St. Peter's Abbey: Pray and Work
Pray and Work        by Martin Brodner, O.S.B.
With a roof over their heads the monks were ready to start monastic life on the prairies and bring spiritual care to the settlers. Their primary task as monks was prayer. The monks gathered several times a day to pray the monastic office, a practice that has continued without interruption until this day. The other major task was the spiritual care of the settlers: to locate them on their various homesteads in the Colony, and to begin organizing parishes, erecting churches and residences, and establishin parochial schools for the children. The monastic work unfolded approximately as follows. Two monks were almost continuously on the road to and from Rosthern to bring lumber and needed supplies. Fr. John Balfrey, a good carpenter, doctor and teacher, was in charge of building and maintenance. A second lumber monastery was built under his care from June to September 1903, as well as barns and other buildings. The few remaining monks had to handle the cooking, digging wells, hunting game for food and turning the sod for garden and crops for spring planting. Fr. Balfrey also cared for the sick,and was a first teacher in the log monastery nearby.
Prior Alfred set about exploring the colony with horse and buggy. His general plan was to set up parishes about 15 miles apart. He placed resident pastors, as soon as available, in the parishes approximately 15 miles from the monastery. These would, in turn, set up missions beyond the parish at similar distances apart. At the very start we also find Frs. Peter Windschiegel and Chrysostom Hoffmann as roving missionaries who were instrumental in starting the various parishes and missions. Fr. Peter to the east: Watson, Engelfeld, Romance (St. Oswald), St. Gregor; and Fr. Chrysostom to the west and north: Marysburg (Dead Moose Lake), Dixon (old St. Bernard), Fulda, Bruno, Willmont, Peterson, Dana, and reaching out for a few years to the north-east to Beauchamp (replaced by St. Martin's), Spalding (St. Anselm's) and even beyond into the Diocese (Wadena, Kuroki, etc). The following were the first resident pastors: Fr. Meinrad (1903) Leofeld (mission St. Benedict); Fr. Dominic (1903) Annaheim (with mission Lake Lenore); Fr. Matthias Steger (1904) Marysburg (Dead Moose Lake); Fr. Benedict (1904) Watson; Fr. Ildephonse Molitor (1905) Fulda and Willmont. Prior Alfred was the pastor of the home parish, Muenster, until the abbey moved south of the railroad in 1921. The Colony was experiencing a tremendous growth. By 1906 there were 6000 settlers in the Colony and 8,000 by 1910. The spirit of cooperation in these early settlers was most encouraging in building churches and schools.