in winter, in a new space which will be built along the hill slope. In the summer, our little guesthouse, held with the help of brothers from Sept-Fons, was far from empty. As the new guesthouse will be more spacious and its guests more numerous, we hope to maintain the atmosphere of silence and of calm that we try to offer them, the same that they have found up to now while staying in the community.
To achieve all these projects, and to build the church’s organ, we need you and others as well. You can choose where you would like your donation to go: the guesthouse, the finishing works on the monastery (187,000$), the organ ($83,000).
One has to have lived on the construction site for three years in order to understand the care that such a project requires, with our thanks to the architects, the engineers and the technicians who build our monastery. It was not long ago that the swallows were still living in the ruins of old Novy Dvur. We flushed them out of the vaults and the halls. Now they rebuilt their nests along the base of the baroque roof and on the wall of the church, under the bells. We get the feeling that they like our company and build their nests willingly where peace reigns. It is likely that they fly a little higher when our discussions become a little too lively; or maybe they are full of goodwill and patient with us…
We assure you of our heartfelt thanks and of our prayers, as we are counting on your own,
Monastery of Nový Dvůr
Father Samuel
February 2009
September, 2nd 2014
Autumn 2013
July 5, 2013
March 10, 2013
A few weeks before Christmas 2012
September 2, 2012, Solemnity of the Dedication of Novy Dvur
Whit Sunday 2012
January 11, 2012
September 30, 2011, Feast of Saint Jerome
May 1 2011
September 2 2010
May, 2010
January 29, 2010
Pentecost 2009
February 2009
May, 2008
February 2, 2008
September 2, 2007
July 5, 2007
September 2, 2006
March 25, 2006
February 2, 2006