A Tree's Life

Father Bede Stocker, O.S.B. and Father Andrew Wahmhoff, O.S.B., both Benedictine monks of Marmion Abbey, care for the pine forest and Christmas tree farm on Marmion's 300 acre grounds. Fathers Bede and Andrew - self-taught foresters - have made the Abbey pine forest a source of support for the community's works. In the process they engage helpers drawn from brother monks, Abbey friends, and the faculty and students of Marmion Academy in a work which spans all four seasons of the year.

Fall: Late Fall is the time when people from throughout the Fox Valley and Chicago area become acquainted with the Marmion pine forest. Thousands come for a cut-your-own-tree experience in preparation for Christmas. Multiple "stations" are set on the campus roads manned by an organized cadre of some 65 men - students' dads, past and present, as well as alumni and friends who volunteer to serve the visitors. All proceeds from the tree sales go to support Marmion Abbey, the Academy and the community's seminary school in Guatemala.

Another unique dimension of the forest project in the Fall is the selling of Christmas wreaths. Pines which are crooked and might be rejected by folks in search of the perfect Christmas tree, are cut for wreath-making. Each afternoon and evening boys and their teachers from Marmion Academy and "oblates" of the Abbey volunteer their time to provide a supply of wreaths. The finishing touches are put on by the two monk-foresters themselves. Proceeds from wreath sales go to a variety of local agencies which serve the homeless and poor.

Winter: Once the Christmas sales are over, Father Bede spends his winter time carving and polishing home-made napkin rings from castoff pine branches. Father carves, whittles and uniquely decorates the rings for sale the next year. The Winter is also the time for ordering seedlings for the spring-plant and all the needed supplies for another season. This indoor time also provides Father Bede the time for updating his mailing and volunteer lists for the next fall.

Spring: Come Spring Father Bede and Andrew plow up and prepare the cut fields for new planting. By the end of May they will have planted up to fourteen thousand new seedlings, scheduled for harvest some 5-7 years later. In Spring and early summer they will also respond to a growing demand for live trees. With a number of monks helping, they will dig and bag trees for sale to homeowners and landscapers.

Summer: Summer is the time for pruning and shaping. It is done by young men of Marmion Academy who are in need of summer jobs to help pay the cost of their schooling. (see photo) In the course of the summer Father Bede will supervise the labors of up to fifteen teenagers in the a kind of outdoor labor they love. Some like the experience so much they return for the summer after leaving Marmion and entering college.

The Marmion tree farm was first planted in 1959 under a special federal soil bank program. Cutting of trees in the Christmas season began in 1967 and has continued ever since. Approximately 100 acres of Marmion's campus are dedicated to the pine forest. Fathers Bede and Andrew have turned the growing of trees into a unique means of not only beautifying the landscape but linking together people of diverse ages and occupations in a common charitable enterprise. Both men are priests who also perform a variety of other labors for the Abbey, Academy and local Catholic parishes. Father Bede is in his 60th year of monastic work and prayer; Father Andrew, who teaches Latin at Marmion is in his 44th year. The work in Church, classrooms and fields seems to keep them ever young.

Fr. Bede & Br. Mark trimming saplings in preparation of planting.	Fr. Bede preparing the trees to keep them healthy.
Fr. Andrew shaping the trees into the traditional cone shape.	Fr. Bede observing the growth and shape of the tree.
Visiting the Nativity Crib at Marmion Abbey.