Father Martin de Porres, O.S.B., a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey for 40 years and who served as the 14th president of St. Vincent College from 1995 – 2000, has been elected as the 12th Archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey.

With his election, Archabbot Martin de Porres also becomes chancellor of St. Vincent College and of St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe. The Archabbot of St. Vincent is the spiritual head and Father of St. Vincent Archabbey, the first Benedictine Monastery in America.

The Saint Vincent monastic community is comprised of more than 150 monks who are priests or brothers. They serve at the Benedictine Priory in Savannah, Georgia; the Wimmer Priory in Taipei, Taiwan; and S’o Bento Priory in Vinhedo, Brazil.

St. Vincent Benedictines also operate a Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Georgia, and the Roman Catholic campus ministry program at Pennsylvania State University. They also serve in parishes in Savannah; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; and the dioceses of Greensburg, Altoona-Johnstown, Pittsburgh and Erie.

An Archabbot is an Ordinary of a self-governing monastery. His role to the monks is equivalent to that between a Bishop and his people. The Archabbot is a prelate in the Roman Catholic Church and is entitled to wear a ring, pectoral cross and mitre, and is entitled to carry the crozier (or pastoral staff)...

The Archabbot earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1989 and a master of business administration degree from Bowling Green State University in 1984. A 1984 graduate of St. Vincent Seminary, where he earned a master of divinity degree with the highest honors, he also earned a bachelor of business administration degree from Temple University in 1978 with a major in accounting and a minor in computer science. He has also taken graduate courses in finance, Latin and philosophy courses at St. Vincent College; and undergraduate courses. A 1974 graduate of Barberton H.S., Barberton, Ohio. He attended the Institute for Educational Management sponsored by the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University in 1992.

He made his simple profession of vows as a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey on July 10, 1980, and solemn profession of vows on July 11, 1983. He was ... ordained a Priest on May 25, 1985, by the late Bishop William G. Connare of Greensburg.

An associate professor of business administration at St. Vincent College, the Archabbot taught accounting, statistics, business law, school law, legal research and business ethics from 1989-2001. He is also a certified public accountant."

--Parish Bulletin, July 19, 2020