In 1938, Abbot Gilbert earned a master's degree in classical languages at Indiana University. He taught Latin and Greek and philosophy in St. Meinrad's Seminary until 1942 when he was named pastor of St Benedict's Church in Evansville. The following year he became the prior at St. Meinrad's foundation in Aurora, Illinois. Returning to St. Meinrad in 1947, taught in the seminary again until 1950 when he was assigned the superiorship of our newly founded monastery.

When Blue Cloud became an abbey in 1954, the conventual prior was raised to the abbacy. Abbot Gilbert's blessing took place under a tent on June 24th. During his administration, the construction of Blue Cloud Abbey was completed and the church was dedicated on his patronal feast day in 1967. By this time Abbot Gilbert's community had doubled in size and a foundation had been made in Guatemala.

From 1960 until 1965, Abbot Gilbert was President of the Swiss-American Congregation. In this capacity, he was a voting member at three sessions of Vatican II. These were difficult years in which to head a monastic federation. Some monks were eager for change and others were fearful of it. This was also the case in his own house. Although Abbot Gilbert was a Latin scholar, he offered no resistance to the introduction of the vernacular into our liturgy. Although he was conservative about some things, he was liberal with regard to others. He and the Archabbot of St. Meinrad were not always in agreement. On one occasion the latter told him, "Blue Cloud is St. Meinrad's most independent dependent priory."

Upon his resignation from the abbacy at the end of 1969, he went to Watertown as chaplain of Mother of God Monastery and Harmony Hill High School. Before retiring to the abbey in 1992, he had served as pastor at Kranzburg, Castlewood and Estelline and as assistant pastor at Wagner and Tyndall.

In 1988, Abbot Gilbert became the chaplain of St. Bernard's Hospital and St. William's Nursing Home in Milbank. He was a zealous pastor and chaplain. When we operated our own seminary here, Abbot Gilbert was the philosophy professor. His students rated him as an excellent teacher.

Abbot Gilbert liked associating with the hierarchy and other abbots and often traveled to places where they were congregated. He referred more than one of these prelates as "my good friend."

He was friendly with Protestant clergy even before the ecumenical movement reached these parts and he was admired by the laity in the parishes he served and elsewhere.

Abbot Gilbert was the kind of abbot St. Benedict had in mind: "He ought, therefore, to be learned in divine law, so that he was a treasury of knowledge from which he can bring out what is new and what is old."

Abbot Gilbert lived to celebrate several jubilees of profession and ordination. He lived a long life in service to his community and his church. He was left us a legacy.

And as long as there are monks alive who knew him, some of his mannerisms will be imitated whenever recalling our first abbot - - - his habit of speaking out of the side of his mouth and the occasional non sequitur which monks found even more baffling because it had been made by a professor of logic.