Conversatio nostra est in coelis!
Owen Purcell
Daniel P. McCarthy
Note: Before his death in 2013 Abbot Owen was reflecting with Daniel McCarthy on the term Conversatio morum, which refers both to a vow peculiar to Benedictines and to the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians, 3.20, "nostra autem conversatio in caelis est".[1] In that conversation, Owen offered this illustration of the sacramental principle that like the church so also a monastic community is an outward expression of an inward grace.
Scholars have long debated the peculiar Benedictine vow, which some claim to be Conversatio morum suorum, while others claim to be Conversio morum suorum.[2] The full statement of Saint Paul in Philippians 3.20, is "nostra autem conversatio in caelis est!"[3] This verse is translated sometimes as, “Our citizenship is in heaven”. The word, conversatio, “citizenship”, speaks to me [Owen] of an atmosphere in which to live the monastic life. Conversio, "conversion", rather speaks more of a “process”.
The first, conversatio, speaks of an atmosphere or mentality cultivated by the monastic community. Perhaps one may refer to a monastic mindfulness, a way of thinking, a perspective, our “citizenship” in this peculiar entity we call monastic life. The term seems to refer to a “whole” rather than a process, to an end rather than a means.
* * *
Jesus is the sacrament of the presence of God among us. The sacramental principle is this outward sign of an inward grace.
The chief hallmark of the Church is to reveal the sacramental presence of Christ in the world. It does seem that somehow over the ages the Church has largely shown to so many people the image of an ever present, angry God. In my lifetime this image seems to be passing to one more expressive of a God who is love.
It seems to me that the Rule of St. Benedict is an attempt to make concrete a way of living which renders visible, even enfleshes this presence of Christ in the world. The lifestyle of a stable monastic community, where the "citizens", the monks, dwell together, and together they become a living symbol, a sacrament of Christ's presence in the world.
The monastery geographically is the place where this presence has force and immediate sacramentality, a place where the tools of the monastery are to be revered as vessels of the altar. A motto of the Order of St. Benedict is Ora et labora, "Work and Pray". The two are made equal, though perhaps not in practice. These examples seem to speak of a life founded on and nourished by Christ made visible, made incarnate in the practice of daily life in common. The monastic life, then, broadcasts its “Incarnate Word”.
The monastic life is not a Manichean duality between light and darkness, good and evil. Every thing, every person is holy, an occasion of God’s grace freely given.
The Garden of Eden was meant to be an integrated place. It became instead a place of disintegration and chaos. I once heard a Christmas homily with the following inspiration from Tolkien that Christ came to reverse the irreversible. New life in Christ reverses death itself. Christ, by his resurrection reintegrated all things, instaurare omnia, "renewing all". Christ reversed the irreversible and what is more he invited all people into the fullness of that life.
Our monastic life may be considered a “microcosm” of that world. It was made to be a place of maturation, and the power of the maturing force is always “Mercy within mercy within mercy",[4] with credit to Thomas Merton.
The sacramentality of the Mercy is the generative element.
Owen Purcell, osb
St. Benedict’s Abbey
11 July 2013
† 8 November 2013
Footnotes
[1] Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem, editionem quintam emendatam rectratatam, ed. R. Weber et alii, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 52007, 1819, ad Philippenses 3:20; see also: Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, editio altera emendata. Tomus II Proverbia-Apocalypsis, Appendix, ed. R. Weber et alii, Württembergische Bibelanstalt, Stuttgart 21975, 1819. Note the new version in the New Vulgate edition of the bible: "Noster enim municipatus in caelis est" (Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum editio sacrosancti oecumenici concilii Vaticani II ratione habita iussu Pauli PP. VI recognita auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II promulgata, editio typica altera, Libreria editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1986, 1748, Epistula Sancti Pauli apostoli ad Philippenses 3:20).
[2] See: "Appendix 5: Monastic Formation and Profession", in RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes, ed. T. Fry et al., Liturgical Press, Collegeville (Minnesota) 1981, 437-466, reference 459-463. See also: N. Munsch, "Conversatio Morum: Hallmark of Benedictine education or invitation to a way of life?", in Conversatio: A Journal in the tradition of Catholic, Benedictine and Liberal Education 1 (2021) 1-13 (Note: ed. J. Foss, published by the faculty of St. Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania).
[3] See footnote 2 above.
[4] Merton, The Sign of Jonas, 362.
Bibliographical entry in full
Purcell, Owen., "Conversatio nostra est in coelis!", ed. D.P. McCarthy, in Born of the Spirit: Generative Communities. Genitae Spiritu communitates generant, ed. D.P. McCarthy – J.G. Leachman (Documenta rerum ecclesiasticarum instaurata, Liturgiam aestimare = Appreciating the Liturgy, Conversationes Atchisonenses: colles bini – gemini sancti : Atchison conversations: twin hills – holy twins 1), St Michael's Abbey Press, Farnborough (Hampshire) 2025, xii-xiii, https://generativecommunities.org/owen/ [accessed 11 October 2026].