Monastery News
May 12, 2019
Bishop Joseph Perry joined Prior Peter and the monastic community to celebrate the ordination to the priesthood of Father Timothy. We are grateful to the many friends who joined us on this joyful occasion. Click here for more photos from the Ordination Mass.
March 24, 2019
Bishop Joseph Perry joined Prior Peter and the monastic community to celebrate the ordination of Brother Joseph and Brother Gabriel to the diaconate. We are grateful to the many friends who joined us on this joyful occasion. Click here for more photos from the Ordination Mass.
June 18, 2017
Today marked our annual Corpus Christi procession with St. Mary of Perpetual Help Parish. This year, different parish organizations from St. Mary’s and our Oblates processed together in groups. We also stopped for one brief station, where the monks sang the Te Deum. Due to street construction, we took a slightly longer route than previously. As usual, we ended with Benediction in the Monastery church, and a reception in Oblate Hall. Click here to view photos.
May 14, 2017
During Mass today, the monastery received four new Oblates into our community. In addition, our veteran oblates renewed their vows, and three candidates were initiated into the Oblate formation program.
July 26, 2017
The generous response to our first-ever crowdfunding campaign, which ran on Indiegogo from mid-May and was extended past Ascension Thursday, helped us to reach 50% of our goal. With additional donations, the Mass for Ascension, our second CD, has been released and is now available online at Amazon.com, iTunes, and CDBaby.com. The CD is also available in our gift shop.
March 1 – April 23, 2017
A hand-stitched image of Divine Mercy was on display in the monastery church from Ash Wednesday until Divine Mercy Sunday.
Click here to learn more.
January 31 – February 7, 2017
During the annual community retreat, the mild winter afforded us opportunities for taking walks before we ended the retreat with a two-day work project: we scraped and painted the ceiling in our refectory (the monastic word for “dining room”), which was last done twenty-one years ago, shortly after the community moved into our present main cloister. We also made improvements to our Bed and Breakfast, including painting some of the rooms.
Fall, 2016
Prior Peter’s article, Forming the Imagination: Architectural Heritage and Church Downsizing in Chicago, appeared in the most recent edition (Volume 30) of Sacred Architecture Journal, the publication of The Institute for Sacred Architecture. Click here to read the article.
September 22, 2016
The General Chapter of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation, to which our monastery belongs, elected a new Abbot President, Guillermo Arboleda Tamayo, O.S.B., abbot of the Abbey of Santa Maria of Medellin and Administrator of Guatapè (Colombia). To read more, click here.
July 10, 2016
Brother Joseph has made his solemn profession.
We would like to take this joyful occasion to ask you for prayers for the community, and that God may continue to bless us with more vocations.
June 26 – July 7, 2016
Father Brendan and Brother Gabriel headed off to Scotland for a fraternal visit to the Pluscarden Abbey (one of the Benedictine houses in our congregation and home to former Abbot Visitor Anselm Atkinson, OSB) where, with other monks and nuns from our congregation, they attended several lectures on monastic life.
June 11th, 2016
During an interview on Relevant Radio this Saturday, Prior Peter explained in detail to program host Dan Cheeley the history of our monastery and the reason for its location in the city. To listen to the interview, click here to visit our SoundCloud account.
May 29th, 2016
Today marked our annual Corpus Christi procession with neighboring St. Mary of Perpetual Help Parish. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to see the large attendance for the procession. Afterward, the monks hosted a small reception in Oblate Hall.
May 12th, 2016
In late April, Prior Peter and Brother Gabriel left for upstate New York to pick up the new icon of Our Lady of the Protecting Veil written by Master Iconographer, Vladislav Andrejev. The new icon continues the altarpiece composition begun with the beautiful Deisis icon, also created by Vladislav. The new icon was mounted today, just in time for the Solemnity of Pentecost.
March 2016
On May 14, a video recording of Solemn Vespers was made in memory of Matthew Geiger, a friend of the community who had lived in one of the guesthouses while a graduate student some years ago. Since Matthew’s untimely death, a number of his students and friends have made generous memorial donations to our community and have expressed an interest in our way of life. We ask that you join us in keeping Matthew, his wife Emily, and his family in your prayers. To view the video, click here.
