On the feast day of St. Benedict, July 11, 2009, Brother Mark Bonneville professed his first vows (also known as simple vows) before Abbot Neal and the monastic community during 10:30 AM mass in the abbey church. Many friends and family were in attendance for this joyous occasion.

Also on July 11, Brothers Vincent Francis, Nicolaus Wilson and Ignatius Kelley, junior monks, renewed their vows after their first year of simple vows. This took place at 5:00 evening prayer in the abbey church.

On July 10, 2009, Brother Derek Delgado was initiated into the novitiate at 5:00 evening prayer. He received his religious name, Damien, after recently canonized St. Damien of Molokai, a missionary who ministered to people suffering from leprosy on leper colony on Molokai, an island of Hawaii. Thus, Brother Damien begins the one-year novitiate, a time of prayer and contemplation with reduced interaction with the outside world. (Note: In September of 2009, Br. Damien prayerfully discerned that he did not have a vocation to Saint Martin's Abbey and left monastic life. He remains in our thoughts and prayers.)

On the feast day of St. Benedict, July 11, 2008, Brothers Vincent Francis, Nicolaus Wilson and Ignatius Kelley, professed their simple vows before Abbot Neal and the monastic community during mass in the abbey church. (Note: In November of 2009, Br. Ignatius left monastic life at Saint Martin's Abbey. He remains in our thoughts and prayers.)