The Saint John’s University woodworking shop was established more than 150 years ago. (Chronicle photographs by Scott Carlson)

Collegeville, Minn. — Ora et Labora — or “Prayer and Work” — has always been a mainstay of the Benedictine ethic. At Saint John’s University and Abbey, in north-central Minnesota, the woodworking shop brings together monks, craftsmen, and students to labor (and probably pray) over very beautiful and complex works in wood. The woodworking shop was established more than 150 years ago to help make the abbey self-sufficient, and it still provides furniture and other essentials for both the abbey and university.

The furniture in the dormitories, the heavy doors on the buildings, the desks and chairs in the university offices, the bookshelves in the library, tabernacles in the church, museum boxes in the archives, even caskets for the monks — over the years most of that came out of this little shop, which has two full-time woodworkers and a handful of part-time helpers, including Saint John’s students. Brother Christopher Fair, who was trained in woodworking at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Me., has led the shop since 2005.

“Even though the economy is tight, people seem to still prefer quality,” he says, standing next to table that was commissioned by a professor of liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame. Work for collectors and private clients is an increasing portion of the shop’s business, he says, noting that the university did not hire the woodworkers for furniture in three recent building projects, in part because the shop was booked with work and could not fill the orders in time.

“Unfortunately the business from the university is falling off from tightening budgets and timelines,” Brother Christopher says, but he is confident that the university will buy more from the shop in the future. “I would hope that we still have preferred-vendor status.”

The work seen scattered around the shop during a recent visit is a hybrid of Mission and Asian styles. In the angles and corners of the table, one can sense the trapezoidal shapes favored by Marcel Breuer, who designed much of the campus. With the table flipped upside-down on a pair of sawhorses, the legs resemble Breuer’s iconic campanile here.

“The bell banner seems to come into everything we do,” Brother Christopher says.

Much of the wood used in the shop is taken from the vast land holdings around the university and abbey. The lumber is hauled to Long Prairie, where it is sawed into boards in an Amish community. It’s all part of an ethic of respect for resources. “Sustainability has been part of our community from the beginning,” Brother Christopher says. “The shovel in the garden doesn’t belong to me; it belongs to the community and to God. You take care of it as you would take care of the altar.”

“That’s why we make furniture that lasts 60 or 70 years,” he says. “We have become a throwaway society. It’s unfortunate.”

The woodwork here can be elaborate or humble. In the shop is a stack of cutting boards for bread. (Saint John’s is known for its “Johnnie bread,” which is baked here by the monks.) In an assembly room is a curved-front commode made of mahogany and macassar ebony; the veneer alone cost about $1,200. Brother Christopher says the commode, which was commissioned by a private client, will take more than a year to make.

The machines sitting in the shop seem to be made to last as long as the monastery itself. A planer dates to 1906, and a Greenlee chisel mortiser dates to 1917. “I’ve got a letter from 1975, when Brother Hubert wrote to Greenlee saying he needed a part for this, and they wrote back saying, ‘I’m sorry, that machine’s an antique, and we don’t sell parts for antiques,’” Brother Christopher says. “It was an antique in ’75.”

Three students are part of the crew here. One of those students, who is in the middle of creating a replica of a chair by designer Vico Magistretti, will go on to own his own shop. “Most of the students here just want a job that’s more than just sitting at a desk and answering a phone,” Brother Christopher says. “I just had my first two female workers — they were sisters. They worked a lot harder than the guys.” —Scott Carlson