On October 8, Assistant Director of Mission & Ministry Mike Fitzgerald led the annual Middle School Retreat for Delbarton 7^th and 8^th graders. For 7th graders, this was their first Delbarton retreat and an opportunity to learn about the life of a Benedictine monk and the Hallmarks of a Benedictine education.

The theme was Monk for a Day, and the first step was breaking into small groups where each boy was asked to choose his monk’s name from a list of 128 options: Basil or Bede, Paul or Paulinus, Wolfgang or Wunnibald…so many choices, so little time. Next, each group selected a monastic representative to go on stage, representing the group's ‘monastry’. Earlier, the middle schoolers had been incentivized to dress in monastic attire with the promise of a prize, and several boys took full advantage of the opportunity.

After a quick vote on stage, where attire was the key to success, the winner received a large bag of candy (to be delivered on Monday) to earn instant peer approval.

Boys were then challenged to draw their concept of God, and the results were as varied as the middle schoolers themselves, as the group below demonstrates. 

Next, 8^th graders trekked up to St. Mary’s Abbey for a behind-the-scenes tour the Abbey Church and the monastery with Fr. Joseph Voltaggio, O.S.B. They learned about the Abbey Church design, the daily prayer schedule, and saw where monks sleep, dine and host monastic community meetings.

7^th graders remained in the FAC to learn more from Br. Will McMillan, O.S.B. about Benedictine vows and the hallmarks of a Benedictine school like Delbarton.

A well-timed snack break in the FAC followed, featuring not one but, for some boys, two bags of chips because they believe God gave us two hands for a reason.

8^th graders were originally scheduled to head back up to the Abbey for a tour of the Orchard and the Abbey Cemetery with Br. Will, (subbing for Abbey arborist Br. Paul Diveny, O.S.B.) to talk about the Benedictine dictum of ‘Ora et Labora’, a daily habit of prayer and work.  Instead, due to the rainy morning, Br. Will delivered a presentation in the FAC Theater to the entire Middle School and fielded questions from the group. 

Fast Facts gathered from Br. Paul's 2024 Abbey Orchard talk:

•    A monk from New Hampshire named Fr. Andrew, aka ‘Apple Andy’, planted the first fruit trees in the late 1940s (two of those original trees remain)
•    There are currently 50 apple trees (Yellow and red delicious, MacIntosh, Fuji, Gala...Baldwins failed)
•    4 peach trees
•    8 pear trees
•    2 cherry trees
•    4 bee hives to pollinate the fruit blossoms each spring
•    The Abbey hives are surrounded by an electric fence to deter area bears
•    Apples ripen as early as August and as late as the first frost
•    While not a Benedictine, St. Fiacre of Breuil is the patron saint of gardeners, and there is a small statue of him in the Orchard
•    Due to a lack of water in summer 2024, Abbey Orchard fruit trees were barren. Last fall, alumni on the very active Ora et Labora committee dug trenches around trees to improve irrigatio, leading to a banner crop in 2025. Booyah, Delbarton alumni!

Finally, the last stop during this annual Morning of Recollection was gathering all 8^th and 7^th graders in the Abbey Church to learn more from Br. Will about the four-times-a-day prayer life of a Benedictine monk.

The Middle School Retreat accomplishes a lot on one October morning. While their older brothers were took PSATs or toured college campuses, our youngest students enjoyed an immersive experience in the life of a Benedictine, learning more about the beliefs and habits inspired by The Rule of St. Benedict that form the cultural core of their Delbarton Experiences.