Chevetogne: Its Origins and Orientations

Abstract

The Monastery of Chevetogne was founded at Amay, Belgium, in 1925 by Dom Lambert Beauduin. The community moved to its present location at Chevetogne in 1939. The monastery is a Roman Catholic community of Benedictine monks dedicated to prayer and work for Christian unity. While the monastery is fully a part of the Western monastic tradition, it is distinguished by the fact that the monks celebrate daily worship according to both the Latin and the Byzantine Rites. Christian monasteries have historically been centers of learning and culture. As such, they have made significant contributions to the life of the Churches as well as to the whole of civil society. It is important, however, to bear in mind that the essence of monastic existence does not reside in cultural or scholarly activities but rather in the domain of faith. It can, therefore, never be satisfying to describe it purely in historical and cultural terms. Because my intention is to convey something of the reality of our monastic experience at Chevetogne, I will make use of some properly religious concepts.