Deacon Nicholas Monnin Ordained to the Diaconate in Rome ROME – From the time he was just a sophomore at Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Nicholas Monnin imagined this moment coming: him lying prostrate during his ordination Mass to the diaconate, promising to himself, to his bishop, and to God that he would live a life dedicated to serving Christ and His people as an ordained member of the clergy. More photos from the ordination. Monnin, now 26, a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend who is studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, was ordained to the sacred order of the diaconate along with 14 of his classmates on Thursday, October 3, in St. Peter’s Basilica. And while the remarkable setting was something he might not have pictured as a young man, having the Sacrament of Holy Orders conferred upon him was something he saw clearly. Photos by Scott WardenDeacon Nicholas Monnin hugs his mother, Becky, following his ordination to the diaconate during a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Thursday, October 3. His parents, however, did not. Despite raising a pious young man and his two older siblings in a family who embraced their Catholic faith as parishioners at St. Matthew Cathedral in South Bend, Tom and Becky Monnin told Today’s Catholic they were as surprised as anyone when their teenage son told them that, after high school, he was planning on pursuing a vocation to the priesthood. “It absolutely was a surprise,” Becky said, recalling the moment her son, who had just finished his junior year of high school at Saint Joseph, had told them that he planned to enter the seminary after high school. “We had no clue – none. I can’t remember exactly when, but I remember him coming and saying, ‘I’m meeting with Father Andrew [Budzinski, who was the diocese’s vocations director at the time].’ We were like, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘I’m going to the seminary.’” Nick’s father, Tom, said he and Becky didn’t do anything out of the ordinary that would have fostered a priestly vocation in their son. They practice their faith, to be sure, but never considered one of the kids would choose a vocation within the Church. “We didn’t necessarily cultivate it,” Tom said, humbly. “But we never discouraged it, either. We never discouraged any of our kids from doing what they felt they were called to do.” “But,” Becky added later, “I did not want him to come to Rome.” ‘Worth Giving Your Life for’ Deacon Monnin told Today’s Catholic that his and his family’s relationship with Monsignor Michael Heintz, who was their longtime pastor at St. Matthew, gave him a unique perspective on what a priest was – and what he could be. “I’m of the mind that Monsignor Heintz could be a rocket scientist – and probably be pretty good at it – if he wanted to be,” Deacon Monnin told Today’s Catholic in the days leading up to his ordination. “If he could have done anything, why did he choose to be a priest? That was the first question for me. And so, I thought, there must be something about the priesthood that is worth choosing – that’s worth giving your life for.” As a sophomore at Saint Joseph, Deacon Monnin attended a discernment retreat for those who were considering a vocation to the priesthood. The priest leading the retreat told the young men to go to Eucharistic adoration and “imagine yourself doing what a priest does, and see what the Lord does with that,” he said. “So I went to adoration, and I prayed, and the image I had was of myself celebrating Mass and ministering to the sick. And the Lord filled me with a peace I’d never experienced in my life before. I said, ‘Lord, is this the thing? I mean, we’re all looking for that thing in our life, the reason we’re made. I was excited. And I was like, well, I just want to know with certainty that this is going to make me happy. I felt the presence of God telling me, ‘Don’t worry about trying to make yourself happy, because the way that I’ve called you to be happy I’ve formed from the beginning of the world. This has always been my plan for you.’ And that moment was really powerful.” Provided by Pontifical North American CollegeDeacon Nicholas Monnin gives a thumbs up as he and others walk from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to a reception at the Pontifical North American College following their diaconate ordination on Thursday, October 3. For the next year, Deacon Monnin continued to pray and discern, and the feeling of being called to the priesthood only intensified. The summer between his junior and senior years at Saint Joe, he made a visit to the college seminary at Marian University in Indianapolis. While he was there, he said, he went to the chapel and felt “the same peace that I felt years prior at the discernment retreat. … And so then I ran to my room and I shot an email off to Father Andrew. I said, ‘Father, I don’t know what the next step is, but I think I’ve got to be a seminarian, and I’ve got to be here [at Marian].’” Deacon Monnin spent four years at Marian, where he found a love of studying philosophy, culture, and languages – Greek, Latin, and Spanish, in particular. Having thrived academically in his first few years at Marian, Becky said she began hearing that Bishop Rhoades might have plans for their son that differed from their own. Becky said Monsignor Heintz, who, by this time, was serving as the academic dean at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, had told her that he wouldn’t be surprised if the bishop sent Nick abroad to finish his studies. “Father Mike kept telling me, ‘They’re going to ask him to go to Rome, you know.’ I said, ‘Nope, he’s not. He’s going to go to Maryland to be with you.’ And then, I think, between his junior and senior years at Marian, Nick told us, ‘Bishop has asked me to go to Rome.’ I was like, ‘Nope, you’re not going!’ Of course, Tom, who is much more practical, said ‘Son, what do you want to do?’ He said, ‘I want to go to Rome.’ So, I was like, all right, I guess my kid’s going to Rome.’” Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, lays his hands on Deacon Nicholas Monnin during the ordination Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday, October 3. ‘It’s about Servanthood’ As he has done from an early age – and continues to do now – Deacon Monnin put the decision before the Lord. “I said, ‘I don’t know what this is going to hold for me, but I can’t think of a good reason to say no, so I’ll trust that God will put me where He wants me to be.’ So, I said ‘yes,’ and I started studying Italian. I remember it was not public that I was coming to Italy, so I would study Italian at night in my room with the door closed, because, of course, the other guys would realize, ‘What is a seminarian doing studying Italian? You must be going to Rome.’” For the past three years, Deacon Monnin has lived and studied at the Pontifical North American College – known as the NAC – which is located just outside of the boundaries of the Vatican and is operated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). While the seminarians at the NAC generally return to their home dioceses for their ordination to the priesthood, as Deacon Monnin will do next June, for more than 40 years, their diaconal ordination has taken place in St. Peter’s Basilica, the heart of the universal Church. Provided by Pontifical North American CollegeDeacon Nicholas Monnin is presented with the Book of the Gospels by Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, during the ordination Mass to the diaconate on Thursday, October 3, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On Thursday, October 3, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, celebrated the ordination Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter inside St. Peter’s Basilica. The altarpiece in the chapel is a master work by the Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. While the historic work was covered by scaffolding as it undergoes a renovation in preparation for the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee, the Mass was befitting of the occasion and its surroundings. The 15 seminarians being ordained prostrated themselves on the floor of the sanctuary as the choir and the faithful in attendance sang the Litany of Saints in prayer for the men and their future ministries. Archbishop Sample began his homily by acknowledging the contributions the parents and families of the deacons had made to the Church. “I want to begin by thanking you for the gift of your sons, who are now given to the Church for service as deacons and, God willing, soon one day priests. Thank you,” Archbishop Sample said. “Never underestimate the importance and impact of your witness of faith in helping shape and form these men into the men and soon-to-be deacons that they are. God bless your generosity.” Deacon Nicholas Monnin poses for a photo with Bishop Rhoades during a reception for new deacons at the Pontifical North American College in Rome on Thursday, October 3. Archbishop Sample continued, noting that the ordination of the candidates from 13 U.S. dioceses is “not about you! First and foremost, it’s about servanthood, it’s about service to the People of God and to Christ the Lord.” This is what diakonia is, he stressed to the men – conforming their lives to the icon of Christ the Servant. “This is the image that you take upon yourselves today” by becoming deacons, Archbishop Sample said. “You are taking on the identity of Christ who comes to serve, to be a slave, to lay down His life as a ransom for the world.” ‘Fertile Ground to Grow in’ Now an ordained member of the clergy, Deacon Monnin will continue his studies in Rome through the end of the academic year. God willing, he will be ordained a priest in June at his home parish, St. Matthew Cathedral, along with his former Saint Joseph High School classmate, Deacon Andrew Barnes, who traveled to Rome to vest Deacon Monnin during the ordination Mass. Bishop Rhoades, for one, is eager to see the fruits Deacon Monnin will bring to the people of the diocese. “Nick is a very bright young man, and I think he’ll be an excellent preacher,” Bishop Rhoades told Today’s Catholic at a reception for friends and families of the new deacons following the ordination Mass. “He also has a personality that is going to draw people to Christ and to the Church, and that’s what I look for in all of our men that I ordain, that they will be humble servants of Christ and of His Church, and Nick certainly has the qualities needed.” It’s likely that Deacon Monnin will head back to Rome for a year after his priestly ordination to continue his studies before returning to his home diocese – and, to the delight of his mother, his family. Days before his ordination, Deacon Monnin sat on the patio at the North American College that overlooks St. Peter’s Basilica to the north and all of Rome to the east, and he thanked his parents for giving him the foundation upon which he’s building his vocation. “I think for parents, the gift they can give to their kids in the faith is to give them fertile ground to grow in,” Deacon Monnin said. “I’m thinking of the parable of the sower. So it’s like trying to remove the rocks from that and to make a place that’s amiable, that’s helpful for the growth of the faith.” “You,” he said to his parents directly, “aren’t out here throwing seeds by saying, ‘You’re going to be a priest’ and shoehorning your kid into a vocation. But you gave me space in which I could figure out and hear God’s call. Because we all have a vocation. We like to think that only priests or sisters have vocations, but everybody has vocations. And so, the work for parents is to create a space in which their kids can hear what God is calling them to do. And that’s what you all have done for me; you gave me a space to grow in the faith and to hear God’s call in my life. And that’s really all that a parent can do.” The post Holy Orders in a Holy Place appeared first on Today's Catholic.