Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville
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Saint John's Abbey is a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
in
Collegeville Township, Minnesota Collegeville Township is a township in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,343 at the 2010 census. History Collegeville Township was organized in 1880, and named after Saint John's College. Geography According to the ...
, United States, affiliated with the American-Cassinese Congregation. The abbey was established following the arrival in the area of monks from
Saint Vincent Archabbey Saint Vincent Archabbey is a Benedictine monastery in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the city of Latrobe. A member of the American-Cassinese Congregation, it is the oldest Benedictine monastery in the United States and the largest in th ...
in Pennsylvania in 1856. Saint John's is one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in the Western Hemisphere, with 110 professed monks. The Right Reverend Fr. John Klassen, OSB, serves as the tenth abbot. A school founded at the abbey grew into
Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) ** St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus * College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...
in 1883. 17 buildings constructed at the abbey and university between 1868 and 1959 are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as the St. John's Abbey and University Historic District.


Establishment

In 1856, five monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The city population was 8,338 as of the 2010 census (9,265 in 1990). It is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Rid ...
, arrived in
St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the county seat of Stear ...
. They established a priory there and began to minister to the German immigrants in central Minnesota. One of the first ministries of the new community was Saint John's College, which would come to be known as Saint John's Preparatory School. In 1862 the community moved some miles west, into the wooded area of the valley, and again in 1865 to the shores of Lake Sagatagan. It was in this location that the community began to flourish, and in 1866 the priory was raised to the status of Abbey and the community elected Fr. Rupert Seidenbusch as the first Abbot.


Abbey Church of Saint John the Baptist

By the early 1950s the
monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...
community had reached to a near 450 monks, and had outgrown the original abbey church and so plans were made to construct a new, larger worship space which could accommodate a larger congregation. The liturgical movement which would culminate in the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
was in full swing at Saint John's and so the new church was also to be designed with some of the anticipated
liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
changes in mind. (Following the Council, almost no changes needed to be made to incorporate the new liturgical rules.) The community contacted twelve architects and asked them to submit plans for a church which would "be truly an architectural monument to the service of God." In 1954 the community selected
Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...
to design not only the new church but an addition to the monastic enclosure. Breuer's design incorporated the traditional axis of
baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
,
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, and
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
in a modern concrete structure. The monastic choir stalls and
Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
's throne were placed in a less traditional semi-circular shape around the main altar, which also served to invite the congregation closer. The church was designed so that even with a capacity of over 2000, the entire community was able to feel like they were intimately involved in the liturgy. Perhaps the most striking part of the design was the facade and bell tower, which itself was shaped like a large bell and sat suspended over the main entrance of the church. The "banner" rises 112 vertical feet in front of the church and houses the 5 bells which sound the hours and call the monastic and university communities to prayer. The north facade of the building is the largest wall of stained glass in the world and contains 430 colorful hexagons of abstract design. Construction of the church began on May 19, 1958, and lasted until August 24, 1961. The church was consecrated in the fall of 1961 and serves to this day as the principal liturgical space of both the monastic community and the university. The monastic community gathers for Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Mass, and Evening Prayer every weekday and except for rare occasions these liturgies are open to the public. On the weekends there is not public Midday Prayer. All liturgical events in the Abbey Church are livestreamed on the Abbey website.


Grounds

In addition to the preparatory school, the abbey also established
Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) ** St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus * College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...
, which was connected to the abbey itself by "Quadrangle", at the time the largest building west of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
dedicated to education. The abbey also operates the Liturgical Press, one of the foremost liturgical publishing houses in the United States. Also located on the grounds of the abbey are the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, the Episcopal House of Prayer (Diocese of Minnesota), the original
Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...
studio, and the Saint John the Baptist Parish Center. The grounds of the abbey comprise lakes, prairie, and hardwoods on rolling glacial moraine, and have been designated the Saint John's Arboretum. The abbey is the location of a number of structures designed by the modernist
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
architect
Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...
. The Abbey Church, with its banner bell tower, is one of his best-known works. The upper church houses the newly expanded Holtkamp Pasi organ with over 6,000 pipes. In its undercroft is a chapel that contains the relics of Saint Peregrine. A
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
of 17 buildings at Saint John's Abbey and University was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1979 for having national significance in the themes of architecture, community planning and development, education, and religion. It was nominated for being an architecturally and historically significant campus of a leading religious and educational institution of the
Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...
. The abbey is the setting for ''The Cloister Walk'', a collection of essays on Christian spirituality by
Kathleen Norris Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880 – January 18, 1966) was an American novelist and newspaper columnist. She was one of the most widely read and highest paid female writers in the United States for nearly fifty years, from 1911 to 1959. N ...
. The grounds include the Episcopal House of Prayer, a retreat center affiliated with the Episcopal Church.


Ministries

Outside of Saint John's, the abbey's monks serve 12 parishes along with various nursing homes and hospitals in the Diocese of Saint Cloud. .


The Saint John's Bible

The abbey's
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) is a nonprofit organization that photographs, catalogs, and provides free access to collections of manuscripts located in libraries around the world. HMML prioritizes manuscripts located in regions en ...
houses the world's largest collection of manuscript images. This library is also the home of '' The Saint John's Bible'', the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bible to have been commissioned by a Benedictine monastery since the invention of the printing press.


List of Abbots

# Rt. Rev. Rupert Seidenbusch, O.S.B. (1866–1875) Named Bishop of the Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Minnesota # Rt. Rev. Alexius Edelbrock, O.S.B. (1875–1889) # Rt. Rev. Bernard Locnikar, O.S.B. (1890–1894) # Rt. Rev. Peter Engel, O.S.B. (1894–1921) # Rt. Rev. Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B. (1921–1950) # Rt. Rev. Baldwin Dworschak, O.S.B. (1950–1971) # Rt. Rev. John Eidenschink, O.S.B. (1971–1979) # Rt. Rev. Jerome Theisen, O.S.B. (1979–1992) Elected Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation # Rt. Rev. Timothy Kelly, O.S.B. (1992–2000) # Rt. Rev. John Klassen, O.S.B. (2000–present)


References


External links


Saint John's AbbeyLiturgical PressDigital Image Collection of Saint John's AbbeySt John's Abbey Church
on Architectuul {{Authority control 1856 establishments in Minnesota Territory Saint John's Buildings and structures in Stearns County, Minnesota Churches in Stearns County, Minnesota Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Marcel Breuer buildings National Register of Historic Places in Stearns County, Minnesota Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Religious organizations established in 1856 Tourist attractions in Stearns County, Minnesota