Never Wanting for Work

Wimmer Wednesday. In 1852, as well as today, the monks were never wanting for work. Boniface Wimmer wrote:

We are never wanting for work. For one, we have to put up new buildings every year, for which we make the bricks ourselves, break and burn the limestone, cut the boards. Secondly, since we have only poor parishes in the countryside, we must mostly live off our agriculture. One gets fields here only if one first clears the brush and trees that grow on the land; and that takes much labor and effort, as well as time.1 Thirdly, having so many people living in one place requires a lot of household services, and therefore we need many workers. Another concern is how I can feed so many people, especially so many brothers, particularly when they become elderly. Then, these 77 brothers, 16 clerics, and 14 priests are not all there is to our family. By the close of the past school year, which ends here on July 4th, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we also had 50 students, and I am certain that by the close of the next school year we would have 70 or even more, if I have room for them. Only roughly a quarter of these 50 pay a moderate tuition, not half as much as is being required in all American residential schools. The others are all poor boys and need not only to be fed for free, but often also to be supplied with books and clothing.

From Boniface Wimmer: Abbot of Saint Vincent in Pennsylvania