One of the beautiful aspects of studying Church history is seeing how God always provides for His Church. When things appear to be deteriorating within the Body of Christ, He raises up new men and women to restore the Church. One thinks of saints like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, or St. Teresa of Avila starting new religious orders to respond to the corruption, laxity or heterodoxy (or all three!) in existing orders.

Our own time has seen a number of new orders rise up as well to respond to the problems in the Church. For example, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Sisters of Life are both great examples of orders which have recently been formed and have worked vigorously to renew the Church.

Another new order, less well-known in the United States, is the Community of Maria Sedes Sapientiae, a Benedictine Order based in Norcia, Italy, the birthplace of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica. This young order is still small, but growing. They are striving to live an authentic monastic vocation, and have members from all over the world. One of my good friends from my days working for a pro-life group in the 90′s is a priest of their order.

Of course, chanting the Divine Office is one of their daily duties as Benedictine monks, and they have graciously uploaded mp3s of some of their beautiful chants to their web site. Here is a sample:

Communionem- Semel iuravi

Other mp3′s are available for download on this page of their website (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Please pray for this order and all new orders. Also consider donating to them, as they are growing rapidly and in the process of building a new monastery.