This past Saturday, Brother Symeon, the monk who founded the Guild, passed away. His legacy- which among many things included his own artwork, his cultivation and planting of many trees on campus, his cultivation of so many friendships and brothers, and his work founding and guiding the Guild- all of this survives him and will continue to play in thousands of people and places for the rest of time.
Some of you were fortunate enough to meet him; others may have just seen him. He sat right over there- he was the small monk with the breathing machine that made it sound like Darth Vader was with us at mass. Were you here decades ago, a Bro-sighting, as boys in the Guild with Ryan Niemann called it, would have been different. You would have seen a slight man with fiery red hair walking across campus with his dog, Tasha. Sidenote: You’ve probably seen Tasha already, because Bro snuck images of Tasha into some of the windows and banners on campus.
I was fortunate enough to be Bro’s friend and his fellow master of the Guild. He also mentored me in his quiet, gentle, distant way. For five years now, every day, everything I’ve done here has been to make him proud- my entire way of behaving here is underwritten by a deep love for and respect of Brother Symeon- and that’s not going to change.
For those of you who didn’t know him, though, I’d like to introduce you all to Brother Symeon the way I was introduced to him—through the window of my husband’s most cherished memories as a Priory student.
Like some of you, my husband, Joe, had to choose between Greek and a Fine Art; thus, he did not get to take Medieval Arts proper at Priory. However, he did join the Guild and toward the end of his junior and senior year, he started coming up to Priory on Saturdays to spend time at the Guild making a window that is now hanging in the ASC.
At that time, the Guild’s home was in Brother Symeon’s white house—which was located in the field on the opposite side of the ASC. It was torn down some years ago but the location is marked by the Guild Tree and more recently by the fire pit and grove of Guild Trees donated by Connor Guthrie’s dad who was inspired by going to many Guild Initiation Ceremonies in that spot. The Guild tree is a dawn redwood tree, and Bro who had studied horticulture, loved trees- that one in particular. Bro had heard about the tree on the radio; it was an ancient tree thought to be extinct- only known through fossil records- but scientists had found some in a hidden valley in China and they were sending saplings around the world. He loved telling the story of how he told the boys in the Guild about this tree and they immediately reached into their pockets, laid out their money, and said, “We’ll buy this for you, Bro.” Many of the trees you see on campus were planted by Bro, starting out as seedlings and growing into giants over the course of decades.
Joe remembers a lot about Bro’s house. It was pretty run down- everything creaked. Doors and windows didn’t quite shut all the way. Every Saturday, Joe would walk in and head straight for the fridge. Bro always kept frozen snickers bars and cold coca cola which students bought to raise money for more snacks. If you’ve ever bought something from the Guild store, you’re part of a long and storied tradition. The walls of Bro’s house were covered in mementos of all the boys who had passed through. There were calligraphy projects all over the place. There was a photo of Chris Burns, whose banner is hanging in the hallway on the way to the 400s. He’s a Guild member who passed away while he was at Priory. Nailed to the walls everywhere were Papa John’s Pizza receipts from countless pizza-partied fueled days and nights of work. There were plants that Bro was raising growing in every nook and cranny- making the inside of the house feel alive. And the rooms smelled like all the different things boys at Priory know well- solder, burning flux, the kiln, and that iconic Christmasy smell of clove oil paint. And the sound in the house was opera bro was playing or a radio program about outer space or nature- and always boys working, talking, joking- happy, relaxed, and focused.
The sensory experience of that house was so saturated- each moment there says, “Be Present on This Earth!” In a world full of rushing around, of all different pressures, it’s nearly impossible to be present in such great density- but Bro’s house, his Guild was a haven of utter presence—an eternal green island in a sea of distraction. Boys could gather together with Bro and with each other to do their best work on things they loved together—and that experience changed them.
I got to go into that house one time before it was torn down. I was 24 years old and Joe took me to have lunch with Brother Symeon, the man I’d heard so much about. As we ate, he got to know me. I told him I was about to start taking an icon class and needed to pick an image to paint. He got up and told me to follow him; we walked into a room that had lots of books and he handed me a beautiful book with prints of icons, and told me to pick one and take it with me. Then he told me how he had started out painting icons long ago. The rest of lunch he answered my questions about everything I saw in his house- the orchids, some of which took years to bloom but had to be watered in precise amounts every single day of all those years, the bread he made by hand, the cheeses he aged for months.
To step into Bro’s space, to be with Bro, is to undergo conversion— a conversion of your sense of time. Everything Bro did, took time. Each day he worked on things that would not be finished tomorrow. There’s a line in de rerum natura Joe always thinks of when he thinks of Bro—’Dripping Water Hollows the Stone.’ Little by Little, imperceptible step by imperceptible step, change is made. Ryan Niemann, the previous Medieval Arts Teacher and great friend of Bro, identified a common dictum of Guild Masters- “You don’t have to do things quickly. Take your time and get it right.”
Of course, this doesn’t just apply to members of the Guild. Bro’s relationship to time was so beautiful, so ancient, so new- and it required special equipment to maintain. This equipment was faith and love. You don’t put different but precise amounts of water into orchids with a pipette for years if you don’t have faith they will eventually bloom and be beautiful. And you don’t do this if you don’t love plants and more profoundly- if you don’t love beauty. In this same way, Bro cultivated his students and all those around him. He taught gently, personally, almost imperceptibly nudging people in the right direction, quietly, often by telling stories—he didn’t have to yell- there was no rush for people to change or conform to his will. His faith in his students and colleagues and friends enabled his gentle way of leading and teaching—and the patience required to act every day, requires so much love. And it’s not a love that ebbs and flows- but one that’s constant, one that undergirds each little action and gesture. One of my favorite Bro quotes is from the video that got sent out and that we’ll watch in STUCO on Monday- “When you have faith in kids, great things happen.”
Often, when someone passes away, we worry about their legacy- some might wonder what’s going to happen to the Guild. With great faith that God looks out for the Guild and great love for our work and for one another, I suspect that, little by little, the Guild- and each of us- will continue to become more deeply what and who we already are. This was Brother Symeon’s way- and it gives me great hope. So, with faith, hope, and love, let’s get to work – on the next project and the next one and the next one and the next…
