Cistercians - Stift Heiligenkreuz im Wienerwald

When I started this blog a year ago, I had no idea the readership it would take on. Just yesterday this humble vocations blog was visited by someone at the Vatican using a German language computer! No, I don't think for a minute that the Holy Father visited romancatholicvocations (although that would be pretty amazing), but somebody from the Vatican did seek out this site. One word: wow.

Then today I received an email from one of the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz im Wienerwald, Austria. The good Father contacted me with a request that I correct a miss labeled picture. In a recent post I said that the following picture was of Our Holy Father and a group of Trappists:

As you've probably put together at this point, these are Cistercians not Trappists. If I might offer a weak excuse - I was tired and didn't take the time to go back and look who the order was in the picture. I had saved it because it was such a great photo, but failed to save it with the name of the order.

Regardless I was very happy that Fr. Ignatius contacted me about it. I have since had the pleasure of visiting their website. Stift Heiligenkreuz is the second-oldest Cistercian Monastery in the world. It is certainly one of the most beautiful. You should visit their site if for no other reason than to see all of the beautiful pictures, particularly of Pope Benedict's visit. Two of my favorite lines on the only English page of the website: "It is one of the most beautiful medieval monasteries of the world. In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI. visited the monastery, which is full with young vocations." You have to like that last line.