Years ago, we centralized our altar bread production at our Clyde community. So as we begin our Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories project, we have continued to produce millions of wafers each week to serve the Church and those around the world. We won’t let a little construction hamper the process!

Here is a wonderful column written by Prioress General Sister Pat Nyquist, OSB about our upcoming altar bread centennial.

Sister Pat

“One hundred years of producing and distributing altar beads, hosts that have become the spiritual nourishment of believers in this country and around the world!

This is the proud tradition of our Benedictine Congregation, a tradition that flows from our dedication to the Christ who is Eucharist and a most fitting expression of prayer and work, which is a basic tenet of the monastic life envisioned by St. Benedict.

We will observe this work, begun in 1911, by a year-long celebration beginning on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, June 6, 2010, and we hope that you will share with us our gratitude.

Some years ago I was talking with one of our Sisters about her decision to enter our Congregation. Her response left a deep impression on me and has taken up a permanent place in the recesses of my mind and heart over the years. She said she did not feel called to teach or nurse. She was looking for a community with a different kind of ministry. She came across some information on the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and was attracted by the emphasis on a life of prayer, both at the Eucharist and in the monastic Liturgy of the Hours.

Besides that, it was mentioned that the Sisters baked altar breads/communion hosts as part of their livelihood. She was struck by the nobleness of the work. Here was something that would give her a sense of contributing to the spiritual life of the Church. She would be helping to build the Body of Christ by providing the means of communicating the Body of Christ to the Church’s members. Noble indeed.

It is with a sense of deep gratitude that we celebrate these 100 years in which we have been blessed to be able to nourish and sustain our Congregation materially and spiritually and to share that spiritual nourishment with our many patrons throughout the world. Bread blessed, broken and shared. Lives blessed, broken and shared. Noble, indeed.”

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