My dear Friend,

Welcome to the Assumption Abbey website. What a pleasure to help you get to know our Benedictine community on the plains of North Dakota.  

Our monastic living springs out of a tradition that goes back to a mid-6^th   century St. Benedict in Italy.  In 1500 years since, the monastic spirit has flourished all over the world in many cultures. 

As Christian monks — some ordained and some not — our life revolves around discipleship to Jesus.   We make three vows: Obedience, Stability, and Conversatio Morum. 

• Obedience: We express our obedience to God in our relationship to an abbot — who, as the Rule says, takes the place of Christ— but also to others who exercise leadership in the community, to our fellow brothers, and to the wider church.
• Stability:  Through this vow, distinctive of monastics, we commit ourselves to this group of brothers, to persevere with them until death—loving them and others that will join the brotherhood. We throw in our lot with them over the long haul.  
• Conversatio Morum refers to a “monastic way of living,” a life where prayer (personal and communal), meditating on Scripture, living together, and work all have a prominent place.  It includes what other religious orders take as separate vows: poverty and chastity.
  1.  Chastity: We promise to interact with others in a loving manner — with those we get along well with as well as those we find difficult.   We engage in ongoing formation for mature, healthy relationships.
  2. Poverty (evangelical):  We hold all in common (no private bank accounts or slush funds!), stewarding God’s creation with simplicity and frugality.  This enables us to support worthy causes through alms, besides meeting our own needs.

In short, we give witness day in and day out that living life in community is our mission in, and gift to, the church.  We build up the Body of Christ — flesh and blood examples of the spirit of the Holy Rule in this place and time.

At the same time, we strive to share the peace and prayer of our common life, receiving guests as Christ.  

Thank you for being a guest on this webpage.  Enjoy your exploration.  May blessings in abundance come your way:

Valerian John Odermann, OSB

Abbot

…together with good zeal …

Community founded: 1893. Devils Lake, ND

Moved to Richardton: 1899

Foundation in Bogotá, Colombia, 1960: Monasterio Benedictino de Tibatí