Basic Requirements

This is an old photo taken of our monks in formation in East Park sometime in the 1910s. They had minimum requirements to become a monk then, just as we do today. Here are the basics:

Age: At least 18 years of age. The upper limit would be 45-55 years of age. If you are in the 45-55 age range, then look at our section on older vocations BELOW to make sure you would meet our pre-requisites. We are willing to consider older vocations but want to be fair in our expectations about the challenges an older prospect would face.
Background Checks: All Religious communities engage in background checks of candidates. You must have no prior criminal record as this must be confirmed by an exhaustive Praesidium background check paid for by our monastic community.
Biological Sex: Male
Catholic (Practicing): Must be a registered and active parishioner in a Catholic parish as verified by your Pastor
Catholic (New): Two (2) year (minimum) from the time of his conversion/entrance into Full Communion
Driver’s License: Current and valid license is required
Education: High School Diploma (or equivalent)
Employment Status/History: Proof of some stable work history (6 months). Must be employed at the time of inquiring.
Financial Disclosure Release: Must be signed by the time of application.
Debt: Student loan debt up to $25,000 is permissible. You must have no other debts. Working with the Labouré Society to reduce your student loan debt and applying for grants is expected
Existing Medical Conditions: At the time of application, you cannot have any medical conditions that require ongoing long-term medication (Type 1 diabetes is an exception that we allow). Your mobility must also be suitable to participate in the common manual labors of the community.
Immigration Status: Must be a legal citizen of the United States with either citizenship or a green card
Marital Status: Single. If you are divorced, then a decree of nullity must have been granted by a diocesan tribunal.
Monastic Visits: You should have also visited at least one other religious community and/or one other monastic community to ensure Subiaco is the right fit for you.
Parental Status & Expectations: An applicant must have fulfilled all civil and canonical obligations for dependent children before being allowed to enter the monastery.
Psychological Testing and Release: Required before entry into the novitiate
Timeline for Discernment Process: You should make at least three (3) visits. The entire process before the application process begins is six months to a year.

An aspirant must complete interviews with the vocation team AND complete all intake forms with required release forms in order to be considered for admission to Subiaco Abbey. If you have questions or concerns, use the vocations contact form to reach out to our vocation team. So, if you meet the above minimum requirements and still feel God is possibly calling you to the explore the monastic life, then take the next step to try to address the most common doubts that men have about our way of life:

What are my options?

In the monastic life of today, virtually every monastery in the world has an upper age limit. How can one reconcile this with the reality that older men are seemingly being called by God to monastic life. This is an often-difficult conversation to have with a man over the age of 45. We'll try to be as direct and candid as possible. As you will see from perusing the websites of other monasteries, most set upper age limits from 30-40 years of age. This has been because virtually no older man perseveres in the monastic life when they join after the age of 45. Why is this the case?

Firstly, older men daily approach us to ask about joining monastic life. Their backgrounds are quite varied:

Men who have no major savings or retirement accounts and are looking to find a way to comfortably live out the remaining 20-30 years of their life.
Men who have jumped between multiple careers and feel it is finally time to settle down into monastic life now that they have tried the other things.
Men who have come back to the Church and now want to commit more deeply to it through living the monastic life.
Men who have recently joined the Church and feel confident that God is calling them to monastic life even though they have never tried it.
Men who have been working as a single man in a field of study but find that it continues to not be fulfilling.
Men who have reached retirement age but now want to explore monastic life for the last chapter of their life.

Why, then, do monasteries set upper age limits for who can apply or join? Some reasons are:

Older men simply do not have the time for proper formation before they too soon become infirm or die. Our Discernment and Formation program is quite lengthy, often 5-6 years from start to finish.
Older men bristle at having to keep up with the younger men they will join in formation.
Older men cannot pass our basic medical and psychological entrance requirements. Part of the application process requires a lengthy physical and mental health screening, as you would be expected to actively participate in the (often physically demanding) work of our community. Unfortunately, though we care for our existing brothers who may struggle with physical or mental challenges that developed while a monk over decades, we do not have the financial or medical resources necessary to accept new applicants with similar challenges.
Older men bristle at losing the freedom of setting their own schedule. Our monastic timetable simply wears them down. You would be expected to communally pray at least three hours per day, work in manual labor, and maintain a very strict early morning schedule (in other words, you can't sleep in and must ALWAYS show up five times a day for communal prayer). Older men grow weary of this and leave!
Older men truly struggle with the "obedience" vow and shaping their will to that of the needs of the monastic community. As some examples, you must request permission to leave the monastery, request permission to obtain small amounts of money for usage when travelling, request permission 24 hours ahead of time to use a vehicle, etc., etc.
Older men seriously struggle with the process of formation at such an older age. They are not willing to change habits, likes, or patterns of behavior that they may have developed over four or five decades for the sake of community living.
Older men joining and then leaving the community can become emotionally destabilizing to the existing monastic community. Communities are tired of the trauma of getting to know an older man for him to then leave because he is not willing to change.
Older men who have sizable retirement, savings, or investments simply cannot fathom giving it ALL up in order to live the monastic life. You cannot maintain private ownership of goods in monastic life, but some older men cannot live their life without that "rainy-day" cushion they have built up for themselves.

I STILL FEEL CALLED SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

If you are between 45-55, then we are still happy to speak with you as long as you are aware of the above. We do not have a super firm age restriction for entry (as God calls people from all walks of life and ages) but 55 is about as high as we feel comfortable. BUT... we do have some basic pre-requisites for older applicants 45-55 so as to minimize the challenges noted above:

You must have some type of connection with Subiaco already (former student, alumnus, worked here, served in an Arkansas parish, family from here, etc.).
You must have been an active Catholic in a parish for at least ten years that can be verified by your Pastor.
You must have some skill that can be of service to our abbey's two primary apostolates (EDUCATION and HOSPITALITY) or some trade skill that can be of service to maintaining the monastery itself (electrician, plumber, carpenter, medical service, computer/IT service, gardener/landscaper, painter, mechanic, etc.). Younger vocations allow us to form men to work in those fields, whereas older men will need to already bring those skills.
You must have no major medical issues or disabilities at the time of applying.
In your visits we will have you undertake manual labor to see if you can keep up. If you can't, then it is better that we tell you that this monastic way of life at Subiaco is not for you.
You must fulfill ALL the other minimum requirements noted on this page, which especially includes the lack of personal debt.
If you still cannot fulfill the prerequisites above, then there are monastic communities in the USA at Portsmouth Abbey and Glastonbury Abbey that accept older vocations. You might also reach out to Cistercian communities as they have done better with older vocations than we Benedictines.

So, if you feel you could still fulfill the above, contribute to the community, and, more importantly, find peace and joy in seeking God in this monastic way of life at Subiaco, then we can discuss this opportunity.