True Artist

Remembering Fr. Maynard Nagengast, O.S.B. H’94

To be a true artist according to Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali, it is not enough to simply be inspired. True artists inspire others, which is exactly how Fr. Maynard George Nagengast, O.S.B. H’94 led his life as a Benedictine monk, parish priest, art teacher and artist. Fr. Maynard passed away on May 25 at the age of 89. Newark Abbey, the St. Benedict’s Prep community and family members remembered and honored the beloved monk at a Mass of Christian Burial held in Dalton Gymnasium on May 29. 

“Time seemed always to pass quickly in his class and always purposefully,” said Fr. Luke Edelen, O.S.B. ’68, who first met Fr. Maynard as a Benedict’s art student in 1965. Fr. Luke recalled Fr. Maynard’s knowledge and patience and eulogized his former teacher for eliciting students’ best efforts. He credited Fr. Maynard for encouraging many Gray Bees to pursue art and architecture
as adults. 

Alexander Elias ’89 credits his career as an architect to Fr. Maynard. Mr. Elias had a desk in the art studio, just outside Fr. Maynard’s office, where he spent every free period senior year. “Fr. Maynard saw in me what I wanted and kept pointing me in the right direction,” Mr. Elias recalled in a story for this magazine in 2018. “He’s an artist, he understands what creative kids need.” 

George John Nagengast was born on August 27, 1934, in Bayonne, N.J. He graduated from St. Peter’s Prep in 1953, studied at Saint John’s University in Minnesota and professed first vows as a Benedictine monk in 1956. Fr. Maynard later completed graduate work in art education at New York University. Ordained to the priesthood in 1962, Fr. Maynard moved to the monastery in Newark that same year and taught art to Gray Bees for the next five decades. 

When St. Benedict’s Prep closed in 1972, he spent a year at Saint John’s Abbey in the Bahamas. He returned the following year to restart the fine arts program, which legitimized Newark Abbey’s efforts to establish a new school venture. “His presence as an art teacher was a real boon to us,” said Fr. Albert Holtz, O.S.B. ’60. 

“It was Fr. Maynard who rescued me,” said Director of Theatre Patricia Flynn H’95, who came to The Hive to re-establish the Drama Guild. The monk showed Drama Guild members a hidden woodworking shop next to the art room where early construction for sets began. “Father was a generous teacher and collaborator,” said Ms. Flynn. “Over the years, he advised, corrected, drafted and painted alongside the Drama Guild kids.” Still hanging in the files is the large flat depicting the doorway of 520 MLK Boulevard that Fr. Maynard painted for the School’s Sesquicentennial production, The Play of St. Benedict’s, in 2018. 

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Time seemed to always pass quickly in his class and always purposefully.

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A gifted artist, Fr. Maynard designed the modern logo for Newark Abbey, based on the Coat of Arms depicting Noah’s Ark and new beginnings, and the Medal of St. Benedict’s, the School’s highest honor. His works of liturgical art appear in churches in northern New Jersey, including the chapel of the Benedictine Sisters of Saint Walburga Priory in Elizabeth, N.J. His many landscapes, still life paintings and other works grace the rooms and gathering spaces in Newark Abbey and St. Benedict’s Prep.