Prior Alfred Mayer

It was at this time that St. John's Abbey was requested to supply priests for a new catholic colony in Saskatchewan. St. John's Abbey suggested to the Cluniac monks that they relocate to Saskatchewan. On Dec. 22, 1902, the four monks in solemn vows met in the rectory of Assumption Parish Church, St. Paul's, Minn., and voted to accept the offer. The four were Prior Alfred Mayer and Frs. Matthias Steger, Benedict Steigenberger and Peter Windschiegl.

Prior Alfred lost no time. From Jan. 3-16, 1903, he accompanied Fr. Bruno Doerfler on a trip to inspect the territory. The railway took them to Rosthern. From there they went eastward by horse to identify the location of the new abbey. On Jan. 11, they celebrated the first mass in the colony, in the St. Benedict district (HooDoo), then visited the district 12 miles south and called it Leofeld. Then the two Benedictines visited Bishop Pascal in Prince Albert and got permission to found a monastery in the Price Albert Diocese. By this time 700 homesteads had already been filed in the colony which comprised 50 townships west of the 2nd meridian.

On Feb. 25, 1903, Prior Alfred made a second trip, accompanied by Fr. Dominic Hofmann, pastor of Assumption Parish in St. Paul. They travelled eastward as far as Waldsea Lake. Hard, icy snow prevented them from going to visit the site of the homestead already chosen for the monastery. On April 13 Prior Alfred made a third trip to Rosthern and made the necessary arrangements for transferring Cluny Priory to St. Peter's Colony in the spring. No time was to be lost.

Back at St. John's Prior Alfred made the immediate preparations for the migration, buying farm implements and other supplies. He had left Frs. Matthias and Leo Ojdowski and Br. Rhaban Cononge at Cluny Priory to wind up activities there: selling what could be sold, including a large saw mill, and renting out 900 acres of land. (This land was sold In 1906,). Fr. Leo and Br. Rhaban came to the colony in the fall of 1903. Fr. Matthias arrived a half-year later, in April 1904. Meanwhile two Clunic monks, Peter Windschiegl and Bernard Schaeffler, went to St. John's Abbey to complete their theological studies.

On May 12, 1903, eight monks left St. John's to travel to Winnipeg by train. They reached Rosthern, via Regina, by the evening of May 14. May 15 was spent in Rosthern purchasing supplies, food, three teams of horses, three big wagons, a disk and a harrow.

From Rosthern the group divided. At noon on May 15 Fr. Meinrad Seifermann left for Leofeld, becoming the first resident pastor of this first parish of the colony.

Fr. Bruno remained behind at Rosthern to welcome the new settlers arriving in great numbers. He stayed there until September, when he returned to St. John's Abbey for the start of a new school year. He was replaced at Rosthern by Fr. Benedict Steigenberger, who had arrived in June, 1904, and who took care of St. Odilion Parish in Rosthern.

The remaining monks-Prior Alfred, Frs. John Barfrey and Rudolph Palm, candidate Aloysius Gleissner and Brs. Adolph Steiger and Bruno Fuchs-left Rosthern early on May 16, arriving at the Humboldt telegraph station on May 20, where they lodged in a large uninhabited house. It had snowed on May 19. The next day, May 21, Ascension Thursday, the group reached the homestead section and celebrated the first mass on home territory in a tent. (The site, near the Wolverine Creek south of Muenster, is marked by a cairn.)

The monks spent the first days under a large tent and set out at once to build a 12 by 20 foot log mud-house on the west side of the creek, north of present day Highway 5. In June they started to build a monastery with lumber hauled in by team from Rosthern. This was located about 100-feet east of the present cathedral. It has a central room, 16 by 16 feet, with an attic, as well as a 20-foot lean-to area. This structure was large enough to house three monks.

More monks began arriving already in June of 1903. So a third monastery was built In 1906, with lumber brought in on the CNR which arrived in Muenster in 1904. The new monastery had 16 rooms.

Ten more monks arrived within a decade: newly ordained Fr. Peter Windschiegl of Cluny (June, 1903); Fr. Leo Ojdowski and Br. Rhaban Cononge of Cluny (October, 1903); Frs. Casinir Cismowski and Dominic Hofmann of St. John's Abbey, both good friends of Prior Alfred (July, 1903); newly ordained Fr. Chrysostom Hofmann of St. Anselm's Priory, Manchester, N.H. (Aug. 1, 1903); Frs. Matthias Steger and Benedict Steigenberger of Cluny (April, 1904); newly ordained Fr. Bernard Schaeffler and Br. Placid Wolf of Cluny (1905); Fr. Ildephonse Molitor of St. John's (1905 until 1912); candidate Joseph Winkel of Germany (Aug. 5, 1905; ordained in 1911); Fr. Boniface Puth, a Salesain priest (1906); and Fr. Lawrence Steinkogler of St. John's Abbey (1912).

With a roof over their heads the monks were ready to start monastic life on the prairies. Their primary task was prayer. They gathered several times a day to pray the monastic office, a practice that has continued without interruption.

The major task that awaited the incoming monks was to locate the pioneer settlers in the colony and begin organizing parishes, erecting churches and residences, and establishing parochial schools for the children.

By 1906, there were 6,000 settlers in the colony. In 1906, the five-year term of Prior Alfred was up and an election of a new prior took place. Fr. Bruno Doerfler was elected. During Prior Alfred's term of office, the number of monks at the monastery had grow to 15. A number of parishes were started and a Catholic newspaper and a printing press were established. In addition, Prior Alfred negotiated with the government of the North West Territories to have the monastery incorporated. In June 1906 Prior Alfred returned to St. John's Abbey. He died there on May 29, 1929.