Damasus winzen biography

By CAMILLE D’ARIENZO

Television stations in upstate New York are broadcasting “The Everyday,” a documentary about a community of Benedictine monks known for their hospitality to people of all faiths.

Set on 1,200 acres of the hillside country of southern New York state, Mount Saviour Monastery has drawn thousands of guests since Fr. Damasus Winzen founded it in 1951.

For all of these years, and under the watchful eyes of numerous guests, the monks of Mount Saviour have remained private people, public only in the prayer they offer seven times a day.

Part of their philosophy of hospitality is to welcome guests but not to intrude upon the quiet that enfolds those who come in the beauty of the monastery’s fields, flocks of sheep and birds and all sorts of living things.

While individuals seek temporary solitude for reasons of their own, they have been left to wonder what has br