When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (Jn 19:26-27)
Brad and his wife Ciera.
Brad Geist is a rosary maker, theologian, and former Benedictine monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, KS. Hailing from Goodland, KS, he graduated from Benedictine College in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology.
He grew up as a cradle Catholic who, during his freshman year in high school, rediscovered his Catholic faith and the God who loves him. Over the years he has fostered a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and a deep love of theology. During his high school years he discerned a call to religious life and sought to enter the seminary for the Salina Diocese, but upon further discernment decided to enroll at Benedictine College instead.
During his time at Benedictine College, Brad founded a rosary business named Mediatrix Rosaries, which first sold twine rosaries and then beaded ladder rosaries. He encountered a variety of traditions and movements in the Catholic Church and was profoundly influenced by many of them including the traditional liturgy, Eastern Christianity, Thomism, the Legion of Mary, and Benedictine spirituality. During this time he also spent two summers working at a summer catechetical program named Totus Tuus for his home Diocese of Salina and for the Diocese of Grand Island, NE.
Near the end of his time at Benedictine College, Brad discerned a vocation to St. Benedict’s Abbey, the co-founder of his college. He entered on August 14th, 2013 on the Eve of the Solemnity of the Assumption and eventually took the name Br. Benedict Mary after the Patriarch of Western Monasticism and the Blessed Virgin. During that time he took classes in preparation for seminary, served as assistant sacristan, the director of Benedict’s Beads (the Abbey rosary business that he founded from Mediatrix Rosaries), and the Assistant Spiritual Director to the Legion of Mary at Benedictine College. After much discernment, however, he concluded that he was not called to make a lifetime commitment to the Abbey and subsequently left in May 2016, receiving a dispensation from his simple vows.
Brad is now happily married and works as a Pastoral Associate at Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Monica Catholic Churches in downtown Kansas City, MO and runs Benedict’s Beads on the side with his wife Ciera. They have one daughter.
The Slave of the Immaculate 