Abbey Life

Hidden in the mountains of southern California, St. Michael’s Abbey seeks to live an authentic Christian life – life at its happiest and best, where we recognize that all creation is a gift, and that all our lives can be given as a gift back to our Creator. In our work, in our study, and in our prayer, St. Michael’s Abbey lives the ancient and vital tradition of abbey life.

The New Novices, 2024

On Christmas Eve, in the quiet of the abbey cloister, fourteen young men received the white habit of our order.

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Celebrating Our Namesake

In recent years, a new and joyful tradition has developed for the Feast of St. Norbert: our community uses the happy occasion to host a small festival at the abbey to honor our founder!

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The Mindszenty Lecture, 2024

Fifty years ago, the Venerable Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty visited St. Michael’s Abbey. In marking this anniversary publicly, the abbey community invited Ambassador Eduard von Habsburg, Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, to give two lectures.

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The Journey to California

Far from the Oxford of John Henry Newman and J.R.R. Tolkein, or any of Chadwick’s numerous disciples, we get a sense of the divine imagination at work in the American West.

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Henry Chadwick’s Library

The Chadwick Collection represents 60 years of work by a brilliant theologian--and a serious bibliophile!

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Who was Henry Chadwick?

Few are aware that a world-class research collection assembled by an ‘aristocrat among British scholars’ now sits at St. Michael’s Abbey.

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The Newly Vested (2023)

Just before None on Christmas Eve, Fr. Abbot vested five new novices in the white habit and gave them their new name and religious patron.

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A Christmas Message from the Abbot

All of which is truly beautiful in our life is a gift. In this spirit, Fr. Abbot reflects on the gifts of the past year.

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Abbey Life Update (December, 2023)

As the year draws to a close, we reflect fondly on some of the particular joys of the last couple of months.

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Selected Works from Our Community

Here at St. Michael’s Abbey, the beautiful literary tradition of monasteries continues in the scholarly work of many of our confreres.

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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2023

Join us for Vespers on Tuesday evening, December 12 -- part of our day-long celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

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About the Archangel Institute

By instilling in our young men the faith, catechesis, masculine virtues, sonship, and brotherhood, the Archangel Institute shines in a world plagued by anti-masculine ideology.

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What's New at the Abbey?

In the shadow of the recent Michaelmas celebration, Fathers Frederick, Ambrose, and Peter Adrian take a moment to reflect on the festivities, a growing community, what they have been witnessing in their day-to-day tasks, and the exciting happenings at the abbey.

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Livestream: Michaelmas, 2023

Livestream Michaelmas Vespers

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