| For many years, Fr. Boniface worked as a printer in our shop. The shop has been closed for some years now, and Boniface has moved on to the life of a parish priest as Pastor of St. Mary’s, Richardton. |
Michael Muggli grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, the son of Robert Muggli, an alumnus of the Abbey School. He has always been a good student, so he began his college career at the prestigious University of Chicago. But Michael felt a call to the religious life and priesthood, so he transferred to St. Meinrad Seminary College. He graduated in 1981, and chose to enter the novitiate at Richardton that winter.
After the usual year and a half of initial monastic formation, Brother Boniface made first vows on January 21, 1983. Three years later he became a permanent member of the Abbey. In 1986, Boniface was sent to the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, for seminary studies. During the next four years, he lived with the Benedictines at St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington.
Upon his return to the monastery, Fr. Boniface’s life took a rather surprising turn: he became a printer! Although he had just completed a high-powered theological education, he found himself running the high-powered and complicated presses in our little print shop under Bro. Gordon’s direction. From all accounts, he was a good printer, but we knew from his preaching that he was also a good theologian and teacher.
For a couple of years Fr. Boniface worked as our formation director. It was just one of the many tasks the community asked this versatile man to carry out. And he did it with his usual blend of fidelity and good humor. Like most monks in small houses, he has found out how to “multitask.”
For a couple of years, Fr. Boniface was asked to live a sort of double life. In addition to his duties as our pressman, he traveled to Bismarck every week to work a couple days as a chaplain and instructor at the University of Mary. This burdensome existence was brought to an end the way many monastic lives are changed: something happens to someone else and you are caught in the ripples.
In this case, Fr. Brian was elected abbot and that meant that someone else had to become pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Richardton. The lot fell to Fr. Boniface, and he has been working in that position ever since 2004. St. Mary’s no longer has a school, so the task is not so great, but Boniface also has the care of two smaller parishes: St. Stephen’s south of Richardton, and St. Thomas in Gladstone. Both are about 15 miles away. So he has enough to do.
From what we have said, it is obvious that Fr. Boniface is a multi-talented man. But even his work does not reveal all his gifts. For example, he is a trained chemist, and he has an abiding interest in mathematical issues. He is the kind of person who can sit at recreation reading the Scientific American, but also taking part in the conversation. He is constantly involved in solving numerical and logical puzzles like the Sudoku.
One of Fr. Boniface’s quirks is his sneaky sense of humor. He often tells subtle little jokes that only the most alert person even realizes are jokes. Sometimes it is a little difficult to cope with the train of his conversation, but that is because his mind runs faster than most. He is known as a caring and gentle confrere and pastor. May he have many more years of happy monastic and apostolic life.
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