July 28, 1931 – June 3, 2005
Fr. M. Basil (Robert) Pennington was born on July 28, 1931.
He attended the Minor Seminary of Brooklyn, the Cathedral College of the
Immaculate Conception, from 1945 to 1950.
In February 1951 he paid his first visit to St. Joseph's
Abbey and was convinced that this was the place he wished to make his home. He
entered on June 18, 1951 and after two years of novitiate made his Profession on
July 26, 1953. After the completion of priestly studies he was ordained priest
on December 21, 1957.
The following year he was chosen to go to Rome for studies.
After a scholastic year at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (then
known as the "Angelicum") he received a licentiate (roughly equivalent
to Master's degree) in Theology. He returned to Spencer in 1959 where he was
appointed professor of Theology.
In September 1961 he was once again sent to Rome, this time
to study Canon Law at the Gregorian University. In 1962 he received a
baccalaureate and in 1963, a licentiate in Canon Law, on both occasions with the
highest honors. Returning to Spencer, he was appointed Professor of Canon Law
and of Spirituality. Apart from his teaching commitments he was active in the
Law Commission of the Order, of which he was chosen a member in 1967.
In March 1968 at his suggestion a project was discussed for a
series of publications that was to include translations of the Cistercian
Fathers into English and other studies in the area of Cistercian life and
spirituality. In May of the same year plans for "Cistercian
Publications" were accepted by the superiors of the American Cistercian
monasteries of the Strict Observance at their Regional meeting, and in January
1969 a first volume was published.
The following year the First International Cistercian Studies
Symposium was held at Spencer. This was destined to be the first of a series of
similar meetings which have continued down to the present time. These are
currently hosted each year in conjunction with the annual International Medieval
Studies Congress at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
During
the 1970's Fr. Basil's commitments both within the United States and abroad
increased considerably. These included visits to other monasteries around the
world for conferences.
His growing interest in the spirituality of Eastern Orthodoxy
during the 70's brought him to Greece and to Mount Athos for an extended visit.
This led to the publication of O Holy Mountain in 1978, which added to
the already impressive list of his published works.
In 1978 he became Vocation Director at Spencer, an important
office which he filled for a number of years. In 1981 his travels extended even
farther to India for a seminar on Monasticism in World Religions and for
lectures at the Cistercian monasteries in the Philippines and on Lantao Island
near Hong Kong.
It was also during the 70's that he became increasingly
interested in Centering Prayer, which had first been taught at Spencer by Fr.
William Meninger. This was to become one of his most cherished interests during
the last decades of his life. His frequent sessions and workshops throughout the
world in the 80's and 90's made a lasting impression upon those who participated
in them.
In 1991 he went to assist the monastery of Our Lady of Joy on
Lantao Island near Hong Kong. Apart from yearly attendance at the Cistercian
Studies Conferences at Kalamazoo, his activities during these years were largely
limited to the Orient. On July 12, 1999 he returned to the United States, where
a new type of work awaited him -- on February 14, 2000 he was named temporary
superior at Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri, an appointment that was to last
only a short time, for on August 4th of that year he was elected
Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia.
On May 12, 2002 he resigned this office and returned to his
home at Spencer, where he was finally able to find some rest from his many
labors, without forgetting, however, all those whose hearts he had touched in
his many workshops and days of recollection. Indeed they would always occupy a
special place in his own heart alongside his own Spencer brethren.
Just as the monks were chanting Second Vespers for the
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our Father Basil breathed his last,
reposing in the Lord on the bright and mild day of June 3, 2005. The feast of
God's love and mercy was one of his favorite devotions. So it is consoling that
after sustaining the weighty injuries of a very serious car accident sixty-
seven days before, he yielded the battle accepting the Lord's welcome into his
eternal home on that very special day.
May choirs of angels guide him to that place where he may
join the saints in singing "Holy, Holy, Holy!" The community of
Spencer monks thanks all who offered prayers for Father Basil during his passion
and we ask your continued prayer for the repose of his soul in light and peace.
May Jesus Christ, his Lord, come to embrace him for ever. Amen.
Dom
M. Basil (Robert) Pennington, OCSO