Mission and Tradition
Since the Middle Ages, Benedictine monks have been known for their conservation and development of science and culture, including the arts of literature, chanting, bronze-casting, paint-mixing, glassmaking, silver-chasing, ivory-carving, woodworking, and organ-building. As in our modern Abbey Woodshop, these arts and crafts were often the collaboration of monastic and lay artisans, teaching and learning together in the daily round of work and prayer.
This focus of passing on accumulated learning and skill gave rise to the medieval guild system with its ranks of apprentices, journeymen and masters. As a "school" for artisan organ builders, Saint John's Abbey not only employs master and journeymen organ builders, but actively cultivates apprentices to ensure the continuation of the art and the care of cultural treasures at home and across North America.
Inspired by Benedictine organ builders of the past like Dom Bédos de Celles, O.S.B. (1709-1779), as well as the influence and legacy of our own Br. Hubert Schneider, O.S.B., master woodworker, and local organ builder K.C. Marrin, our work grows from teaching and mentorship that spans centuries.
Organ building at Saint John’s Abbey looks forward to a deep relationship with the monastic community and synergistic collaborations with local and regional churches, especially with the various schools and academic programs associated with the Abbey, reforming the created world to resound the praise of God.
Building Traditions
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Pasi Organ Builders
Martin Pasi has designed and built pipe organs for over four decades, in his native Austria and in the United States. Known for his fine ear in voicing instruments and for the preservation of traditional methods, Pasi has long established his reputation as fine builder. In 2018 Pasi Organ Builders was commissioned to expand the 1961 Holtkamp pipe organ at Saint John's Abbey. Moved by the sense of community and stewardship of culture and craft that he found while working with the monastery, Martin began a dialogue to incorporate his work and legacy into a new workshop at Saint John's. This represents the opportunity to anchor Pasi's craft into a regenerative home of mentorship and apprenticeship that will last for generations
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Saint John's Abbey Woodworking
Woodworking has been central to the life of work and prayer practiced at Saint John's Abbey since its founding in 1856. Generations of monks have found their vocation in crafting fine furniture and the stewardship of their forests from which timber is sustainably harvested. While making furniture to serve the Saint John's community, Saint John's Abbey Woodworking also participates in the making of wooden pipes and casework for pipe organs under the direction of Martin Pasi and Markus Morscher.