I have the liberty to address you about the following matter:
Oo. Trappists had to temporarily leave their monastery in Reichenburg and now they are homeless, temporarily guests of their brothers in the monastery "Marija Zvijezda" in Banja Luka. Whereas they would very gladly like to found their own monastery somewhere in the NDH, which is why I kindly ask you, Poglavnik, to grant them a place, a house and some land, so that they could establish their own monastery.
The order of Trappists is a contemplative order, who by their life of penance, prayers and fasting invoke blessings from the heavens.
Trappists are also occupied with agriculture and industry and in that way they can do a lot of good for their surroundings, giving the best example of how land should be rationally farmed and all its powers exploited, so that farmers and industrialists could learn a lot of useful things from them for the common welfare of all.
The monastery of the oo. Trappists train youth for the next generation at the monastery and teach them in various crafts. At Reichenburg they already had several members of the Croatian nationality, and even now there are several members of the Croatian nationality with them. In time, with the support of the state authorities, an economy school could be founded.
Whereas the oo. Trappists lost everything in Reichenburg, now they are without any resources and it is understandable that they cannot pay now for accommodation nor land. In Reichenburg the oo. Trappists had 380 hectares of fine land, including forests, but of course they would be satisfied now with a smaller parcel.
In Reichenburg there were 80 monks and 12 cadets together with about 10 servants. In Banja Luka there are now 30 of them, and some still in Reichenburg, and others are dispersed in various places, but they are all hoping that they could again gather in a common monastery family. Perhaps they could be given the Serbian monastery in Orahovica (once the monastery of our Pavlins).
It is an honor for me to sincerely recommend to you, Poglavnik, that the oo. Trappists should be settled in this archbishopric in order to contribute spiritually and economically to the archbishopric and to the welfare of the entire NDH.
Please accept, Poglavnik, on this occasion the expression of my exceptional respect.
In Zagreb, 3 October 1941,
Dr. Alojzije Stepinac, Archbishop