A former Swampscott resident heard the calling and has become the newest monk at St. Anselm Abbey in New Hampshire.
Michael Phelan was inducted recently in a ceremony where he received his new name, Brother Titus.
“I am very excited for this opportunity to grow in our faith and to test this vocation,” said Phelan in a statement. “It will be difficult, of course, but with the prayers and support of our new monastic community, along with God’s grace, I’m sure this novitiate year will be a time of real conversion.”
Phelan is a 2012 graduate of St. Anselm College, site of the St. Anselm Abbey in Manchester.
He enters a one-year period of intense prayer, study and reflection as the new monk gets acquainted with his vocation, the church said.
Phelan join 29 monks at the church. These members of the Order of St. Benedict follow the sixth century rule of the order’s founder, St. Benedict of Nursia.
Monks live in the monastery on the college campus and work in the college in service to the church.
