The Stift Melk or Melk Abbey once housed 500 monks who taught local students, tended to the gardens and monestary needs and kept a large library of priceless manuscripts.
Today, 30 monks inhabit these walls, tending to 23 parishes, teaching over 800 high school aged students and tending to the Monestary site and library.
Anticipating robed men scurrying about the grounds carefully performing their assigned tasks in silence and in prayer, it is disappointing to note that because their numbers are few and their tasks so great, no monks were to be seen on our visit. Without visibility in the public how can we expect their numbers to grow? Will this Monastic way of life slowly become extinct?
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