page_title: St. Meinrad Archabbey
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St. Meinrad Archabbey / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Meinrad Arch Abbey
context_page_description: Saint Meinrad Archabbey is a Roman Catholic monastery in Spencer County, Indiana, USA, was founded by monks from Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland on March 21, 1854, and is home to approximately 85 monks. The abbey is named for St. Meinrad, a monk who died in 861. It is one of only two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world. The abbey is located approximately 15 minutes from Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana. Immaculate Conception is for Benedictine women. Because of the presence of the Archabbey, Harrison Township is located within the Archdiocese of Indianapolis instead the Diocese of Evansville, like the rest of Spencer County.
  The Benedictine community at Saint Meinrad consists of men who dedicate their lives to prayer and work. They gather in community five times a day—for morning prayer, Mass, noon prayer, evening prayer and compline—to pray for the Church and the world. Guests often join the monks in prayer in the Archabbey Church.
context_section_description: The monks came to southern Indiana at the request of a local priest (Fr. Joseph Kundek) for assistance in addressing the pastoral needs of the growing German-speaking Catholic population and to prepare local men to be priests. St. Meinrad became an abbey in 1870, with Martin Marty as abbot and Fintan Mundwiler as prior. Saint Meinrad now operates a graduate school of theology and has more than a score of its monks in parish work, chaplaincies, and diocesan assignments.
  Shortly after arriving in Indiana, the Benedictines began offering high school courses to local youths. In 1861, the monks expanded their general courses to include undergraduate courses in philosophy and theology. Through these programs, the monks of Saint Meinrad began their mission, which continues today: preparing men for service in the Church as priests. The undergraduate degree program, St. Meinrad College, closed in 1998, despite the fact that it began admitting men who were not seeking the priesthood, and had considered admitting women.
  In 1877, the Abbot of Saint Meinrad Abbey, Martin Marty, negotiated with an agent of the LR&FS Railroad Company, for land to establish a Benedictine monastery in northern Arkansas. The Subiaco Abbey and Academy was founded on March 15, 1878, upon the arrival of three monk-missionaries from Saint Meinrad Abbey.
  In 1889, a group of monks left from St. Meinrad Abbey to travel to the Archdiocese of New Orleans. They came with an invitation from the Archbishop there to found a college seminary to train local vocations. The monks founded Saint Joseph Abbey, located in Saint Benedict, near Covington, Louisiana, north of New Orleans. Saint Joseph Abbey is now the home of a total of 48 monks who run Saint Joseph Seminary College, and a number of other ministries around the Diocese.
  In 1933, Saint Meinrad founded Marmion Abbey in Aurora, IL and in 1950 Blue Cloud Abbey near Marvin, South Dakota. Then, in 1958, the monks of Saint Meinrad founded Prince of Peace Abbey in Oceanside, CA. Blue Cloud Abbey was founded in order to serve the local Native American population. Due to declining numbers and an aging population, Blue Cloud was closed by its remaining members in 2012. Prince of Peace and Marmion abbeys continue to operate.
  In 1954 St. Meinrad Abbey was elevated to Archabbey by the Holy See.
caption: Archabbey Church
exif: {}