A new community of strict observance in the Benedictine tradition was born on July 2nd 2008 in Villatalla, a small Italian village located in Liguria on the heights of Imperia, very near to Ventimiglia and the French border (see map).
This community was founded by two monks originally from the abbey of Le Barroux (France), at the request made to them by His Excellency Mario Oliveri, bishop of Albenga-Imperia. Here you will find information on this monastic project and some of the events which marked their recent installation.
This information is above all an appeal to the charity of your prayer and, for those who can, a request for material help. Heartfelt thanks.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Video of the Vesture of Brother Joseph

On the occasion of his vesture, the new name of Bro. Joseph was imposed upon Bro. Martial to express his change of life. For all those who could not attend, we offer the moving video of the ceremony. It is a public statement of the brother's decision to devote his life to God for ever: "With the help of God, I hope and desire to persevere unto death in my sacred purpose" (Ritual of the taking of habit). You may watch it on Gloria.tv or on Youtube.

The Father Prior puts the monastic habit on the postulant saying: "May the Lord clothe thee in the new man, who is created by God in justice and in the holiness of truth".
From left to right: Father ZephyrinYankanda, from Bangui( Central African Republic); Rev. Father Jehan, Bro. Joseph; Bro. Toussaint; Bro. Andrew, and Father Tomaso, parish priest of Villatalla.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Brother Martial to be clothed in the monastic habit

It is with joy that we announce our first clothing: on 23 June, following a postulancy of nine months, Brother Martial will put on the holy habit of the sons of St Benedict, in the presence of priest friends and faithful from the village.  We commend his perseverance and the entire community to your prayers.  Three further vocations will join us until the Assumption.

Brother Martial

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Whitsun pilgrimages

As in previous years, we travelled to Paris to take part in the pilgrimage of Notre-Dame de Chretienté in which more than 6,000 young and not so young people walk the 100km to the cathedral at Chartres!  We are with them to hear confessions, pray, sing, do penance and to taste the joys of a purified soul.  The beginning was marked by a moment of great emotion: for the first time since the pilgrimage was founded 30 years ago, Holy Mass was celebrated with great ceremony in the cathedral in Paris, before a crowd whose one voice voice resonated in the arches as it sang a fully Catholic liturgy.
Pilgrimage of Notre-Dame de Chretienté
We took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the scared places of our monastic family: the abbey of Pierre-qui-Vire, where Father Muard, its founder, lived and died in the odour of sanctity; the abbey of Saint Benoit sur Loire, where we were able to say Mass on the altar of the relics of our holy Father, and finally the abbey of En Calcat, founded by Dom Romain Banquet.
Altar of the the relics of St Benedict at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
The altar of the the relics of St Benedict at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire
Virgin and Child on the « pierre qui vire » La-Pierre-qui-Vire : the community in front of the Virgin and Child carved by the great sculptor Henri Charlier
Abbey church of En Calcat
The abbey church of En Calcat
We visited Lourdes as part of our itinerary: what a feeling it was for our 3 postulants to discover for the first time the sacred grotto where the Immaculate Conception appeared to St Bernadette and to which pilgrims come from all over the world to find the salvation for the sould and sometimes even also health in body.  Since we have the honour of being called the Benedictines of the Immaculate, we came alsoe to kneel at length in prayer at the feet of Mary and to renew our total consecration to her.  Having purified our souls by immersing them in the prayers of the holy Rosary, we also purified our bodies by plunging them in the pools filled with the miraculous water.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Grotto of Massabielle

In front of the Grotto of Massabielle

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

At last, news from Villatalla!


Bishop Oliveri visiting Villatalla with Father Jehan
On 21 March, the feast of St Benedict, Bishop Oliveri, bishop of our diocese of Albenga-Imperia, grants us the great grace of giving our little community the status of monastery:
“By virtue of the present decree We hereby confer on the public clerical assocation called Monastery of Saint Catherine of Siena in Villatalla, in the diocese of  Albenga-Imperia, plublic legal personality (canon 116). […]

Hearthily we accompany this decree of our pastoral blessing on Father Jehan, on the members of the community and on all of those which will derive benefit from the monastic life and the benedictine spirituality by connecting with the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Siena.”
Decree of Bishop Oliveri raising the community to monastery Dom Jehan and the three first applicants around Don Tomaso Parish priest of Villatalla
Dom Jehan and the first three postulants around Don Tomaso,
Parish priest of Villatalla