Rawaseneng Monastery ( id, Pertapaan Rawaseneng, Pertapaan Santa Maria Rawaseneng) is a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

complex of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), popularly known as the

Trappists The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

, located in

Temanggung Regency Temanggung Regency ( id, Kabupaten Temanggung) is a regency in the Central Java Province of Indonesia. It covers a land area of 870.65 km2 and had a population of 708,546 at the 2010 Census and 790,174 at the 2020 Census. Its capital is the town ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

, Indonesia. The monastery was officially established on 1 April 1953 as a daughter house of

Koningshoeven Abbey Koningshoeven Abbey ( nl, Abdij Koningshoeven, Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven) is a monastery of the Trappists (Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance) founded in 1881 in Berkel-Enschot in North Brabant, the Netherlands. Fou ...

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, Netherlands. Apart from being a residence for the monks, there are also a church, prayer garden, retreat houses, coffee plantations, dairy farms along with the processing industries within the monastery complex. Ronald Bell, a pilgrim from the United States, shares his impression about this place, "You will get all the stages, praying, meditating, contemplating sacred readings, and working. All of those constitute an inseparable part of the experience." Not far from the monastery complex, it lies the Church of Santa Maria dan Yoseph as the center of the Rawaseneng Parish, just ahead of the Kindergarten and Elementary School of Fatima Rawaseneng which are managed by the

Dominican nuns The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. Like the monks in other Trappist monasteries, the monks of Rawaseneng Monastery lives on prayer and works of their hands. The results of their works on coffee plantations, dairy farms, and bakery/cake industries become the main source of livelihood of the monks in the monastery, thus they do not live by relying on contribution from the congregation. In his address during the 60th anniversary celebration of the Rawaseneng Monastery on 25 August 2013, Archbishop Johannes Pujasumarta said, "Together with the nuns of the Trappist Gedono, they present a Church that prays and works in the Archdiocese of Semarang."

Superiors

Superiors of the community since the official establishment in 1953: * 1953 – 1958 : Bavo van der Ham, OCSO (Superior) * 1958 – 1963 : Bavo van der Ham, OCSO (Titular Prior) * 1963 – 1966 :

Frans Harjawiyata Fransiskus "Frans" Harjawiyata O.C.S.O. (September 24, 1931 – June 7, 2016) was an Indonesian Roman Catholic monastic abbot and member of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, who are more commonly known as the Trappists. Harjawiyata ...

, OCSO (Superior ad nutum) * 1966 – 1968 : Willibrord van Dijk, OCSO (Superior ad nutum) * 1968 – 1970 : Bavo van der Ham, OCSO (Superior ad nutum) * 1970 – 1976 : Bavo van der Ham, OCSO (Titular Prior) * 1976 – 1976 : Frans Harjawiyata, OCSO (Superior ad nutum) * 1976 – 1978 : Frans Harjawiyata, OCSO (Titular Prior) * 1978 – 2006 : Frans Harjawiyata, OCSO (Abbot) * 2006 – present : , OCSO (Abbot)

Daughter houses

Rawaseneng Monastery has founded following daughter houses: * Bunda Pemersatu Monastery in Weru, Jetak Village, in Getasan,

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(nuns) * Lamanabi Trappist Monastery in Lamanabi Village, Tanjung Bunga, East Flores, Indonesia (monks) * Trappistine Monastery "Our Lady Star of Hope",

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

(nuns)

Gallery

File:Museum Pertapaan Santa Maria Rawaseneng.JPG, Museum, religious goods store and dairy store, as well parking lot. File:The Church of the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng (left side view).jpg, Church of Rawaseneng Monastery, as seen from the entrance to monastery complex at the left side of the church. File:Church chancel of the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng.jpg, Chancel and altar inside the church. File:Church interior of the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng.jpg, Nave of the church File:Terce at the Church of the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng 3.jpg, The monks celebrating

Terce Terce is a canonical hour of the Divine Office. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around 9 a.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the third hour of the day after dawn. With Sext, None and Compline it belongs to the so-called "Little ...

. File:Chapel on the 1st floor of Wisma Galilea, the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng Complex.jpg, The chapel on the 1st floor of Wisma Galilea, one of the guest houses. File:Dining room for guests, the Monastery of Saint Mary Rawaseneng Complex.jpg, Dining room for guests. File:Pietà and First Station of the Cross in the Saint Mary Rawaseneng Prayer Garden.JPG,

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

and first Station of the Cross in the Prayer Garden. File:Altar and statue of the Holy Family in the Saint Mary Rawaseneng Prayer Garden.JPG, Altar and statue of the Holy Family in the Prayer Garden. File:Fish pond and fountain in the Saint Mary Rawaseneng Prayer Garden.JPG, Fish pond and fountain in the Prayer Garden.

References

Bibliography

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External links