Our Story
Early Beginnings
Holy Cross Monastery began with our Abbot. He always dreamed of founding a Monastery one day for the greater glory of God. In 1965, while he was very young and after he had been ordained as a priest for just one year, his devout mother suddenly and unexpectedly fell asleep in the Lord. He was an only son, so his mother left her inheritance to him; since she knew of his holy intention to build a Monastery one day.
This legacy from his mother was the seed from which Holy Cross Monastery would one day take root, but it was not enough to acquire property suitable for a monastery. So he labored in the Lord's vineyard as a parish priest until he met his first disciple in 1970.
When he heard this young man talk about his interest in pursuing the monastic life, he asked him if he would be interested in helping him build a monastery. "The days when emperors, tsars, or kings will build monasteries for us are past," he said. "If we want a monastery, we shall have to build one ourselves." It was then, in 1970, that they made their holy vow that one day, by the grace of God, they would build a monastery together dedicated to the Holy Cross.
How We Flourished
It took the monks nine additional years to save enough money to buy property suitable for a monastery, and then, in 1979, with the blessing of their diocesan bishop, they purchased a rural estate that would eventually be consecrated as Holy Cross Monastery. The monks themselves have performed most of the labor that has transfigured this rustic property into a frontier of Paradise. They have also stacked every stone in our retaining walls and planted the trees in the cloister precincts. The majestic Redwood trees that tower behind our cross shrine were planted by the Fathers themselves from one-gallon cans in 1980 - during the first summer following their arrival here.
Monks Support Themselves
Holy Cross Monastery exists by the grace of God and through the hard work and professional employment of its monks. Although friends and supporters have given and continue to give donations to help further the Fathers' holy work, the Monastery is self-supporting. If you would like to help the Fathers in their work, please click here.
The monks have never sent out appeals for donations and have never even passed a collection plate in their Monastery chapel. Whatever friends, supporters, and visitors have ever given of their own free will has been gratefully and humbly accepted and used for the greater glory of God by the monks.
This page was last edited on October 30, 2005