December 13th, 2015
As part of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the archbishop had designated 32 parishes and shrines as jubilee pilgrimage sites.
By walking through the Holy Door of these sites, the faithful gained a Plenary Indulgence offered by the pope. Our monastery was listed among these sites and consecrated the south door of the narthex of the church during Mass on December 13, 2015. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful were called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion.
November 29th – December 4th, 2015
In preparation for the season of Advent, the monastery hosted Master Iconographers Vladislav Andrejev, creator of our beautiful Deisis icon, and his son Dmitri Andreyev, as they conducted a week long icon-writing workshop. The 20 students who attended, split into two groups (beginner and advanced), learned the technique of this ancient and traditional liturgical art-form. The beginner’s class worked on an icon of the Archangel Michael, while the advanced students completed an image of the Holy Prophet Elijah. For pictures, click here.
August 15th, 2015
Brother Gabriel has taken first vows, ending his two-year Novitiate. During the liturgy, he was vested in the long scapular (a sign of his becoming a Junior of the community), and received the Rule of St. Benedict from Prior Peter, as a symbolic gesture signifying his will to accept the yoke of stability, obedience, and fidelity to the monastic way of life. God willing, in the next three years, he will make solemn profession in which he will promise to live out these vows for life, within the Monastery of the Holy Cross.
We ask you for your prayers for Brother Gabriel and the community, and that God may continue to bless us with new vocations.
July 26th, 2015
Our new choir stalls have been installed. The renovation began with approval of the construction last summer by the monastic Chapter, and was completed with the installation of the stalls by New Holland Church Furniture this past week.
Although we hope to continue renovation, construction of the choir was a priority because of its practical and symbolic importance. The choir signals the place where consecrated persons engage in daily prayer for the Church and the world. The new construction clarifies our monastic charism and helps us to live it more faithfully.
The new choir has thirty-two seats to provide adequate seating at solemn liturgies, and provincial and congregational meetings in Chicago, as well as for new vocations. We are grateful for the many donations we have received that made the choir possible. For photos of the construction process, click here.
July 11th, 2015
Brother Timothy has made his solemn profession and is added to the rank of solemnly professed monks.
We would like to take this joyful occasion to ask you for prayers for the community, and that God may continue to bless us with more vocations.
July 1st, 2015
We are pleased to announce that Monastery Caskets has entered into a new partnership with Abbey Caskets of Saint Meinrad’s Archabbey in Indiana.
Abbey Caskets has been supplying us with hand-made caskets for twelve years. Beginning July 1, 2015, Monastery Caskets will be the exclusive distributor for Abbey Caskets in Chicago.
This will help to keep prices low and to expand the range of casket designs and materials available. The partnership will continue to support the mission of the monastery.
May 10th-18th, 2015
Prior Peter led a group of twenty-two pilgrims to Rome for a spiritual journey in the footsteps of St. Benedict. The itinerary included Norcia (the birthplace of Ss. Benedict and Scholastica), Subiaco and Sacro Speco (the oldest Benedictine Monastery in the world and site where St. Benedict lived as a hermit), and Monte Cassino (the burial place of Ss. Benedict and Scholastica).
In addition to sites in Rome, the group also visited St. Peter’s Basilica, where mass was celebrated in front of the tomb of St. Peter before a tour of the Scavi, the excavations of the necropolis beneath the Vatican where St. Peter’s grave is located. Click here to view pictures.
April 14th, 2015
We’re pleased to announce that we have launched our new website—we encourage everyone to explore this site, to read the Prior’s latest blog posts, and for dates of Solemn Vespers and other information.
March 25th, 2015
The monastery’s SoundCloud account is now activated. To listen to homilies and Oblate conferences, click here.
March 2015
Monastery of the Holy Cross has received their official SoundCloud Account. Please visit for homilies and Spiritual Conferences given to our Oblates!
February 16th, 2015
The community’s annual retreat concluded today. This year, we used the writings of Pope Shenouda III (1923-2012; Patriarch of Alexandria 1971-2012) of the Coptic Church, for our community discussions.