On the feast of our Father St. Benedict, Thursday, July 11, the Monastery of Santa María de Poblet hosted the abbatial blessing of Father Rafael Barruè i Broch as the new abbot of our monastery. The blessing was conferred by Father Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, Abbot General of the Cistercian Order.
The new Bishop of Girona and abbot emeritus of the monastery, Father Octavi Vilà, the Archbishop of Tarragona, Father Joan Planellas, the Archbishop of Urgell, Father Joan-Enric Vives, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Barcelona, Father Joan Josep Omella, and many bishops from dioceses based in Catalonia participated in the celebration. Also participating were the abbots, the provincials of the various congregations, the priests, abbesses and nuns, as well as many relatives of Father Abbot Rafael, the faithful and friends of the monastery who wished to be present on this very special day. Many monks and nuns from the Cistercian communities of Catalonia were present: Vallbona, Valldonzella, and Solius; in France: Boulaur, Rieunette, les Neiges, Lérins.
Among the important moments of the celebration, typical of the rite of blessing of an abbot, the Litany of the Saints was sung with Father Rafael prostrate on the ground, and the presentation of the book of the Rule of St. Benedict, the ring, the mitre and the pastoral crosier. The ceremony included one of the most moving moments of the celebration, when the new abbot received the kiss of peace from the Abbot General of the Order, the other prelates, the monks of our community and the abbesses gathered.
The new abbot of Poblet was born on August 31, 1966, in the Valencian city of Vila-real, Castellón. A graduate of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, he entered the Monastery of Poblet in 2000, where he made his profession on July 11, 2005. He was then sent by Fr. Josep Alegre to Rome to continue his studies, where he obtained a degree in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2009. After completing his three-year licentiate in Rome, he returned to Poblet and was ordained a priest in 2010. He then took up the office of novice master, which he exercised with great care, guiding the formation of the young monks, especially in the love of lectio divina, zeal in prayer and wore, while also taking care of the guests.
He was appointed prior of Poblet on March 20, 2016, a position he held until April 22, 2024, when he was elected Abbot of Poblet, succeeding Dom Octavi Vilà, who was appointed Bishop of Girona by Pope Francis.
After the abbatial blessing, the participants of the ceremony shared the joy of this event with the community, celebrating while eating a lunch standing in the cloister of the monastery. The light of the sun gilded the white stones of the cloister, accentuating its architecture with captivating simplicity and purity. Each of the four wings of the cloister evoked one of the words of thanksgiving that the new abbot of Poblet pronounced at the end of the Mass, recalling the demands of this new service that has been entrusted to him beginning today. The key words of his speech were Love, Silence, Listening, Word.
These four words shape the life of a monk and energized his own search for God within the framework of the four wings of the "paradisus claustralis".
For Father Abbot Raphael, asceticism and monastic spirituality open up to artistic expression and aesthetic contemplation, while valuing both tradition and innovation and integrating the riches of the Cistercian heritage with the thirst that animates contemporary man in his spiritual quest.