Special to The Message
The Benedictine monks at St. Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad recently celebrated the jubilees of monastic profession for four of their confreres.
Honored were Brother Jerome Croteau, 70 years; Father Pius Klein and Father Micheas Langston, 60 years; and Father Samuel Weber, 50 years.
Micheas Langston, Father Pius Klein and Brother Jerome Croteau. Photo courtesy of St. Meinrad Archabbey
Br. Jerome was born in Belcourt, North Dakota. After attending high school in Marty, South Dakota, he came to St. Meinrad and professed his vows as
a Benedictine monk on May 10, 1949.
Br. Jerome worked in the St. Meinrad vineyard for 30 years, and has had assignments in the wine cellar, on the building crew, and as a carpenter and landscaper. In the 1950s, he spent 18 months at Blue Cloud Abbey in Marvin, South Dakota, a foundation of St. Meinrad Archabbey.
Most recently, he assisted with housekeeping duties in the monastery. Currently, he is an infirmary minister and assistant.
Father Pius is a native of Aurora, Indiana. He professed vows on April 19, 1959, and was ordained to the priesthood on March 31, 1974.
Father Pius worked in St. Meinrad’s tailor shop and in the infirmary until he was assigned to St. Meinrad’s priory in Huaraz, Peru. He served there from 1964-84, except for the years he returned to the Archabbey to complete his priesthood studies. In Peru, his assignments included school principal, English and religion teacher, and seminary disciplinarian.
After his priesthood ordination, he returned to Peru, where he served as pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Lima. From 1978-84, he served as the superior of the priory.
He returned to St. Meinrad in 1985 and served as chaplain to the sisters at Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, and was director of food service in St. Meinrad’s monastery. Father Pius was pastor of St. Mary Parish, Huntingburg, from 1987-2008.
Currently, he is commuting chaplain for the Hildegard Health Center at Monastery Immaculate Conception. He also does correspondence for St. Meinrad’s Development Office.
Father Micheas professed his monastic vows on Aug. 15, 1959, and was ordained to the priesthood on September 5, 1965. He is a native of Paducah, Kentucky.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Meinrad College and a master’s degree in German from Middlebury College in Vermont. He taught in the high school and college at St. Meinrad from 1965-70. He entered the U.S. Army in 1970 as a chaplain and served in Vietnam.
From 1976-77, Father Micheas served as assistant pastor at St. Benedict Parish (now Cathedral) in Evansville, and then as assistant coordinator of student life at St. Meinrad College from 1977-82. In 1983, he returned to active duty in the Army as a chaplain.
From 1993-98, he taught Spanish and German in St. Meinrad College. He served as parish administrator at St. John Chrysostom Parish in New Boston from 1995-1998. From 1998-2003, he served as a civilian contract priest at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
He then served as chaplain at Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 2003-2015, caring for wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan. He returned to the monastery in 2015 and is living in the infirmary.
Father Samuel is originally from Chicago. He professed his vows as a Benedictine monk on Nov. 13, 1969.
He earned a bachelor of arts and a Master of Divinity from St. Meinrad Seminary. He received the licentiate in sacred theology with a specialization in sacred liturgy and monastic spirituality from the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. He earned a master’s degree in Latin and Greek literature and ancient art and archeology from the University of Colorado.
He also studied Gregorian chant with Dom Eugene Cardine, as well as music history and composition at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 2, 1996.
For 20 years, Father Samuel was on the faculty of St. Meinrad School of Theology and St. Meinrad College. He was a founding member of the Wake Forest University Divinity School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he taught for nine years.
In addition, he has taught in the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, The Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville and the Disciples of Christ Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. In addition to teaching, his ecumenical involvement has included lecturing and writing for The Upper Room (Methodist) and The Presbyterian Board of Worship.
In the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Father Samuel was the founding director of the Institute of Sacred Music and was on the faculty of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.
He has served as an advisor for the International Committee on English in the Liturgy for the new translation of the Roman Missal. He also has taught at The Liturgical Institute, Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, and at Christendom College, Front Royal, Virginia, where he was also director of liturgical music. He is an experienced retreat director in the areas of liturgy, spirituality, marriage and family living, and ecumenism.
Father Samuel’s publications include (published by Ignatius Press) “The Propers of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities,” “The Ignatius Pew Missal,” “Canta la Misa,” and “The Office of Compline.” In addition, he has composed the chants for “The Propers of the Mass for Weekdays of the Temporal Cycle.”
He is the editor of “The Hymnal for the Hours.” His most recent publications include “The St. Patrick Gradual” and the “St. Patrick Antiphonary.” He is preparing the organ accompaniments for the “Liber Hymnarius.”
Father Samuel currently is an adjunct instructor of languages and dogmatics at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California, and he is on the staff of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.