Part of the St. Bonaventure University tradition is to pay at least one visit to Mt. Irenaeus. Mt. Irenaeus is roughly a half an hour from campus, but can easily be described as another world entirely. The mountain is surrounded with forest and solitude, and is a perfect breath of fresh air from the bustling college life. The mountain was built as just that: an escape for students who needed it.
Br. Kevin Kriso, O.F.M., is one of the friars who lives at the mountain and oversees student resorts. Because of this, he understands the history of the mountain.
“The first thoughts for Mt. Irenaeus came in the ‘70s when there was a lot of student unrest,” Kriso said. “If you look into the history, you’d be surprised at some of the things that happened on the Bonaventure campus. Students taking over academic buildings, students taking over the Friar’s chapel.”
Fr. Dan Riley, O.F.M., who is still on campus, was a young friar on campus when it was created. “He emerged as a spokesperson between the students, the faculty and the friars,” Kriso said. “They knew that the student government and some of the friars who were starting campus ministries went off campus for a meeting, and they realized that getting away from campus is important.”
This realization sewed the seeds for the mountain retreat. This idea of disconnecting from campus relieves stress. Furthermore, when at the resort, students are asked to shut off their technology and be in the moment.
“We ask students to put away electronics while they’re there so that they can be with each other, so that they can listen to each other. So that they can listen to the silence, so that we can learn about them. Preparing a meal together is a really important piece of what we do,” Kriso said. “Then people hopefully have a chance to go out on the land because all of those things are very centering, very healing, very encouraging to help people to slow down, to pay attention to where their life is going, where they’d like their life to be going, or to pay attention to something they maybe need to get rid of or drop.”
Ultimately, the mountain is a forested hideaway for students under high stress.
There are always opportunities to visit Mt. Irenaeus.
There’s an intercollegiate retreat on Nov. 16-18. The mountain will also host a men’s overnight on Oct. 27 and a women’s overnight on Nov.30. The Advent Overnight is Dec. 7.
By Anastasia Smith, Staff Writer
smithan18@bonaventure.edu
