September 8, 2023
On the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the almost 900-year-old Cistercian monastery of Zwettl was pleased to have two monks vested. In the solemn, time-honored ritual, Van Dai Nguyen (33) and Matthias Neidhart (18) were clothed in the world's oldest Cistercian chapter house in Zwettl by Abbot Johannes Maria Szypulski and their novice master, Fr. Prior Bernhard Prem. Abbot Johannes Maria explained the lives of the two young men so far and referred to the passage in Holy Scripture in which Samuel was called. The religious names of the two were eagerly awaited - and how happy they were about the choice of two great saints. We would like to introduce: fr. Ignatius Nguyen and fr. Augustinus Neidhart. Afterwards, they symbolically took off the “old man” and put on the “new man” by putting on the consecrated religious robes while surrounded by beautiful choral music.
May the Lord, Our Lady and St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Augustine of Hippo always be at their side.