St Michael’s Abbey

Wonderful sacred place for peace, prayer, and sacraments!
It is a joy to experience blessed adoration here and also confession. The sacraments are the most important experience here. Besides that, the outlying area is abundantly beautiful and inspires a peace as well. Don’t miss their exquisite rose gardens and the stations of the cross up the lush and flourishing hillside!

After attending new order churches since birth, I finally discovered Mass in Latin at St Michael’s Abbey. Why aren’t more parishes like this? By the way, it’s not a parish.
I attended a Christ Renews His Parish retreat at a parish near my home in an effort to, well, renew my faith. It was so awful that it actually did renew my faith — - and it led me to the traditional mass, the mass where people actually dress their Sunday Best, refrain from chatting, socializing, and strolling in irreverently as I was so accustomed to tolerating for the last 30 years.
The Norbertines have got to be my favorite order. Their Gregorian chants are purely reverent and beautiful. One thing I love about Fr. Hugh, aside from his very intelligent homilies, is that he discourages applause (not that the regulars here would ever be compelled to do so, but visitors who are used to New Order are in this habit), and maintains a focus on the Eucharist and Liturgy. Though the Norbertines are far superior in their musical skills than any other church I’ve been to, their manner clearly expresses that this is not a «performance,» but a form worship. Fr. isn’t going to ask you to show your appreciation for their efforts or anyone’s. On the stained glass window above the door reads «Looking Ahead from the Vantage Point of Tradition» (not verbatim), but that’s exactly what’s conveyed. This is a no-​fuss church, and they are committed to fostering a love of the Mass, the Eucharist, and respect for God’s house.
It took me a while to get used to the change, but it’s exactly what I needed to truly feel more Catholic. With every other church feeling more and more Protestant and New Age, St Michael’s Abbey is more than a breath of fresh air. The campus is serene, and I can’t wait to have kids so I can raise them in this environment that I wish I had had this whole time.
One last note… I have never experienced so many well-​behaved children in a 90-​minute mass, week after week, respectful, reverent, and present at mass. That should tell you something.

This is the most peaceful place to spend time with our Lord. Daily prayer/​vesper schedules and a well-​attended Sunday Mass said in Latin (The Norbertine priests sing so beautifully!!), with nightly Eucharistic Adoration and Sacrament of Reconcilliation. They hold a hauntingly beautiful Easter Vigil Mass, and I look forward to celebrating Midnight Mass this Christmas. It is a small campus, so I highly recommend getting here early, or you may find yourself taking a short, hurried hike before Mass!

The Saint Michael’s Abbey is one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to. You don’t even have to be a «religious person» to feel the emanating peace, beauty, love and purity. You can feel an angelic presence among all men. Its grounds set your spirit free.
The first time I went there, I wasn’t even Catholic yet, but I was welcomed by everyone with open arms. My heart felt like it was a bird set free; and there was a calm that I felt there; which I have never felt elsewhere. My mind was so clean and clear, while walking gloriously through the almighty nature surrounding the establishment itself.
Truly an experience, which I hope that every person can have some time in their life. It feels like a spiritual gift; one of purity and grace.

I’ve been going here for spiritual direction for 7 years and I can’t tell you the peace you feel when you climb up the steep hill to this isolated gem. Most important thing to know is that they have Holy Hour with night prayers, benediction and confession every night at 8pm. The schedule changes and it’s a little later in the summer (check their site) but regardless there is confession and holy hour every night!
This is a religious community of Norbertine’s so technically it is a monastery adjoined to a High School Prep School. There is also a small community of Benedictine sisters that live semi-​cloistered on the property.
It’s one of the most incredible experiences of rich tradition with incense, Latin Gregorian Chant and beautiful litanies and prayers prayed every night. There are lots of young people that come up there for the Holy Hour and many that love going to Sunday Mass and daily Mass there. If you’re Catholic or not Catholic I highly recommend it. No fluffy confessions here either, you get the real spiritual smack down, and priests that take time to understand what you’re telling them and give you really solid advice, every time. This place is nothing like the rushed parish masses or confessions and you’ll notice the difference right away.

Of the three boarding schools my son attended, by far the least results in helping him grow & mature as well as the ever-​important academics. In my simple, pragmatic opinion, sending your son here prepares him for a lifetime of religious service and missions. Great to become a priest! Definitely not mainstream here.
His grades didn’t improve, maybe even got worse. How he even got out of that grade after attending this school, despite multiple failures, even at the end of the year, I don’t know. How he got out of the entire (public) school system is indicative of the current level of our school’s educational policies, I wonder.
Our son did learn life experiences, such as how to evade the system with other classmates and other sneaky things. Some of the staff seemed fairly normal, but the school leans HEAVILY on religion, complete with men walking around the school in flowing robes, looking very religious, which isn’t comfortable for me in a school environment. That stuff belongs at the church, I believe. But if you want to try to «instill» religion into your son, this sure seems to be the school’s main forte (esteem building is certainly NOT as compared to other schools). I understand academics are strong here, but not for someone with esteem issues who does not care about grades, honestly.
So, if you’re all about religion and want your son to go on missions and/​or be a priest, this school should suffice. A religious immersion here, not for everybody for sure.
If your son has esteem issues, no matter how good the school is academically, he probably will go down in flames without caring about getting good grades in the first place. First build the self esteem (if needed), then the better grades will surely tend to follow…

St. Michael’s Abbey is an active, thriving, Norbertine Abbey nestled in the foothills of South Orange County. It was originally founded by 5 Hungarian Norbertines fleeing communist persecution.
To the non-​Catholic outsider, the Norbertines might be easy to classify as monks, and to an extent, they are. They live in community, they take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, take new religious names to replace their given names when they are first inducted into the order, and have as a chief duty the praying of the Divine Office in common. The Divine Office is a series of prayers, intermingled with all 150 Psalms, which is said 7 times per day.
However, properly speaking Norbertines are «Canons Regular» which means that their primary role is the recitation and preservation of the Divine Office. Those who belong to the Order sign their names with «O. Praem.» at the end, signifying that they are the «Order of Praemonstretensians,» named after their famous Abbey in Premontre, France (stolen by the revolutionary government).
Latecomers to the changes from the Second Vatican Council, St. Michael’s did not start using the New Rite of Mass (Novus Ordo) until 1981. Most recently, when the confusion about the legal status of the Traditional Latin Mass was cleared up, about half of the Abbey reverted to the Traditional Mass and Office.
While all common prayers (those said by the entire community together in chapel) are still according to the New Rites, there is an enormous amount of reverence, along with a healthy dose of smells, bells, and Latin to make it look very much like how it was prior to 1962.
When many communities are closing up or slowly dying, this Abbey is thriving, because it has at its heart a serious Eucharistic prayer life and a commitment to the proper celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.