Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1926. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1952 and moved to the United States. In 1953 he joined a Benedictine monastery in the Finger Lakes area of New York, where he still lives today as a senior member. A contributor to several volumes and periodicals, his many books include Gratefulness, A Listening Heart, and The Music of Silence.