request of the Pope, Dom Hildebrand continued as Abbot of Maredsous, but relinquished that office in 1909. In that year, at the age of 51, "at the height of his powers, both physical and intellectual," Dom Marmion was elected Third Abbot of Maredsous. A community consisting of a hundred monks, it ran two schools and was a publisher, in particular of La Revue bénédictine. Marmion adopted as his motto Magis prodesse quam praesse, "To serve rather than be served," a maxim taken from the Rule of St. Benedict. The monastery had great spiritual and intellectual influence under his leadership. Vocations abounded. But Dom Marmion was not indifferent to temporal matters. Thus he had the Abbey equipped with electricity and central heating, facilities rarely to be found in monasteries at that time. "Gathering up all he had learnt during his priesthood of nearly thirty years and concentrating in his mind the treasures of theological science accumulated during as many years of study and teaching, a consummate master in dogmatics and asceticism, an experienced spiritual director, and a contemplative who constantly searched into the mysteries of God, Dom Marmion was now about to give the matured fruits of these years and to be above all among his own monks, the exponent of the Christian and monastic life in its fullness." Maredsous and other communities In 1909, the government of Belgium asked Maredsous to consider founding a Benedictine monastery in Katanga, in the Belgian Congo. Doubtless Dom Marmion's missionary spirit would not have hesitated; but the Community preferred to devote itself to research and to promotion of sources of the faith, rather than to launch out into direct evangelization. However, Marmion lent effective aid to this mission, which was taken on by the Abbey of Saint André at Bruges. A few years later, Marmion gave help and support to the conversion to Catholicism of Anglican communities in Wales (Caldey and Milford Haven). First World War (1914–1918) When war broke out in 1914 Dom Marmion, fearing that his young novices might be called up, sent them to Ireland. This involved Marmion traveling, disguised as a cattle dealer, through the war zone from Belgium to England, "without passport or papers of any kind." During the war years Marmion continued his activities as preacher and spiritual director. In 1915 he wrote to a young man preparing for ordination: "The best of all preparations for the priesthood