Mamerto Menapace, a famous 83 -year -old Argentine Benedictine monk dies,

Mamerto Menapace, a famous Benedictine priest and monk, died this Friday, June 6 at age 83 in Argentina, according to the press office of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA).

“He has left the Father’s house the Benedictine monk Mamerto Menapace. Clearly a man of God who has marked a special time for many of us. May he rest in peace and gratitude for his endearing wisdom!”, Says the message sent by the Press Office of the CEA to ACI Press.

Menapace is known for having written numerous stories, poems, reflections, biblical essays, mainly aimed at young people, with a simple and deep style, focused on themes of daily life and peasant.

Who was Mamerto Menapace?

Mamerto Menapace was a Benedictine and writer of great popularity in Argentina for his numerous books and his participation in the media.

He was born in 1942 in Malabrigo, Chaco Santa Fe region (Argentina). He entered the Benedictine monastery of Santa María de los Toldos, in the province of Buenos Aires, with only 10 years, and graduated as a teacher in 1958 at the Marist Brothers Institute, of the Buenos Aires city of Luján.

In February 1959, his novitiate began as a monk in the Order of San Benito, carrying out his perpetual profession in Los Toldos on February 2, 1960, where he later studied philosophy.

After finishing his theology studies at the Benedictine monastery of Las Condes (Chile), in 1966 he was ordained a priest by the then bishop of July nine, Mons. Antonio Quarracino, who would later be Archbishop of Buenos Aires and asked that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then Pope Francis, was his auxiliary bishop.

He also studied Bible and Languages ​​in Rome and Switzerland.

Already in Argentina, Menapace was installed in the Monastery of Los Toldos, where he served as an economo and in 1974 he was chosen prior convent. In 1980, when the place was elevated to Abbey, it became its first abbot.

In August of that year he received the abbatial blessing from Blessed Cardenal Eduardo Pironio, a service that Menapace exercised until 1992.

In June 1995 he was appointed President of the Benedictine Congregation of the Holy Cross of the Southern Cone, which brings together the Benedictine and Traities monasteries of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In 1994 he was awarded a Konex award as one of the five greatest referents of youth literature. In 1995, his book “Love is a serious thing” received the first prize “Bir of honor Padre Leonardo Castellani”, the first national literary contest of the Catholic book.

In 2024 he received a special recognition from the Senate of the province of Santa Fe, together with the humorist, writer and narrator Luis Landriscina, with whom for years they were a pair of public presentations combining music, literature and reflection on deep topics.