Father Stephen Receives the Novice Habit

After Second Vespers of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, Father Francis Dankoski received the novice habit at Mepkin Abbey, taking the name of Fr. Stephen in honor of St. Stephen Harding, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order.

 Fr. Stephen is clothed as a Novice, and clothed in the mercy of God

by Fr. Stephen

For me, it’s all about mercy. Jesus has shown me great mercy, and I hope to more and more become a vessel of his mercy to others. Therefore, when in the ceremony of being clothed as a novice, Fr. Joe, my superior asked me: “What do you seek?” it was with sincerity of heart that I responded: “The mercy of God and of the brothers.” I am beginning my monastic journey at Mepkin not as one who has it all together, but as one who is in need of God’s mercy. And as I go forward in this monastic life, I fully expect to become more aware—not less so—of how deeply in need of his mercy I am. However, my many shortcomings and faults and failures, or those of the others here at Mepkin, need not be a source of discouragement. In the light of God’s merciful love, everything becomes beautiful. I believe that our weakness and sinfulness, our spiritual poverty, our fragility (whatever name you want to give it), is actually attractive to the merciful Heart of Christ… as disgusting and repugnant as it may seem to us, humanly speaking. And so, it could be said: Mepkin is a mercy magnet! We, as men who all are in need of God’s mercy and the mercy of the brothers (since each one of us expressed this need and this desire upon entering novitiate), attract the merciful love of Jesus to this monastery. And so, our mission, it could be said, is to draw down God’s mercy upon ourselves and upon the world: precisely by owning and exposing our personal fragility so as to receive his mercy, and allowing this mercy to convert us into merciful presence of Christ. In a certain sense, the novice being clothed all in white could be seen a symbol of being covered by the transformative mercy of the Lord. And our helpmate in this process of receiving and sharing God’s merciful love is the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom we as Cistercians invoke at the close of each day as “Mother of Mercy” as we sing to her the Salve Regina.

Another aspect of the clothing ceremony that was particularly significant for me was the receiving of my name: Stephen. I was baptized as Stephen Francis Simon, and grew up being called Stephen or Steve (or when I was very little, Stevie, by my sweet mom). However, when I entered a small start-up religious community in the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio that I was a part of for many years, I began to go by the name of Francis. When this religious community closed in 2019, I thought of going back to Stephen, but decided to continue on with Francis since it was after all my middle name, and I like the name Francis. When I was an observer here at Mepkin, I remember someone asking me what name I would take if I continued on. I replied that I was content with Francis and had no intention of changing my name. However, as I opened my heart to Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration, the name “Stephen” gently came to my heart, at a time when I was not thinking about my name or anything like that. This happened again a few weeks later, and I began to understand this as an invitation from the Lord. During my postulancy, I was very blessed to read Three Religious Rebels by Fr. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O, about Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding, the three founders of the Cistercians. This book helped me to see these saints as the real people they are, and to come to love them. Therefore, when the Lord put on my heart the name of Stephen, I was drawn to take as my patron not Stephen the first martyr (who has been my patron growing up) but rather St. Stephen Harding. It was Stephen Harding who welcomed St. Bernard to Cistercian life and eventually named him as abbot of Clairvaux. I had certainly heard of St. Bernard before coming to Mepkin, but I had never heard of St. Stephen Harding. And yet, St. Stephen Harding played a very significant role (behind the scenes, as it were) to prepare the way for Bernard and the others who would come and have such a massive influence on the culture of their day. Perhaps—just as it was for the monastery of Citeaux before the coming of Bernard and the 30 relatives and friends he brought with him—there are greater things to come for Mepkin. And maybe we who are here now are helping prepare the way, as St. Stephen Harding did, for those who will come and play an even greater role than us in helping to turn the attention of this country and the whole world to the merciful love of God!

Please pray for Fr. Stephen and all those responding to God’s call.

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