Abadía de San Benito, Luján,

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, is a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of the

Cono-Sur Congregation The Cono-Sur Congregation (''Congregatio Cono-Sur'') is a congregation of monastery, monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation. Founded in 1976, the Congregation now includes ten male monasteries spread throughout four of the countries of So ...

. Originally established in Buenos Aires, the monastery became an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

in 1950 and later transferred to the outskirts of Luján. As of 2020, the monastery was home to 13

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s, under the leadership of Abbot P. Jorge Moran.

History

In 1914, Fr Fermín de Melchor led a number of monks from the

Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in the southern part of Burgos Province in northern Spain. The monastery is named after the eleventh-century saint Dominic of Silos. History T ...

, a Spanish monastery of the

Solesmes Congregation The Solesmes Congregation is an association of monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbey of Solesmes. History The congregation was founded in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI as the French Benedictine Congregation, with the th ...

, to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

to establish a monastic foundation. On December 8 of that year, the monks relocated to Bellocq, but by 1916 had found rural life untenable, and returned to Buenos Aires. In 1920, the monastic community began constructing a monastery. While at Buenos Aires, the work of the community included catechetics, the promotion of

Gregorian Chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

, and the publication of spiritual and liturgical literature (including

sacramentaries In the Western Church of the Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for liturgical services and the mass by a bishop or priest. Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike the missals of later centurie ...

missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...

s, and the reviews ''Pax'' and ''Revista Liturgica Argentina''). In the years preceding the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

, the monks devoted particular attention to the renewal of Christian life and culture in the surrounding area. On March 28, 1938, the monastery at Buenos Aires became independent, being raised to the status of a conventual priory. On October 28, 1950, the monastery was elevated to abbatial status, and Dom Andrés Azcárate (1891-1981) was elected the first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the community. As abbot, Azcárate became an enthusiastic propagator of liturgical reform and

Benedictine spirituality The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they a ...

. In 1963, Azcárate was succeeded as abbot by Dom Lorenzo Manuel Molinero (1901-1979). Following the

, the population of the monastic community decreased. The monks were forced to consolidate their efforts, abandoning many of their previous apostolates and transferring the monastery to a rural location near Luján on April 12, 1987.

Apostolic work

Due to the small size of the monastic communities, the current apostolic work of the monks is not as wide-ranging as in the past. Nowadays, the monks support themselves with agricultural work and the production of

marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...

. Additionally,

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

studies continue at the abbey, and a trimestral review, ''Coloquio'', is published.

Personnel

As of 2000, the community at Luján included 13 monks, five of whom were ordained

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

. The monks of Abadía de San Benito are under the leadership of Abbot Fr Fernando Ricas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abadia de San Benito Benedictine monasteries in Latin America Benedictine monasteries in Argentina

History

Apostolic work

Personnel

See also

References