Oldest Benedictine Monk

[Luigi]

In the American Cassinese congregation - there may be other, older OSB's elsewhere. 

Father Placid Makes History

Father Placid Pientek, OSB made history in June when he became the first Benedictine alumnus to reach the 80th anniversary of his graduation. Father Placid, who turns 98 years old on July 26, graduated in 1936 and is the oldest living alumnus of Benedictine High School. He is also currently the oldest monk of the 721 Benedictine monks of the American-Cassinese Congregation of monasteries and he is the only monk to have professed his first monastic vows before 1940. He made his vows in 1939 and is also the longest serving Benedictine priest in the Congregation having been ordained in 1944 (72 years as a priest). In the photo above [http://standrewabbey.org/documents/2016/7/Bene_Ora Summer 2016 LoRes.pdf then scroll to page 9], Father Placid is congratulated at Regina Health Center in Richfield, Ohio on June 1, 2016 by the four living abbots of Saint Andrew Abbey (l-r): Bishop (formerly Abbot) Roger Gries, OSB (1981-2001), Abbot Christopher Schwartz, OSB (2008-2013), Abbot Clement Zeleznik (2001-2008), and Abbot Gary Hoover, OSB (2014- present). SUMMER 2016

[Gabriela]

Wow. To have been in vows since before WWII... 

[Anselm]

@Gabriela, WWII started before 1940...

[truthfinder]

1 hour ago, Anselm said:

@Gabriela, WWII started before 1940...

It actually says he made vows in 1939, sooo it is possible - unless you're going to argue that the war started in 1936 or something, she might be right.

[Gabriela]

I know some people say the war started before 1940, but in the US, we typically date it 1940–1945.

[truthfinder]

1 hour ago, Gabriela said:

I know some people say the war started before 1940, but in the US, we typically date it 1940–1945.

Gabriela, I don't mean to be snarky, but just about everyone other than the US says the war started 1939.

[Luigi]

September 1, 1939 - Germany invaded Poland, considered by most historians to be the beginning of World War II (in Europe)

September 3, 1939 - England and France, allies of Poland, declared war against Germany 

7 December, 1941 - Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

8 December, 1941 - The US declared war against Japan

11 December - Germany declared war against that US; later that day, the US declared war against Germany. 

 

(Who ever thought we'd be having history lessons in Vocation Station?!)

Edited August 26, 2016 by Luigi

[Ceaseless-Longing]

8 hours ago, truthfinder said:

Gabriela, I don't mean to be snarky, but just about everyone other than the US says the war started 1939.

(Obnoxious history grad student getting in on this)

The U.S. involvement in the war tends to mark our starting point, since we were attempting to avoid it for a while. So while a war was brewing/occurring overseas, technically the U.S. was not at war, making our starting point for the war different. Since St. Andrew Abbey is in Cleveland, it could be argued that the vows were before the Second World War from an American perspective.

All wars have interesting impacts on monastic life. For example, the Benedictine monastery that taught me in undergrad was founded by a German monk and still spoke mostly German. They had to stop doing that around WWII because the local townspeople were suspicious of the large group of German-speaking men. (<--my attempt to somehow return to the original post's topic)

 

 

 

[Gabriela]

[Anselm]

On 26 August 2016 at 1:15 PM, Ceaseless-Longing said:

(Obnoxious history grad student getting in on this)

The U.S. involvement in the war tends to mark our starting point, since we were attempting to avoid it for a while. So while a war was brewing/occurring overseas, technically the U.S. was not at war, making our starting point for the war different. Since St. Andrew Abbey is in Cleveland, it could be argued that the vows were before the Second World War from an American perspective.

 

Yes, but the war was still on before the U.S. joined!

[Gabriela]

17 hours ago, Anselm said:

Yes, but the war was still on before the U.S. joined!

Yes, but at what point did it become a WORLD war?

[Anselm]

12 minutes ago, Gabriela said:

Yes, but at what point did it become a WORLD war?

Well India, Australia and Canada all declared war on Germany in September 1939; is that enough for you?

[Gabriela]

2 hours ago, Anselm said:

Well India, Australia and Canada all declared war on Germany in September 1939; is that enough for you?

LOL. I don't really care. I think we're bickering over a detail that doesn't matter. America typically says the dates are 1940–1945. The rest of the world says otherwise. It's not the only thing America does differently than the rest of the world. And I doubt there's really any "objective date" on which the conflict became a world war. Historians will disagree. Nations will disagree.

Who cares? What matters is that it was a terrible conflict in which millions of people lost their lives, loved ones, and homes, and that this monk has been in vows for longer than most (all?) of us have been alive.

Boo, war. Go, Fr. Placid!

Edited August 30, 2016 by Gabriela

[Luigi]

And there are historians who claim that the Japanese-Chinese conflict - Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, and invaded China in 1937 - was the start of WW II. Even if it wasn't the official start, it became part of WW II after Japan signed a treaty with Germany.