I have decided to take this three-day weekend easy and travel with a small group back to Klosterneuburg. Father Clemens was so kind as to take time out of his day on Saturday to show us the Imperial Treasury. This is quite an honor because not everyone gets to have a tour of the two rooms that hold the treasures of the church. There are graduate and PhD students that have been denied access to the treasury, so it makes us all feel pretty special just to be able to enter.
There are many different treasures at Klosterneuburg that are known the world over. They have one of the only full sets of Jugendstil style vestments in the world, which is an Austrian style of Art Nouveau. The decorative patterns are ornate and heavy, and Father Clemens frequently questioned why they were being displayed upright rather than flat. I think it is interesting that popular Otto Wagner's artistic style of the day were becoming popular in the church as well.
This is a picture of the abbey's Nativity Scene, which depicts the birth of Jesus as described by Matthew and Luke. This Nativity is still used today in the church for the major holidays.
This is the skull of St Leopold. Enough said.
The Archducal Crown of Austria still resides in Klosterneuburg, as well as a papal excommunication if one should remove the crown for a given period of time.
These relics are posted for Kathy.
After the tour Father Clemens and joined us again at the wine garden, although it was a lot more tame this time. He brought with him a man in his Novitiate named Michael, who I ended up talking to most of the night. The Novitiate is a period of training that one must go through within a religious order before they take their vows. Michael hails from southern California so it was interesting to hear his perspective on American and European politics. I enjoyed hearing about his political views and we talked about everything from Obama to immigration to abortion. Table talk at its finest!
The next day Jan, Harrison, Caralee and myself decided to go to Sunday Mass, which was being performed by Father Clemens. I had a limited idea of what was going on, since the service was in German. I sat next to Jan and she very quietly translated the service for me. This is slightly ironic, but I have now been to Stift Klosterneuburg more times that I have been to church in America. Hmmm...
After the service we went with Father Clemens and Michael to get coffee. It was interesting because as we were in conversation, Father Elias decided to join us. I think that everyone in the coffee shop was wondering why the American tourists were so important! It turns out that Father Elias is from the United States as well and has been at Klosterneuburg about as long as Father Clemens. For me it was an amazing experience to be able to have such candid talk with so many important people within the church. They broke down barriers that I never knew existed within myself. By talking and joking with them it allowed me to respect their beliefs and place in the church yet at the same time see them as "normal" human beings.
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