Malvern Retreat House · Malvern, Pennsylvania

St. Blaise Men’s Retreat

The St. Blaise–Curran Memorial & St. John Neumann Weekend

Welcome

Time away with our Lord

We all need a chance to step away from busy lives, the inbox, the text messages and the other distractions of the world.

Malvern is a place of quiet where you can spend time discerning the Lord’s will: what is important in your life, and whether you are on the path He has chosen for you. The weekend brings Mass, Confession, Adoration, the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross and conferences by our retreat director.

We share the weekend with the St. John Neumann retreat group. The two groups share the same schedule, conferences and Masses, and each registers under its own name.

As brothers in Christ we are all on a journey home to our heavenly Father. We can’t make it alone. We need the support, direction and example of one another. Come as you are, whether it is your first retreat or your fortieth.

If you do all the talking when you pray, how will you ever hear God’s answers?A. W. Tozer
PrayerDiscernmentFellowship
The Good Shepherd statue among the gardens at Malvern
February 5–7, 2027

This year’s weekend

When Friday, Feb 5 – Sunday, Feb 7, 2027

Check-in Friday at 5:00 pm. The weekend ends after Mass on Sunday, around noon.

Retreat Director Fr. Dennis O’Donnell

Fr. O’Donnell leads the weekend’s conferences, Friday evening through the Sunday wrap-up.

Saturday Speaker Gary Zimak

Catholic author and speaker Gary Zimak talks about how to let go of anxiety and worry and trust in the Lord.

Register

Both groups share one weekend, but each has its own registration page at Malvern Retreat House. Sign up under the group you belong to. You can attend in person or join the conferences and Masses virtually.

Register: St. Blaise–Curran Memorial Register: St. John Neumann
A Typical Weekend

Weekend schedule

Times and rooms can change during the retreat. Items marked Zoom are streamed for virtual retreatants.

Friday

EVENING
  1. Check-inGreco Family Memorial Hall
  2. DinnerGreco Family Memorial Hall
  3. Welcome by the Captain & Rector Zoom
  4. Orientation for new retreatantsLower McShain
  5. Conference ZoomUpper McShain
  6. Mass ZoomUpper McShain
  7. Open AA meetingGreco Family Memorial Hall

Saturday

MORNING
  1. Rise; Angelus at 7:20
  2. Morning PrayerOur Lady & St. Joseph Chapels
  3. Flag ceremony, then breakfast
  4. Conference ZoomUpper McShain
  5. Reconciliation service with ConfessionsOur Lady & St. Joseph Chapels
AFTERNOON
  1. Lunch, then awards & president’s remarks
  2. Stations of the CrossOutdoors, weather permitting
  3. Free time
  4. MassOur Lady & St. Joseph Chapels
  5. Guest speaker: Gary Zimak ZoomUpper McShain
EVENING
  1. Dinner
  2. RosaryOur Lady & St. Joseph Chapels
  3. Conference ZoomUpper McShain
  4. New Man of Malvern ceremony, Night Prayer and Benediction
  5. Refreshments

Sunday

MORNING
  1. Rise; Angelus at 7:20
  2. Morning PrayerOur Lady & St. Joseph Chapels
  3. Flag ceremony, then breakfast
  4. Faith sharing Zoom
  5. Wrap-up conference Zoom
  6. Mass and blessing of religious articles ZoomUpper McShain

All activities are optional except your private Adoration time and Sunday Mass. Please keep a spirit of silence throughout the weekend.

Extended Adoration is offered in the Good Shepherd Chapel at the St. Carlo Acutis Shrine in Lower McShain.

Before You Arrive

Prepare your heart

Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane

Prayer for Retreat

Lord Jesus Christ, You told the apostles to retire to a desert place and rest a while. I am taking this time to follow Your example.

Grant that I may obtain all the fruits that I can from this retreat. Enable me to make it in union with You, to know myself better and to get closer to You.

Help me to listen attentively, to ponder prayerfully, and to speak wisely. Let me emerge from this spiritual renewal as a more committed Christian, better equipped to advance along the path that You have laid out for me.

Amen.

Making a good confession

Saturday morning’s reconciliation service is one of the graces of the weekend. If it has been a while, don’t worry. The priests are there to help. Begin with prayer and an examination of conscience, then:

  1. The priest greets you. Make the Sign of the Cross.
  2. Say, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was…”
  3. Confess your sins. If you are unsure, ask the priest for help.
  4. Say, “I am sorry for these and all my sins.”
  5. Listen to his advice and receive your penance.
  6. Pray the Act of Contrition, and the priest gives absolution.

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Our Patrons

St. Blaise & St. John Neumann

Each of the two retreat groups that share this weekend is named for one of these saints.

Stained glass window of St. Blaise
FEAST DAY · FEBRUARY 3

St. Blaise

Blaise was bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, in what is now Sivas, Turkey. Tradition holds that he was a physician before he became a bishop. During the persecution under the emperor Licinius he was arrested, and he was martyred around the year 316.

While he was in prison, a mother brought him her son, who was choking on a fish bone. Blaise prayed over the boy and he was healed. That is why St. Blaise is the patron of those with ailments of the throat, and why on his feast day priests bless throats with two crossed candles. He is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Our retreat falls close to his feast each winter.

Portrait of St. John Neumann
FEAST DAY · JANUARY 5

St. John Neumann

John Neumann was born in 1811 in Bohemia, in today’s Czech Republic. He came to New York in 1836, was ordained a priest that same year, and later joined the Redemptorists, serving immigrant families across the frontier.

In 1852 he became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. He built the first diocesan Catholic school system in the country, founded dozens of parishes, and brought the Forty Hours Devotion to the diocese. He died on a Philadelphia street in 1860, worn out from his labors.

Canonized in 1977, he was the first American bishop declared a saint. His shrine is at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia, a short drive from Malvern.

The Retreat House

Malvern Retreat House

Founded in 1912, Malvern Retreat House sits on 125 wooded acres in Chester County. Generations of men have made their retreats here, and the grounds are full of places to pray: shrines, gardens, outdoor Stations of the Cross, and the chapels where we gather for Mass and Adoration.

Saturday afternoon’s free time is a good chance to walk the grounds and visit the shrines.

Malvern Retreat House
315 S. Warren Avenue
Malvern, PA 19355
Grounds map (PDF) malvernretreat.com
The Golden Doors
The Golden Doors“Enter through the gold door to kneel in an aloneness with God and find peace of soul.”
Statue of Christ praying in the garden
Agony in the GardenA quiet spot at the edge of the woods.
The Pietà statue with a kneeler
The PietàWith a kneeler for private prayer.
Open-air pavilion with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima ShrineAn open-air pavilion in the trees.
Statue of St. Joseph the Worker with the child Jesus
St. Joseph the WorkerIn front of the residence halls.
Statue of the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb
The Good ShepherdAmong the flower gardens.
Questions

Contact us

Thinking about coming for the first time, or bringing a friend, son or brother? Give any of us a call.

David Santoleri
St. Blaise Co-Captain
302-345-2637
Tony Gentile
St. Blaise Co-Captain
610-513-6834
Chris Phillips
St. John Neumann Captain
267-246-2909