Saint John's Abbey
Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota is a Benedictine monastery affiliated with the American-Cassinese Congregation. The Abbey was established following the arrival in the area of monks from Saint Vincent Archabbey of Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1856. Saint John's is the second-largest Benedictine abbey in the Western Hemisphere, with 153 professed monks.[1] John Klassen, OSB, currently serves as abbot.
Monks from the Abbey serve parishes in the Diocese of Saint Cloud and in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Abbey's Hill Museum and Manuscript Library 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. The expenses associated with the Bible project have been over $6.5 million and were raised through donor gifts.
Saint John's University is an apostolate of Saint John's Abbey. The community operates The Liturgical Press, and Saint John's Preparatory School, all located on the grounds of Saint John's in Collegeville. The grounds also house the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, the Episcopal House of Prayer (Diocese of Minnesota), the original Minnesota Public Radio studio, and the Saint John the Baptist Parish Center. The 2,500-acre (10 km²) grounds of the Abbey comprise lakes, prairie, and hardwoods on rolling glacial moraine, and have been designated a natural arboretum.
The Abbey is the location of a number of structures designed by the modernist Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. The Abbey Church, with its banner bell tower, is one of his best-known works. In its undercroft is a chapel that contains the relics of Saint Peregrine.
The Abbey is also the setting for the popular collection of essays on Christian spirituality, The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris.
References [edit]
- ^ "OSB InternationalCollegeville - Saint John's (1856)". Retrieved 2012-12-30.
External links [edit]
- Saint John's Abbey web site
- Liturgical Press web site
- St. John's University web site
- St. John's Preparatory School web site
- Digital Image Collection of Saint John's Abbey
- St John's Abbey Church on Architectuul
Coordinates: 45°34′49″N 94°23′32″W / 45.58028°N 94.39222°W
- Benedictine monasteries in the United States
- Roman Catholic churches in Minnesota
- Religious organizations established in 1856
- Marcel Breuer buildings
- Buildings and structures in Stearns County, Minnesota
- Visitor attractions in Stearns County, Minnesota
- 1856 establishments in the United States
- Churches in Stearns County, Minnesota
