Part 3

A time of ordinary administration (1920-1937)

Two French Abbots followed each other as Heads of the Congregation. First, Dom Benoit Gariador (1920-1928), then Dom Maur Etcheverry (1928-1937). The Congregation celebrated, in 1922, the fiftieth anniversary of a history essentially positive from the beginning to the end. The Abbot General could write that “it had grown little by little as a beautiful tree whose branches stretch away in all the different parts of the world”, although there also were some flies in the ointment, such as the request of many monasteries to be dispensed from two characteristic points of the observance of the Congregation of Subiaco.

However, it was still growing. Figures speak for themselves ‘the number of monks grows from 1107 in 1920, to 1437 in 1937 Worth noticing here is the admission into the Congregation of the community of Prinknash, originally Anglican.

Between dead calm and storm (1937-1959)

In 1937, Fr Emanuele Caronti, Abbot of Parma, was elected Abbot General. The Congregation went through a time of flourishing stability and was still growing. This is true above all for the French Province reaching in 1957 the number of about 550 monks. It is precisely at that time that French foundations increased rapidly in the mission territories. It is worth mentioning : Thien-An (Vietnam) in 1940, Mahitsy (Madagascar) in 1954, la Bouenza (Rep. of Congo) in 1958, and Toumliline (Morocco) in 1952, in the very particular context of a population almost entirely Muslim.

But one must not forget that there were some difficult events too. The first one was the civil war in Spain, during which the monasteries were sacked or destroyed, whereas a lot of monks had to go into exile or suffered from violence. How could we forget “il Pueyo” where the whole community was killed ? The Spanish tragedy had not come to an end yet, when another one started : the Second World War (1939-1945). It had disastrous results for some monasteries. It is worth noticing here at least the generosity with which several communities, either in Italy or in France, took the serious risk, in a context of fighting between social and political factions to refuse the man-hunt and to offer refuge to the persecuted of the other camp Jews, monarchists, republicans, fascist, and partisans.

In those difficult circumstances, regular observance also, inevitably, suffered from abuses and from the diffusion of dangerous ideas. Under cover of this time, various desires for revision of the Constitutions and Declarations at least partially appeared. The motive for this discomfort came from the fact that there still existed in the monasteries two classes of religious : the priests and the lay brothers (conversi), and it also included separation even during times of prayer and the Eucharist. A first sign of the process of reunification that would come to complete integration after Vatican II appears in the Constitutions of 1959, according to which, for the first time, all the novices, including the lay brothers, were to be trained and taught by a single master.

Surely the observance remained on a line with the recent tradition, but, especially among the younger ones, the desire for a simpler, less structured life, far from urban centres, with manual work within the monastery and refusing any pastoral activity began to appear. The diffusion of these new expectations owed much to the studies which, after a historical and documentary phase, took a rather theological and spiritual turn, inspired by the Ancients and working on items of monastic spirituality.

During these years a liturgical movement developed, sometimes leading to abuses and excesses that the Abbot General particularly fought, himself being known as one of the leaders of the liturgical movement in Italy.

Thus came the General Chapter of 1959 during which our Congregation was renamed “Congregation of Subiaco”, whereas the Council, announced by John XXIII on January 25 of the previous year was approaching.

Towards the Council Vatican II(1959-1966)

The General Chapter of 1959 elected the Spanish Pietro Celestino Gusi as Head of the Congregation. It can be said that his government was a period of transition. Within a few years new ferments arose, the origin of which was not always clear. In 1963, an abbot declared in a rather realistic way : “the monastic life we are to live now and which changes rapidly, is absolutely different from what we were taught formerly”.

Among the novelties, it is worth noting the new criteria used as guidelines for the foundation of monasteries in the mission countries. One did not want to create there “European” communities. slavishly reproducing the structures and the way of life of the founders, as one used to formerly, but more and more often, one preferred to follow the principle of “enculturation”, proclaimed at the meeting of Bouaké (Ivory Coast) in 1964. The monasteries had to be testimonies of the vitality of Christianity and to offer to the local monks the possibility to join monastic life ruled, however, according to the local mentality and customs.

The “aggiornamento” of the Council (1966-1972)

Thus came the Council Vatican II which gave to our monasteries a powerful support for renewal or, as one used to say then, of “aggiornamento”. Those years had an essential importance for the future of our Congregation. Fortunately, this difficult transition was made under the careful guidance of the exceptional personality of Abbot Brasò. He had deep monastic convictions and maintained as the scope of his action “to offer something, according to my abilities, to promote or start a wise renewal”.

This renewal was to touch every aspect of life, beginning with the ancient legislative code. During the chapter of 1966-1967 were proclaimed the absolutely new principles of “pluralism” and of “subsidiarity” which, in some way, shook off the former structure. The bases were no longer the Congregation itself, but the particular monastic family, with its own physiognomy, its own traditions, and its own orientation. The organs of government were to serve the monasteries. Thus, the higher authorities of the Congregation would have to aim at encouraging the communities to progress promptly towards the common ideal of monastic life, according to the truth of the Gospel and the principles coming from the Rule of St Benedict. In this perspective the function of abbot “is not for life, but for an indeterminate time, except the everlasting abbatial dignity”.

 By Don Giovanni Lunardi, o.s.b.