Since September of this year, Saint Anselm Abbey has been the host of a monk from abroad.

Coming from Hungary, Father Gregory is a professor at Sapientia College of Theology for Religious Orders is located in the Hungarian Capitol of Budapest.

Sapientia is a small school, founded by the Hungarian Benedictine Congregation, the Hungarian Piarist Province and the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Hungary in the year 2000.

To Father Gregory, the name of the school, Latin for “wisdom,” is a perfect name.

“It is not just about the wisdom of theology. It is also about the wisdom of philosophy.,” Father Gregory shared.

These feelings are rooted in the fact that Father Gregory is mainly a philosophy teacher.

His students typically study smaller philosophical and theological texts to amass knowledge on the subjects as a whole.

His students are young students at the university, hoping to become catechists, teachers, or monks, as well as many older people, going back to school to study theology in the hopes of strengthening their faith.

So far, he has very much liked his stay at the monastery.

The daily routine is almost the same as his monastery in Hungary, but there are some notable differences.

For example, while the original Latin liturgical texts they pray are the same, the Hungarian and American texts differ in how they are translated, resulting in different words and modes of expression.

There are also some different song melodies, which makes it more difficult to “join in”.

As far as his experiences in America, Father Gregory held a special fondness for Thanksgiving. Having never experienced the holiday before, he very much liked the holiday centered on eating turkey.

He also liked the Thanksgiving tradition the monks hold. This tradition involves going on a voluntary hour-long walk from the monastery, taking a route around the neighborhood to build up an appetite for the Thanksgiving feast.

In regards to Saint Anselm College, Father Gregory feels that “You have a great opportunity as a student here. I’ve been using the library, which is a great place. I think everyone who can study here, or just be here for a couple months as I have should be very grateful.”

In all, Father Gregory’s Sabbatical here has been a great experience, and he hopes to come back to the United States next year, in order to visit two Hungarian monks located at the Saint Anselm owned monastery in Woodside, California.