The monks of Assumption Abbey in Richardton elected Father Valerian John Odermann as their tenth abbot on Nov. 7.
The community was founded in 1893. Its first abbot was Vincent Wehrle, who became the first bishop of the Bismarck Diocese when the diocese was established in 1910.
After joining the Abbey, Abbot Valerian did seminary studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology. Further graduate studies were undertaken at Indiana University, the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.) and the University of Alabama.
He has served at the Abbey’s foundation, Monasterio Benedictino de Tibatí in Bogotá, the University of Mary in Bismarck and in Yankton, S.D., Mount Marty University and Sacred Heart Monastery.
Abbot Valerian is the first abbot of the community to have been born and raised in the Bismarck Diocese. His family belonged to the parish of St. Bernard in Belfield.
Bishop David Kagan will bless Abbot Valerian at the Abbey within a couple months.