Br. Meinrad Camargo Professes Solemn Vows

Br. Meinrad Camargo sings the “Suscipe” as he professed his solemn vows during Mass on March 21. (Photo by Seminarian Robert Gale)

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Br. Meinrad Camargo, O.S.B., professed his solemn vows during Mass in the Saint Joseph Abbey Church on March 21 in the presence of Abbot Justin Brown, O.S.B., the monastic community, seminarians and friends.

The journey to this day was long in time and distance for the Brazilian-born Br. Meinrad, but during the solemn vows ceremony he was at peace with his decision to become a Benedictine monk at Saint Joseph Abbey.

“During the time I’ve been here I had to face many questions openly and honestly, and I had to find answers with the help of the Formation Director, the Spiritual Director, and the elders of our community,” he said. “Nonetheless, the ultimate question I had to answer was if I was called to live in this community of monks for life or not. The answer I found was ‘yes.’”

Br. Meinrad spoke online with family members in Brazil earlier this year and talked with them about the importance of this moment in his life. While distance kept his relatives from attending the ceremony, they were able to watch via the livestream on the Abbey’s YouTube channel.

The ceremony itself was a blessed experience for Br. Meinrad. When he prayed the “Suscipe” and sang the words “Accept me, O Lord, as you have promised that I may live. And let not me be put to shame in my hope,” the words expressed his desire as a Monk perfectly.

The mystical burial, when he remained prostrate under a funeral pall, was also meaningful. The symbolism that “we are offered with Christ in the Eucharistic sacrifice to be transformed into the body of Christ, which is the mystical Church” is clear, he said.

While preparing for the ceremony, Bro. Meinrad said he was struck by the petition he had to make to share the suffering of Christ until death “so that I may also share His kingdom.” He asked himself during this time if he really wanted to share Jesus’ suffering here and what that means.

“I remember one day talking to one of the elders about monastic vocation, and I said to him I was here to be holy,” he said. “To that he answered, ‘Stick around, and I guarantee to you that we (the monastic community) are going to be your Cross.’ I think that was really insightful about the nature of our vocation.”

The youngest of three boys, Bro. Meinrad was raised in a Catholic home and believed he had been called to the priesthood at an early age, but once a teenager he chose a different path, later graduating from law school and buying a house. But when he prayed about his next move – he thought he’d go back to school for a higher degree, Jesus once again led him toward the Church.

“I first discerned my religious vocation with the Carmelite Friars, but when I was a Postulant at Carmel, I started reading Thomas Merton and realized that I was called to a more contemplative way of life,” he said. “Following Jesus' call to a life of silence and solitude, I went to the only Trappist monastery in Brazil.”

There, through the silence and solitude, he cultivated a deep relationship with God and experienced profound spiritual growth. But it was also challenging, and following his mother’s death he left the monastery to reconnect to his past and mourn her loss.

But he never wavered from his belief in the monastic vocation. He trusted God would lead him to another monastery, despite his decision to leave the places God had already sent him.

When he was ready to contact other monasteries, he remembered seeing an online news story about Saint Joseph Abbey that had peaked his interest. The story featured an interview with Abbot Justin and showed the different apostolates, and he liked that there were “some apostolates who which were intellectual labor, like teaching at the Seminary College, and other apostolates which were physical labor, like caskets and honey, because that allows us to adapt in different moments of our religious life if we are called to do pastoral work to be in more contact with people or to do manual labor to live in more silence and solitude.”

He contacted the Vocation Director and visited in 2017. In 2018, he returned for good.

“God was still faithful to His word. When I was ready, God worked His way to accomplish His will for my life,” he said.

To learn more about a monastic vocation at Saint Joseph Abbey, visit www.saintjosephabbey.com/vocations-home.