Shantivanam (India)
[May 2024]

India - Monastery of Shantivanam, OSB

Project 3566: Participation in the Leadership course in Rome

The Shantivanam monastery was founded in 1950 by two Frenchmen, Father Jules Monchanin (a diocesan priest) and Father Henri Le Saux (a monk from Kergonan). Their aim was to integrate Benedictine monasticism with traditional Indian ashram life.

In 1953, Father François Mahieu (a monk from Scourmont, Belgium) - later named Francis Acharya - joined the ashram, followed a little later by Father Bede Griffiths (a monk from Prinknash, England). The latter two, more attracted by the cenobitic life, founded the Kurisumala monastery in 1958.

Father Monchanin died in 1957, and Henri Le Saux, increasingly attracted to solitude, moved to a hermitage at the source of the Ganges. Only Bede Griffiths returned to Shantivanam in 1968, where he became prior.

In 1982, Bede Griffiths obtained affiliation of the monastery to the Benedictine congregation of the Camaldolese (a congregation favouring eremitical life). The community now comprises fourteen monks, four of whom are in temporary vows. The monks have a farm with a herd of dairy cows and a few fields.

Hermitage of Bede Griffiths. © AIM.

Request

Fr. Pinto will be taking part in the Leadership and the Rule of St Benedict course in Rome from 30 June to 19 July 2024.

This formation course is a joint educational project of the Universities of St. Gallen in Switzerland and St. Anselmo in Rome. This course is a joint educational project of the Universities of St Gallen in Switzerland and St Anselm in Rome. Unprecedented developments are transforming monasteries and making leadership much more demanding; this course is designed to help brothers and sisters better assume their responsibilities in community.

Financial assistance will be needed for travel and course registration.

Financial support requested: 2,600 euros.

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