Epilogue
The story of St. Mary’s Abbey has paralleled, in many respects, those of the city, state, and church in which it was initially planted. From a collection of small agricultural hamlets, “a barrel tapped at both ends,” as Benjamin Franklin famously described New Jersey, a backwater divided ecclesiastically between New York and Philadelphia, the state and its chief city grew to be major industrial, commercial and religious centers in their own right. Suburbs and satellite cities sprawled where corn once waved.
St. Mary’s Abbey, initially a mission to immigrants, grew n numbers and scope of activities. From a small band of mostly German monks, the community grew to include schools and parochial ministry over much of northern New Jersey and into New England.
Among abbies in this country, St. Mary’s has had a uniquely variegated history, with vivid personalities to match. Tensions between active and contemplative, town and country, Newark, Manchester and Morristown, have marked its story. Come what may in the future, may St. Mary’s Abbey continue to be, as her motto has it, Felix Coeli Porta, The Happy Gate of Heaven, for all who encounter her, for generations to come.