Name Day: Nativity of Mary - September 8th
Professed Vows: September 12, 1959
Ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ: May 29, 1965
Elected Abbot of Newark Abbot: September 8, 1973
Abbot Melvin faithfully served the monastic community as the Abbot of Newark Abbey, from 1973 until 2022. During that time he was also President of St. Benedict's Prep, from which he graduated in 1956. From 1989 to 2001, he served as president of the American-Cassinese Congregation of Benedictine Monasteries, to which Newark Abbey belongs. When he retired as Abbot in 2022, he was the longest-reigning abbot in the history of the Congregation.
