One of the most common things people ask me these days is “So, what exactly are you going to do?”  I try to answer their question the best I can.  It is difficult to answer it.  We live in a sound bite age and if an answer takes longer than 25 seconds, then people just stop you and say “Oh, that’s too confusing for me.”

The answer to the question is simply “I am moving to Austria to join the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.”  But, this rarely answers anyone’s question.  It just creates more questions.  They normally arrive in this order:

  • You are moving away from San Diego?  Why would anyone do that?
  • Have you visited them before?
  • When you were there did you see kangaroos?
  • What is the Canons Regular of whatever?
  • Are they Catholic?
  • Are you going to be a monk?
  • Don’t you like people?
  • I thought you had a good job, why are you giving it up in this economy?
  • Will you be a priest?
  • and the list goes on and on.

I thought it might be easier if I just write a few posts explaining what I am doing. To make this easier I am going to break this down in to parts.  Part one is going to deal with where I am going.

  • Kangaroos

The first question I need to answer is the question about kangaroos.   When I first went to visit the Stift. People asked me to take pictures of Kangaroos and Koalas.  They also had requests like “Bring me back some beach sand”, “Bring me back some coral”, or “Throw a shrimp on the barbie, mate”.  I wish I was making this up.  But, I am not.

So, I am sorry to disappoint you all, but …

For the geographically challenged, Austria is a landlocked country on the eastern edge of Central Europe.  Australia is a country that is its own continent in the southern hemisphere.  For the visually inclined, here is a picture:

map_vienna_central-europe_2005

Now that I have dispensed with the truly important question.

  • Where is klosterneuburg?

I am going to Klosterneuburg, Austria.  Here is a brief explanation

of Klosterneuburg that I got from the web.

Klosterneuburg is a city in Lower Austria, 5 1/2 m. N.W. of Vienna with a population of 24,442. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, immediately north of Vienna. From 1938 to 1954, it constituted the 26th district of Vienna. Today, it is a site of industry and a suburb of Vienna. The city is tightly linked to Vienna and houses some of the most affluent citizens of Lower Austria.

The Klosterneuburg Monastery, the existence of which was first documented in 1108 and soon after was given to the Augustinians, is of particular historical importance. On a hill rising directly from the banks of the Danube stand the magnificent buildings (erected 1730-1834) of the Augustine canonry. This order “die Chorherren” is one of the oldest and richest of its kind; it owns much of the land upon which the north-western suburbs of Vienna stand. Among the points of interest within it are the old chapel of 1318, with Leopold’s tomb and the Verdun Altar, dating from the 12th century, the treasury and relic-chamber, the library with 30,000 volumes and many Manuscripts, the picture gallery, the collection of coins, the theological hall, and the winecellar, containing an immense tun like that at Heidelberg.

Here is a map to help you find it.

  • To Be continued …

Part Two will talk about what a Stift is.  In the meantime, here is an aerial photo of the Stift.