Saint Vincent Archabbey

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Saint Vincent Archabbey
Saint Vincent Archabbey Coat of Arms.svg
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Location within Pennsylvania
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Saint Vincent Archabbey (the United States)
Monastery information
Order Benedictine
EstablishedOctober 24, 1846
Mother house Metten Abbey (Founded 766)
Diocese Diocese of Greensburg
People
Founder(s) Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B.
Abbot Rt. Rev. Martin Bartel, O.S.B.
Prior Rev. Killian Loch, O.S.B.
Site
Location Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates 40°17′34″N79°24′03″W / 40.29278°N 79.40083°W / 40.29278; -79.40083
Public accessYes
Website www.saintvincentarchabbey.org

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 the Western Hemisphere. The shrine is dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul.

Contents

Pope Pius XI raised the monastery church to the status of a Minor basilica via his decree Quasi fons lucis on 25 August 1955.

Activities

The Benedictine monks of Saint Vincent operate and teach at Saint Vincent Basilica Parish, Saint Vincent College, and Saint Vincent Seminary. The monks also provide pastoral care for Catholics in the dioceses of Baltimore, Greensburg, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Altoona-Johnstown, and Richmond. The monks also run a military school from the Savannah Priory in Savannah, Georgia (Benedictine Military School). [1] The archabbey also oversees Wimmer Priory in Taiwan, and Saint Benedict Priory in Brazil. [2]

The original abbey structures, including the present church, were designed by the German-American architect J. William Schickel and built between 1891 and 1905. The archabbey church was dedicated by bishop Regis Canevin of Pittsburgh on August 24, 1905 [3] and declared a minor basilica by Pius XII on the same date in 1955. [4]

The monks operate St. Vincent Archabbey Gristmill, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [5]

Monks from the abbey founded Newark Abbey (Newark, New Jersey) (founded as St Mary's), Saint John's Abbey (Collegeville, Minnesota), Saint Bernard Abbey (Cullman, Alabama), Saint Benedict Abbey (Atchison, Kansas), Saint Mary's Abbey (Morristown, New Jersey), Saint Bede Abbey (Peru, Illinois), Saint Procopius Abbey (Lisle, Illinois), and Mary Help of Christians Abbey (Belmont, North Carolina).

HPIM1337.jpg
Saint Vincent's Basilica Panorama

Leadership

The current archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey is Martin de Porres Bartel, who was elected by the monastic community on June 23, 2020. He is the twelfth archabbot of Saint Vincent. Bartel succeeded the Rt. Rev. Douglas R. Nowicki.

Over its almost 200 years of existence, the archabbey has had twelve archabbots:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Robert Nowicki</span> 20th and 21st-century American Benedictine abbot and priest

Douglas Robert Nowicki is an American Benedictine monk and Catholic priest. From 1991 to 2020, he served as the 11th Archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and by extension, the Chancellor of Saint Vincent College and the Chancellor of Saint Vincent Seminary. Nowicki became solemnly professed on July 11, 1966 and was ordained a priest on May 21, 1972. He served the monastic community and the Diocese of Pittsburgh in various capacities before his election as archabbot in 1991.

The Benedictine Priory of Savannah is a Catholic monastery of Benedictine monks located in Savannah, Georgia. The priory was founded in 1877, and is a dependency of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and thereby belongs to the American-Cassinese Congregation. It currently operates the Benedictine Military School for boys.

The Benedictines Sisters of Elk County were a religious congregation established in Marienstadt, Pennsylvania in 1852 by three sisters from Saint Walburge Abbey in Bavaria. There they established St. Joseph Monastery, the first convent of Benedictine Sisters in North America. They opened a school for girls, St. Benedict Academy, and in 1933 expanded their apostolate into healthcare, becoming the owner and operator of Andrew Kaul Memorial Hospital in St. Marys.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Bartel</span> American monk and priest (born 1955)

Martin de Porres Bartel is an American Benedictine monk and Catholic priest, elected in 2020 to serve as the twelfth Archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leander Schnerr</span> German-American Catholic priest and Benedictine monk (1836–1920)

Leander Schnerr was a German-American Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who served as the archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey and president of Saint Vincent College from 1892 to 1920. Before being elected archabbot, he had a career as a priest serving German-speaking parishes in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Vincent Beer</span> Beer brewed by monks in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Saint Vincent Beer was a dark lager brewed by monks at Saint Vincent Archabbey in Unity Township, Pennsylvania, United States, between 1856 and 1918. Pope Pius IX granted the monks permission to brew in 1852, ending a dispute with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. The brewery was located in a log cabin near the Saint Vincent Archabbey Gristmill and a brick building supplemented the cabin in 1868. After production ceased, the monastery used the buildings for storage until they burned down in 1926. The walls were removed from the site in 1995 during the restoration of the gristmill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Hintenach</span> Archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey

Andrew Hintenach, OSB was a German-born Catholic monk who served as the second archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania from 1888 to 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurelius Stehle</span> American Catholic Benedictine priest

Aurelius Aloysius Stehle, OSB was an American Catholic Benedictine priest and fourth archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

References

  1. Moody, Chuck. "Benedictine Fathers continue rich, historic tradition". Pittsburgh Catholic. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014.
  2. "Directory of Independent Monasteries and their Dependent Houses".
  3. "Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica: One Hundred Years | Article Archive". www.sacredarchitecture.org. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  4. Pius XII, Pope (August 24, 1955). "AD TITULUM ET DIGNITATEM BASILICAE MINORIS EVEHITUR TEMPLUM S. VINCENTII A PAULO, APUD LATROBE DIOECESIS GREENSBURGENSIS EXSTANS" (PDF). Acta Apostolicae Sedis . 607.
  5. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
Additional sources