The Abbot and Community of 
St. Michael's Abbey 
of the Norbertine Fathers
cordially invite you to attend
 
the Solemn Profession of 
frater Herman Joseph Jason Putnam, O.Praem. 
and 
frater Jacob Joseph Hsieh, O.Praem.
 
on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. 
St. Michael's Abbey Church of the Assumption
19292 El Toro Road, Silverado, California
frater Herman Joseph 
I was born and raised Catholic, and I am grateful to my father, who taught me about the need to think before I speak. My mother taught me my prayers and made sure we all stayed close to the Sacraments. It is precisely this formula of grace building on nature which allows me to be where I am today.
 
Attendance at World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002 was an enormous influence in my life, seeing the inspiring example of St. John Paul II.  I started altar serving, praying the rosary regularly, going to confession on a regular basis and attending Eucharistic adoration twice a week.  These things, combined with spiritual reading, showed me that I had been seeking pleasure in the wrong places, and I became strongly attracted to religious life. So, I prayed - God, tell me where you want me to go.
 
A second World Youth Day (this time in Germany) in 2005 was also very influential.  There I met a Dominican sister named Sr. Maria Faustina. When she heard I was discerning my vocation she told me, "You are going to be a Norbertine at St. Michael's Abbey in California."  She was correct in her judgment.
 
I taught in the abbey preparatory school this past year, and next year I will be in Rome studying at the Angelicum University to complete my Theological studies.
 
frater Jacob
Growing up, my mother made sure to hand on the Faith to me. It was the most important thing in our family life. I always had in the back of my mind that I might want to become a priest, but wanted to be a doctor or a pianist more. I went to Jesuit College Prep in Dallas for high school, and dreamed of a lucrative job and a happy family life. I studied hard and made good grades and practiced piano for many hours each day

One of my teachers at high school was a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College. He made me love the pursuit of truth and showed me how rich the Catholic Faith is. This influenced me to go to Thomas Aquinas College. There, I met Fr. Michael Perea, a confrere at St. Michael's who was one of the chaplains that year and who suggested I come to visit the abbey. I fell in love with the common life that was thriving there: the pursuit of holiness and truth in fraternal charity. I decided to join the abbey after my senior year.
 
The Lord has blessed me with an outlet for my musical interests as well: I had the great joy of introducing the novices to Gregorian Chant this year, and next year will go to study chant at a Pontifical University in Rome.  
What is Solemn Profession?

At the conclusion of at least a three-year period of temporary vows living the religious life and sharing in its apostolate, a Norbertine seminarian will petition the abbot and his council for full and permanent membership into the community by making solemn profession.

 

Solemn profession represents a deepening of the commitment one makes at baptism to renounce sin and to follow Christ.  The three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience free an individual in order to be able to follow the Lord more fully.  In the context of the Church and religious life each vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God in the presence of the superior and the community to live the apostolic life as it is described in the Acts of the Apostles.  Norbertines also have other elements implied in their particular vow formulation - an ongoing conversion of ways and stability of life, since we make our vows to a particular church, in a very concrete and local offering.

 

Abbot Eugene and the confreres are very pleased to welcome fr. Herman Joseph and fr. Jacob with their sincere and solemn kiss of peace.

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St. Michael's Abbey


ST. MICHAEL'S ABBEY
19292 El Toro Road
Silverado, CA 92676