St. Benedict Monastery Online: Memorials

For a Christian, death is like the miracle of birth, only in reverse. At birth a new little creature bursts forth on this planet from eternity and at death we return to eternity. Death really isn’t the end of life – it is another miraculous birth.

Br. Benedict Guilliani was born shortly before Christmas on December 13th, 1913 in Italy. On the morning of January 16th, 2011, he was born into eternal life. His only remaining sibling is his sister in Italy. His parents named him Lucino, but were proud of him (like most Italian families at that time) when he was renamed Benedict when he entered the Benedictine community. It is unusual, but soon after his simple profession of vows at the age of 18, he was allowed to come to the United States at the request of Br. Alberic Lasconi who saw in him the qualities that would provide the strength and support needed for a developing community in the “New World”. Initially, he worked around Holy Face and Our Lady of Help parishes in Detroit, where his knowledge of the English language and appreciation of the sport of baseball as supplemented by listening to the Detroit Tigers games on the radio. But most of Benedict’s time in Detroit was at St. Scholastica Church. Although he worked just as hard as Br. Alberic, Benedict was looked upon as his assistant for 28 years!

Br. Ben’s next chapter in life started at the age of 46, when he came to Oxford with Fr. Livious Paoli in 1959 when St. Benedict Monastery was founded. Although middle age is usually a time when most people begin to “slow down”, Brother was just getting started. In the quiet land, north of Detroit, Benedict tended a herd of cattle for 40 years, grew vegetables on a 2 acre garden, cooked for the community (at one time for as many as 20 monks) on a shoe-string budget and laundered the monks’ clothing every Monday until “modern” washing machines were acquired. The hard work that he engaged is only a glimpse into the rugged but loving personality of Benedict. One instance encapsulates his character very well. One day, when things were not going well, Fr. Daniel Homan at that time a young priest/monk of the community, tried to cheer him up by saying a few encouraging words. Br. Ben responded, “That’s like water running off a ducks back”. As Fr. Daniel was naturally crestfallen by the response, Benedict continued, “The duck likes it!”

During Br. Benedict’s life he experienced and witnessed many changes. Changes in the Church’s liturgy, developments in technology, the political strife of several wars, the death of several of his confreres, the evolution of a community coming into its own in another country and even the slow but steady decline in his own health, but through it all, his patient trust in the Will of God enabled to humbly accept and even embrace them. For example, when he realized that after 20 years of hard work, he would be unable to take care of the cattle, without much fanfare or emotion he simply told Fr. Daniel, the Prior at that time, “I won’t be taking care of the cows anymore.” And that was it!

Br. Benedict brought the community together by all his years of faithfulness and perseverance. But the last two and a half years of his illness brought us together as all the monks worked together in caring for his needs. As his health continued to wane, Brother would show his appreciation, sometimes with words, sometimes with a simple look other times with a squeeze of the hand. Shortly before he passed on to the next life, he pointed to the wall behind his bed. We were not sure what he wanted. Did he want his bed to be pushed closer to the wall? Did want to have his can brought closer to his bed? There was nothing on the walls in his room except a Crucifix. At the suggestion of Fr. Damien Gjonaj our Sub Prior, one of the monks took the Crucifix from the wall and gave it to him… he kissed it, then he was totally at peace after that. For years, Br. Benedict often expressed his desire to die at the monastery and the Lord granted his request. Br. Ben never smiled much, but his 97 years of life radiated a peaceful joy that we will never forget!