The Benedictines in Minnesota
Between 1854 and 1857 many Catholics came to the United States from Germany and settled in Central Minnesota at Saint Cloud and in the Sauk Valley; their religious and educational needs were met by the Benedictines. The Benedictine Order and Rule were established at Monte Cassino, Italy, in 529, and spread far beyond. In the 1840s Boniface Wimmer, a monk at the Abbey of Metten in Bavaria, promoted mission work in the United States, established a monastery in Pennsylvania where he became the first American Benedictine abbot, and subsequently became an important figure in the creation of Saint John’s Abbey and University. In the 1850s Benedicta Riepp, a nun from Saint Walburg Abbey in Eichstatt, Bavaria, spearheaded the movement of Benedictine sisters from Saint Marys, Pennsylvania, to central Minnesota where they founded Saint Benedict’s Monastery and eventually, the College of St. Benedict. Both the Benedictine monks and the nuns of the Order of Saint Benedict, originally from Bavaria arrived in the Saint Cloud area from Pennsylvania in the 1850s. By the mid 1860s they had moved to their present locations, the nuns to Saint Joseph and the monks to Collegeville. These institutions have preserved excellent late 19th and early 20th century buildings which possess historic integrity and importance. Saint John’s also preserves several buildings designed by internationally known architect, Marcel Breuer, including the famous church.
The Benedictines of Minnesota have established high reputations though their many services to humanity for nearly a century and a half. They created important academies, schools of higher education, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the aged, and missions which extend beyond Minnesota to distant parts of the country and world. In addition, they are pioneers in establishing public radio, the liturgical and ecumenical movements, pastoral work, educational publishing, arts and crafts, and the development of a world-renowned library.
Submitted by @s_despiegelaere