Hello.
I’m Brother Richard, a Benedictine (OSB) monk since 1969.
At La Salle University in Philadelphia, I had changed my major from Philosophy to German to, finally, English (special interest: 1870-1914). I graduated with an A.B. (artium baccalaureus) in 1968, the “Year of Revolting Students.”
I continued working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a year after graduation. I entered the novitiate of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN, in July 1969. The Sixties were obviously over.
Having made final, solemn monastic vows as a Benedictine monk in 1973, I earned at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, a masters of arts degree in Library and Information Science, 1974. Long before there was the Internet, Library School students, antedating Google, used “reference books” and paper tape teletype machines to answer questions for libraries across Iowa.
Through connections of Rev. James Forbes OSB an Ampleforth dom and Master of St. Benet’s Hall, Oxford, I served as an intern in Special Collections at the Bodleian Library, UK, 1979-80. My mentor, Dr. David Rogers, was responsible for Bodley’s exhibition honoring the birth of Saint Benedict, 480-1980. “Benedictines and the Book” was a great success, and I learned quite a bit about manuscripts and rare books. I returned to Collegeville as a university and rare books librarian.
A decade later, I oversaw the microfilming of medieval manuscripts in Durham, UK, spring 1984- winter 1985 . I spent almost five years in Germany microfilming pre-1600 manuscripts for the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, 1987-92.
I served in several positions of information and website management for both university and abbey offices.
From 2009 until 2016 I worked as Coordinator of Information and Records at the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), Silver Spring, MD. CMSM is “the national organization representing leaders of religious institutes for men, monasteries, and societies for apostolic life in the United States. CMSM is both a common voice for leaders of religious men and an advocate for their individual charisms, addressing the life and concerns of members, and their evangelizing missions in the context of Church and culture.”
In August 2016, I returned in a red, 2007 Toyota Corolla from the abbey fleet to the monastery in central Minnesota. Before the pandemic (17 March 2020-), I used to work in the Abbey Guesthouse, and I coordinated tours of the abbey church. I write “Lives of the Benedictine Saints” for the Abbey Banner.
Bro. Richard Oliver OSB MA
Saint John’s Abbey
2900 Abbey Plaza
Collegeville, MN 56321-2015