Daylesford Founders’ Day
On November 13, 354, Augustine of Hippo was born in Tagaste, North Africa.
The significance of that date has caused it to be set aside as the day on which the Catholic communities of consecrated life who follow his Rule (the Dominicans, the Augustinians, the Norbertines, other orders of canons regular, and many communities of sisters) celebrate the day in grateful memory of the Saints of their communities who strove to live the apostolic life of the early Jerusalem community according to the Rule of Augustine.
It happened that on November 13, 1893, three Dutch Norbertines from the abbey of Berne arrived in Hoboken, NJ, to establish the first permanent community of our Order in the USA.
Seventy years later, on November 13, 1963 Daylesford became an independent Norbertine community. To celebrate these momentous occasions, more than thirty years ago we here at the Abbey began offering public lectures featuring speakers of note on a day close to that anniversary date, e.g. Henri Nouwen, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Ira Progoff, Joan Chittister, and Jenny Ratigan.
We all stand within a great flow of history flowing from the side of Christ Jesus, who is the incarnation of God’s creative Word, the foundation of all that was, is and will be.
-Rev. Andrew D. Ciferni, O. Praem.