Abbot Peter Novecosky, OSB, who for more than a quarter century shared the news, and the good news, with Catholics in Western Canada through The Prairie Messenger newspaper, has died at 79.
Abbot Novecosky died on Aug. 14, the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Humboldt, Sask., after battling cancer.
A prayer vigil will take place Monday, Aug. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter Cathedral in Muenster, Sask. The funeral will be Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 11 a.m. at St. Augustine Church in Humboldt, followed by interment at St. Peter’s Abbey Cemetery.
In a statement, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Abbot Novecosky’s life was a testament to faith, leadership, and dedication. “His journey, marked by a deep commitment to his faith and his community, reflects his motto, ‘My heart is ready, O God,’” the CCCB said.
He was born Wilfred Novecosky on April 17, 1945, in Burr, Sask., where he attended elementary school before going to high school at St. Peter’s College in Muenster.
In 1963, young Wilfred entered the monastic community of St. Peter’s Abbey as a novice. In 1964 he made his profession of vows as a Benedictine monk, changing his name from Wilfred to Peter. He would be the last vocation from the former St. Peter’s Abbacy, a diocese (abbey nullius) that existed between 1921 and 1998 when it became part of the Diocese of Saskatoon.
Peter studied philosophy and theology in the seminary at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., and was ordained to the priesthood in Humboldt in 1970 by Saskatoon Bishop James Mahoney.
After ordination, he became a prefect at St. Peter’s College in Muenster and taught there until the school closed in 1972. He also served as associate pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Humboldt from 1972 to 1977.
In 1972 he began working with The Prairie Messenger, published and printed by the Benedictine community of St. Peter’s Abbey in Muenster.
The Benedictines had been associated with the paper since 1923, when St. Peter’s Messenger was first printed. It became The Prairie Messenger in 1928, but its roots went back to its forerunner, the weekly German newspaper St. Peter’s Bote, which the Benedictines began publishing in 1904.
The Benedictine order publishing tradition dates back to its roots in the Middle Ages preserving books, texts, and culture. Education and printing have been a part of that tradition, and the Benedictine monks, within a year of arriving with German Catholic settlers from Minnesota in the Humboldt/Muenster area in 1903, were printing the German Catholic weekly St. Peter’s Bote (Bote meaning “the messenger” in Winnipeg.)
The Benedictines opened a printing press at Muenster the following year in September of 1905 and for decades they published two newspapers, ceasing publication of The Bote in 1947.
At The Prairie Messenger, he served as assistant editor from 1970 to 1981, Managing Editor from 1981 to 1983, and Press Manager from 1983 to 1990. During this time, he also managed St. Peter’s Press in Muenster.
Abbot Novecosky took over as The Prairie Messenger’s managing editor again in 2012 after the death of Father Andrew Britz, OSB, and served in that role until the closing of the Catholic weekly in 2018.
In 1990 he was elected Abbot Ordinary for the Abbacy of Muenster, a position confirmed by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 19, 1990, said the CCCB. His Abbatial Blessing took place in Humboldt on Nov. 26, 1990.
He received the title of Abbot Ordinary Emeritus of St. Peter’s Abbacy in 1998, the year the abbacy became part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon.
He was also a member of the CCCB’s Episcopal Commission for Social Communications (English Sector) from 1991 to 1995, served on the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy from 1995 to 1999, and served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Bishops Conference.
He was also National Spiritual Director of the Canadian Women’s League and State Chaplain for the Saskatchewan Knights of Columbus and took part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1994.
