During the week of preparation for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Institute priests serving in the American Provence met at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis for their annual retreat from June 8-12. Monsignor Gilles Wach, Prior General of the Institute, came from Gricigliano to preach to the assembled priests during this time of recollection. They were joined by several priests from around the country who are spiritually affiliated with the Institute. 

The canons and priest affiliates had the opportunity to pray the Divine Office together and share fraternal meals as a community. These retreats have been indispensable for renewing the interior lives of the priests, as well as for the fraternal unity of the Institute. With "Grand Silence" during the retreat, the Canon's hearts and minds were more easily given to prayer and recollection. Similar retreats were preached by Monsignor Wach to the priests of the Institute in Germany and in France.

On Thursday evening, Monsignor Wach was the celebrant of a Solemn High Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Supreme and Eternal Priest. Upon completing their time of discernment and candidacy, two men received the cassock as oblates in the Institute, Abbe Kevin Koski and Abbe David Massa, who are currently respectively at St. Mary in Wausau and the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago. Two diocesan priests also received the Cross of St Francis de Sales as affiliate members of the Institute, Reverend Fathers Anthony Ochoa and Evan Harkins.

All the faithful had the opportunity to greet Monsignor Wach and the visiting priests in a festive reception in the Oratory Hall after Mass. In his address of the faithful, Monsignor Wach expressed his deep gratitude to the St. Louis faithful for their generous spirit and caring support of the Institute and its priests. Many individuals and families labored to prepare the chapel, the convent rooms, and the garden in order to accommodate the visiting clergy.