On our drive to Owensboro, we passed a road sign on Route 64 to St. Meinrad Archabbey. (Abbey is synonymous with monastery; an archabbey is a principle monastery). What would an important place in the hierarchy of the Catholic church be doing in the Indiana countryside? We took a side trip.
Saint Meinrad Archabbey was founded by monks from Einseideln Abbey in Switzerland on March 21, 1854, and is home to approximately 79 monks. The Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology is also located on the premises. The abbey is named for the monk, St. Meinrad of Einseideln, who died in 861. It is one of only two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world.
The Saint Meinrad grounds are very quiet and tranquil. What caught my eye was the cemetery. It reminded me of a military cemetery, a cemetery with rows and rows of identical headstones - simple, each one in the shape of a cross. The headstones are set in straight lines and are made of the same local rock that the Abbey itself is built out of. They are very stout.The height as well as the distance between each stone is uniform, evoking military precision, like rows of soldiers in formation, or in this case, soldiers of the Lord.
After the Civil War when Congress appropriated funding for national military cemeteries, Frederick Law Olmsted recommended that the military cemetery designs should “remain deceptively simple” and the “main object should be to establish permanent dignity and tranquility . . . a sacred grove, sacredness and protection being expressed in the enclosing wall and in the perfect tranquility of the trees within.” The St. Meinrad cemetery conveys this same feeling in its sacred resting place.
It is always nice to make those stops along the way. We may have stopped at that one many years ago.
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