THE ABBEY

St.Walburga

crucifix made from colorado clay

crucifix inlaid in ties on floor

see the nun with her apron over her blue robes?

it was 97 degrees today! i would not want to be doing labor in long sleeve robes and a long veil….

i went up to Laramie today to meet a friend for lunch and on the way home i stopped at the abbey.

i am so glad i stopped, what an amazing place! the abbey of st.walburga is a benedictine monastery of contemplative nuns, roman catholic. the abbey has 21 nuns that are totally self sufficient, i mean they grow all their food, make their clothes, do all the labor on the land ! amazing! the order of nuns came to united states in 1935 to get out of nazi germany, settling in the boulder area till they out grew the property. in 1997 they relocated in northern larimer county. 

the abbey has rooms to rent for personal solitude and pray at an amazing price. also they have hikes and prayers and of a mass said several times a day, most impressive though is they do monastic chants, if you have never heard monastic chanting you are seriously missing an amazing sound. oh, and they have a cute little store that i saw some hand woven rag rugs, hand made bees wax candles, plus of a lot of literature regarding the abbey. 

i’m going to go back to the abbey, hopefully next week to look around a bit more. on my drive out i noticed “station ave” which is a beautiful foot (all natural) path that winds up the hill with crosses placed every 100 feet or so. it’s the stations of the cross! (if your not familiar with catholic church, here is an explanation).

how i would love to spend three days in silent , meditative solitude up in those beautiful mountains at the abbey.