August 27, 2021

Saint Meinrad monk professes solemn vows in Aug. 15 Mass

Benedictine Father Mateo Zamora waits on Aug. 15 to process into the Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in St. Meinrad. The monk professed solemn vows that day as a member of Saint Meinrad Archabbey. He is holding a “vow chart,” which is a handwritten document that expresses a Benedictine monk’s vows of obedience, fidelity to the monastic way of life and stability. (Photo courtesy of Saint Meinrad Archabbey)

Benedictine Father Mateo Zamora waits on Aug. 15 to process into the Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln in St. Meinrad. The monk professed solemn vows that day as a member of Saint Meinrad Archabbey. He is holding a “vow chart,” which is a handwritten document that expresses a Benedictine monk’s vows of obedience, fidelity to the monastic way of life and stability. (Photo courtesy of Saint Meinrad Archabbey)

Criterion staff report

Benedictine Father Mateo Zamora, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad, professed solemn vows as a member of the southern Indiana monastery during an Aug. 15 Mass at its Archabbey Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln.

In professing solemn vows, Father Mateo becomes a full and permanent member of the Benedictine community.

A native of Angeles City, Philippines, Father Mateo, 44, was ordained a priest in 2007 for the Diocese of Lexington, Ky.

He previously earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines, and worked for two years as a college instructor before becoming a seminarian.

In the Diocese of Lexington, Father Mateo served in several parishes, at the Newman centers at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., and in the diocese’s canon law tribunal.

Since professing temporary vows at Saint Meinrad in 2018, Father Mateo has taught homiletics at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology.

He is currently working online toward earning a doctorate of ministry degree in homiletics from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.

Father Mateo also serves as a spiritual director for seminarians and as an assistant in the monastery’s oblate office. He also oversees Mass intentions for the monastery. †

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