St. Benedict's Abbey is an American community of monks of the Order of St. Benedict located in

Atchison, Kansas Atchison is a city in, and the county seat of, Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator ...

. It was founded in 1857 to provide education to the sons of German settlers in the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

History

In the middle of the 19th century,

Metten Abbey Metten Abbey, or St. Michael's Abbey at Metten (in German Abtei Metten or Kloster Metten) is a house of the Benedictine Order in Metten near Deggendorf, situated between the fringes of the Bavarian Forest and the valley of the Danube, in Bavaria ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, founded in 766, decided to send a number of its monks to the United States as part of the abbey's American mission project. The German monks sought new locations where they could pursue their religious calling in peace as well as looking to provide spiritual guidance to the many German emigrants to America in that period. Their initial foundation was in

Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe ( ) is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,060 as of the 2020 census. A part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, it is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorpo ...

, where they established

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 1846. The founder,

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 ...

Boniface Wimmer Boniface Wimmer, (1809–1887) was a German archabbot who in 1846 founded the first Benedictine monastery in the United States, Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In 1855, Wimmer founded the American-Cassinese Congregation of ...

, O.S.B., was the Superior of the mission. After helping his confreres to establish that first monastery, in the mid-1850s, a member of the monastery, Heinrich (Henry) Lemke, O.S.B., left Pennsylvania and moved to Kansas, where there was a large number of German immigrants. He settled in the small town of

Doniphan, Kansas Doniphan is an unincorporated community in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States. History The company that founded the community was organized on November 11, 1854. Doniphan was incorporated in 1869. The community was named, as was the county, ...

, the first monk in the territory, where he established the Church of St. John the Baptist. He was joined in April 1857 by two more monks, Augustus Wirth, O.S.B., designated as

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of the new community, and Casimir Seitz, O.S.B. Although the small community was declared autonomous the following year by the

American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation The American-Cassinese Congregation is a Catholic association of Benedictine monasteries founded in 1855. The monasteries of the congregation follow the monastic way of life as outlined by St. Benedict of Nursia in his early 6th century ''Rule o ...

of which it was a part, by that time Wirth was alone, as the other two monks had returned to the United States. Wirth and a companion were invited by

John Baptist Miège John Baptist Miège, S.J. (September 18, 1815 – July 21, 1884), was a Jesuit prelate and missionary. In addition to a career in education, he served as Vicar Apostolic of Kansas from 1851 to 1874. Early life Miège was born in a house called ...

, S.J., the

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the territory, to relocate to Atchison to operate a school for boys. They did so in 1858, and established St. Benedict's College, which today is known as

Benedictine College Benedictine College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas, United States. It was established in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedict's College (founded 1858) for men and Mount St. Scholastica College (founded 1923) for ...

. Originally, the mainly classical school curriculum was intended to prepare students for the priesthood. It was expanded to include commerce subjects to cater to the needs of the local population, which consisted primarily of farmers and miners. Under a new prior,

Louis Mary Fink Louis Mary Fink, O.S.B., (July 12, 1834 – March 17, 1904) was a German-born Benedictine monk and prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Leavenworth (1877–1904). Biography He was born Michael Fink in the village of ...

, O.S.B., the school was incorporated by the State of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in 1868. The monastery was raised to the status of an independent abbey in 1877, with Innocent Wolf, O.S.B., being elected its first abbot. The high school division of the college was made independent in 1919 as Maur Hill Prep School. With the college considered an extension of the monastery, the monks did not seek their own civil incorporation until 1931, when the debt incurred in the building of the new monastery threatened the accreditation of the college.

Current status

The monastic community of the abbey today numbers some 50 monks. The current head is Abbot James Albers, O.S.B. The abbey continues to be heavily involved in the life and decision making of Benedictine College. In 1962 the abbey established a daughter foundation in Brazil: Mosteiro São Jose, located in

Mineiros Mineiros, population 70,081, is a municipality in the southwest of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Mineiros is the westernmost city in Goiás and a great producer of cattle, soybeans, and corn. Mineiros is located 430 km from the state capital ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Benedict's Abbey Christian monasteries established in the 19th century Benedictine monasteries in the United States Religious organizations established in 1857 German-American culture in Kansas Roman Catholic churches in Kansas Churches in Atchison, Kansas 1857 establishments in Kansas Territory 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States