The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, 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 are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits, although some, like the Olivetans, wear white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
Winchcombe Abbey is a now-vanished Benedictine abbey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire; this abbey was once in the heart of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom at the time of the Heptarchy in England. The Abbey was founded c. 798 for three hundred Benedictine monks, by King Offa of Mercia or King Coenwulf of Mercia. In its time, it was the burial place of two members of the Mercian ruling class, the aforementioned Coenwulf and his son Cynehelm, later venerated as Saint Kenelm.
Sopwell Priory was a Benedictine nunnery founded around 1140 on the site of an ancient hermitage in Sopwell, Hertfordshire, England. After the Dissolution, the priory was torn down and a Tudor manor house constructed in its place.
The Beuronese Congregation, or Beuron Congregation, is a union of mostly German or German-speaking monasteries of both monks and nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. The congregation stands under the patronage of Martin of Tours, who is the patron saint of the Archabbey of Beuron.
Varensell Abbey is a monastic community of Benedictine nuns, located near Rietberg in the district of Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Engelthal Abbey or St. Mary's Abbey, Engelthal, is a Benedictine nunnery in the Wetterau region, Hesse, Germany.
St. Erentraud's Abbey, Kellenried, otherwise Kellenried Abbey, is a Benedictine nunnery in Kellenried. The abbey belongs to the town of Berg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
St. Mary's Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery in Fulda, Hesse, Germany.
St Mary's Abbey, also known as Malling Abbey, is an abbey of Anglican Benedictine nuns located in West Malling, Kent, England. It was founded around 1090 by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester and dissolved in 1538. The site became a monastery again in the late 19th century.
Liesborn Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Liesborn, in what was originally the Dreingau, now a part of Wadersloh in the district of Warendorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Erentrude was a saint and abbess, born during the end of the 7th century, probably in present-day Germany or Austria. She was born into a Franconian-Merovingian royal house, and was the niece of Rupert of Salzburg. She left her home country to assist Rupert in establishing religious communities in Salzburg; in about 700, he built a convent, Nonnberg Abbey, and installed her as its first abbess. She and the nuns at Nonnberg served the poor, needy, and ill, striking a balance between living as cloistered nuns and engaging in charitable works. Erentrude died on 30 June 718. Her fame for healing miracles and intercession grew after her death, and many legends have arisen throughout the centuries since her death. In 2006, Erentrude's image appeared on the Austrian Nonnberg Abbey commemorative coin. Her feast day is celebrated on 30 June.
Kaufungen Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery founded in 1017 by the Empress Cunigunde of Luxembourg, wife of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, located in Kaufungen in Hessen, Germany.
Chiaravalle is a district (quartiere) of Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 5 administrative division of the city. It is located in the periphery south of the city centre, within the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano nature reserve.
Kintbury Abbey was a supposed Anglo-Saxon monastery at Kintbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was planned to refound it in 1147, but this never came to fruition.
Minchinhampton Priory was a priory in Gloucestershire, England.
St. Andrew's Abbey, Bruges was a Benedictine abbey in Sint-Andries, Bruges, Belgium, which was destroyed in the French Revolution. Its modern successor St. Andrew's Abbey, Zevenkerken, founded in 1899–1900, is a Benedictine abbey of the Congregation of the Annunciation.
The Emmaus Monastery, called Na Slovanech in the Middle Ages, is a Benedictine abbey established in 1347 in Prague.
