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St. Gregory's Abbey is an American monastic community of men living under the Rule of St. Benedict within the Episcopal Church. The abbey is located near Three Rivers in St. Joseph County, Michigan.
In 1935, Rolland F. Severance and the Rev. Trevor Bacon joined a group of American Episcopalians who went to England to be trained by the Anglican Benedictines of Nashdom Abbey in Buckinghamshire. Severance was a professor of apologetics at Nashotah House, an Episcopal seminary. Canon Vivian A. Peterson, rector of St. James Anglican Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio, raised funds to sponsor their studies.
Severance and Bacon returned to the US, and became life-professed monks; Severance taking the name Dom Paul, and Bacon taking Dom Francis. In 1939 they formed St. Gregory's House in Valparaiso, Indiana. [1]
The monks initially gained their living by taking charge of three mission churches in Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana under Bishop Campbell Gray. The three missions were: St. Stephen's in Hobart, St. Andrew's in Valparaiso and St. Augustine's Episcopal Church (Gary, Indiana). [2] The monks published a newsletter titled "Benedicite".
In 1946, the Abbot of Nashdom House advised them that as the community was relatively new, the monks needed to leave parish ministry to focus more on the monastic life. They moved to a farm near Three Rivers, Michigan; and the community grew considerably under the leadership of Dom Paul Severance. the cornerstone of the first priory building, the chapel, was laid on 20 October 1950. [1]
For 30 years, the monastery was a dependency of Nashdom Abbey and relied on the careful shepherding of its abbots. In 1969 St. Gregory's became an independent abbey, and the community's prior, Benedict Reid, was elected first abbot. In 1989, Andrew Marr was elected as his successor. [3]
The center of the monastery’s life is the Abbey Church. The monks gather seven times a day in the church for the liturgy of the hours and Eucharist. Work, study and prayer are the main activities, with prayer being the most important. The conventual Eucharist is the center of each day. In the past, the monastery celebrated the Tridentine Mass in Latin, but Mass is now celebrated from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and with the celebrant facing the congregation.
The monastery housework is done by the monks. This includes a good deal of outside work such as landscaping, gardening, and grounds maintenance. [4]
There are classes for the monks, correspondence to answer, sermons, retreats, and special ministries to prepare for. Community members occasionally minister in parish churches and other religious houses, and retreats conducted at the abbey. The abbey has two guesthouses, and a cottage for guest stays of two days to one week. [5] The frequency of external activities incidental to the normal life of a monk is regulated by the necessity of preserving Benedictine life. [6]
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.
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (80 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, 2 kilometres west of Cassino and at an elevation of 520 m (1,710 ft). Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first house of the Benedictine Order, having been established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529. It was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed.
A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their founders, and have a document describing their lifestyle called a rule of life. Such orders exist in many of the world's religions.
A monk 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 religions and in philosophy.
Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός, itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.
Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged 11 to 18. Both the abbey and the school are at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, between Westfield and Shepton Mallet in Somerset, South West England. In 2020, the monastic community of Downside Abbey was home to fifteen monks. In 2022, the community moved to Devon.
The Abbey of Our Lady, Help of Christians, commonly known as Worth Abbey, is a community of Roman Catholic monks who follow the Rule of St Benedict near Turners Hill village, in West Sussex, England. Founded in 1933, the abbey is part of the English Benedictine Congregation. As of 2020, the monastic community had 21 monks.
The English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) is a congregation of autonomous abbatial and prioral monastic communities of Catholic Benedictine monks, nuns, and lay oblates. It is technically the oldest of the nineteen congregations affiliated to the Benedictine Confederation.
Quarr Abbey is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor". It belongs to the Catholic Order of St Benedict.
George Eglinton Alston Dix, known as Gregory Dix, was a British monk and priest of Nashdom Abbey, an Anglican Benedictine community. He was a noted liturgical scholar whose work had particular influence on the reform of Anglican liturgy in the mid-20th century.
Saint John's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Collegeville Township, Minnesota, United States, affiliated with the American-Cassinese Congregation. The abbey was established following the arrival in the area of monks from Saint Vincent Archabbey in Pennsylvania in 1856. Saint John's is one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in the Western Hemisphere, with 110 professed monks. The Right Reverend Fr. Doug Mullin, OSB, serves as the eleventh abbot.
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.
The Order of the Holy Cross is an international Anglican monastic order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict.
There are a number of Benedictine Anglican religious orders, some of them using the name Order of St. Benedict (OSB). Just like their Roman Catholic counterparts, each abbey/priory/convent is independent of each other. The vows are not made to an order, but to a local incarnation of the order, hence each individual order is free to develop its own character and charism, yet each under a common rule of life after the precepts of St. Benedict. Most of the communities include a confraternity of oblates. The order consists of a number of independent communities.
The Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Louis is an abbey of the Catholic English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) located in Creve Coeur, in St. Louis County, Missouri in the United States. The Abbey is an important presence in the spiritual life of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The monks of the Abbey live their faith according to the Benedictine discipline of 'prayer and work', praying the Divine Office five times daily, celebrating daily Masses in English and Latin, and working in the two parishes under their pastoral care and in the Saint Louis Priory School, which the Abbey runs as an apostolate. The Abbey and its school sit on a 150-acre (0.61 km2) campus in west St. Louis County, in the city of Creve Coeur.
Chevetogne Abbey, also known as the Monastery of the Holy Cross, is a Catholic Benedictine monastery dedicated to Christian unity located in the Belgian village of Chevetogne in the municipality of Ciney, province of Namur, halfway between Brussels and Luxembourg. Currently, the monastery has 27 monks.
Caldey Abbey is an abbey of the Trappists situated on Caldey Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of Tenby.
The Subiaco Cassinese Congregation is an international union of Benedictine houses within the Benedictine Confederation. It developed from the Subiaco Congregation, which was formed in 1867 through the initiative of Dom Pietro Casaretto, O.S.B., as a reform of the way of life of monasteries of the Cassinese Congregation, formed in 1408, toward a stricter contemplative observance, and received final approval in 1872 by Pope Pius IX. After discussions between the two congregations at the start of the 21st century, approval was given by Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 for the incorporation of the Cassinese Congregation into its offshoot, the Subiaco Congregation. The expanded congregation was given this new name.
The Abbey of St. Maurice and St. Maurus of Clervaux, founded in 1890, is a Benedictine monastery in Clervaux, Luxembourg. It is a member of the Solesmes Congregation in the Benedictine Confederation.
Nashdom, also known as Nashdom Abbey, is a former country house and former Anglican Benedictine abbey in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed in Neo-Georgian style by architect Edwin Lutyens, it is a Grade II* listed building. It was converted into apartments in 1997. The gardens are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Wells, Wallace L.; "Prayerful and Militant", The Living Church , 1960
