Abbot Augustine Myslinski, OCSO | Monastery of the Holy Spirit

Father Augustine Myslinski, OCSO received the abbatial blessing as the new Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

It is a historic time and a time of rejoicing. Father Augustine was elected by his brother monks to serve his community as the eighth Abbot of the monastery. Abbot Stanislaus Gumula, OCSO of the sister monastery Mepkin Abbey of South Carolina, presided at the election which was thereafter confirmed by the Abbot General in Rome.

On Monday August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, The Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta confered the abbatial blessing on Abbot Augustine Myslinski in a solemn liturgy in the Abbey church. The abbatial blessing of an abbot is a sacrament, having been established in the Western church since the eighth century. During the liturgy, Archbishop Gregory bestowed the church's blessing upon Abbot Augustine to confirm him in his ministry.

Abbot Augustine joins the community in sending our greetings and is asking your prayers for God’s help in this important milestone in the monastery’s 72-year history and a time of new beginnings.

At 57 years old, and raised in Chicago, Father Augustine is one of three children of a father who worked in the food industry and a secretary mother. In 1970, a job transfer for his late father, Lawrence, plucked the family out of the Windy City. Father Augustine was 11 years old when the family settled in Stone Mountain, Georgia and attended Corpus Christi Church, just as the parish was establishing itself. His mother, Consuela, lives now in Suwanee, Georgia.

Father Augustine attended Clarkston High School, DeKalb County, Class of 1976; DeKalb College, 1976-1978; He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy at The Pontifical College Josephinum, Ohio, 1978-1980. After college, Father Myslinski studied for three years at the St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Florida considering the diocesan priesthood, 1981-1984 where he earned a master’s degree in divinity. While his classmates were being ordained deacons in 1984, Father Augustine felt that he was not going in the right direction and so he left the seminary. While he never felt unease about leaving just before ordination, he almost immediately felt his vocational calling was to the monastery, a place he visited as a young man. Eventually, he explored this vocational calling to the monastic life.

Drawn to Cistercian life, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 1999, Father Augustine joined the community of monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. After several years of formation, he professed solemn vows as a religious brother in December of 2005. He discerned a further call to the priesthood within the monastery as the monastic community called him forward to the priesthood. Everything came full circle when on April 30, 2011 Augustine was ordained by the Most Reverend Luis Rafael Zarama, D.D. Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta.

Father Augustine has been a member of Holy Spirit monastic community for 16 years, faithfully serving the community in a number of capacities, including assistant Novice Master, Sub-Prior, Cellarer (business manager) and most recently as Prior (second superior).

Part of this historic event includes the end of the term of office of Abbot Francis Michael Stiteler, OCSO who served the community with loving pastoral care as abbot for the last 13 years during a challenging time of physical and spiritual renewal. Indeed, this community experienced the good fortune of these 13 years of generous service of Dom Francis Michael. With this election and installation of a new abbot, Father Francis Michael Stiteler becomes Holy Spirit’s Abbot emeritus. Following a sabbatical for rest and renewal, Father Francis will continue to serve the abbey in new ways yet to be determined.

Notes can be sent to:
Rt. Rev. Augustine Myslinski, OCSO
Monastery of the Holy Spirit
2625 Highway 212 SW
Conyers, GA 30094-3044