Dunne, M. Frederic

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DUNNE, M. FREDERIC

First American cistercian (Trappist) abbot; b. Ironton, Ohio, April 25, 1874; d. Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 4,1948. When he applied at age 20 for admission to the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani as a lay brother, Abbot Edward Chaix-Bourbon advised him to study for the priesthood. After overcoming language difficulties in a French-speaking community and a lack of previous formal education, he was ordained on March 1, 1901. Abbot Edmond Obrecht then gave him simultaneous appointments as vice president of Gethsemani College, guest-master, postmaster, and prior of the monastery. Dunne held the last two offices for more than 30 years, and during Obrecht's long absences he was responsible for the entire abbey. On Feb. 6, 1935, he was elected as Obrecht's successor and fifth abbot of Gethsemani. At one point the community was reduced to 68 members by an influenza epidemic, but by 1948 Gethsemani held almost 200 monks, had made foundations in Georgia and Utah, had prepared for others in South Carolina and New York, and had modernized its monastery under the Trappist Rule.

Bibliography: m. raymond, The Less Traveled Road (Milwaukee 1953). t. merton, Waters of Siloe (New York 1949). Archives, Gethsemani Abbey.

[m. r. flanagan]