The Benedictine Priory of Savannah is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

monastery of

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), 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, th ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) 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 reli ...

s located in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. The priory was founded in 1877, and is a dependency of

Saint Vincent Archabbey 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 th ...

Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe ( ) is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,060 as of the 2020 census. A part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, it is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorpo ...

, and thereby belongs to the

American-Cassinese Congregation The American-Cassinese Congregation is a Catholic association of Benedictine monasteries founded in 1855. The monasteries of the congregation follow the monastic way of life as outlined by St. Benedict of Nursia in his early 6th century ''Rule o ...

. It currently operates the

Benedictine Military School Benedictine Military School (also referred to as Benedictine or BC) is a Catholic military high school for boys located in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1902 by the Benedictine monks of Savannah Priory, which still operat ...

for boys.

History

First mission

In 1866, the Catholic bishops of the United States had met in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

for the Second Plenary Council held there to continue providing order to the Catholic Church, which was still newly established in the nation. One of the decrees which resulted from that assembly was to call on all the bishops of the country to establish an outreach to the newly emancipated

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

slaves. In keeping with this mandate, William Hickley Gross, C.Ss.R., at that time the Roman Catholic Bishop of Savannah, invited the Benedictine monks of St. Vincent Abbey in

, to contribute priests to this mission in his diocese. In response to his invitation,

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Boniface Wimmer Boniface Wimmer, (1809–1887) was a German archabbot who in 1846 founded the first Benedictine monastery in the United States, Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In 1855, Wimmer founded the American-Cassinese Congregation of ...

, O.S.B., the founder of Benedictine life in the United States, sent two German-born monks to Savannah in 1874. The monks quickly began missionary work amongst newly freed slaves, opening St. Benedict Parish in the city that year, and a

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

the following year. Soon after settling there, the monks were able to obtain some parcels of land on the Isle of Hope, off the coast of Savannah, where they opened the first monastery in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. Within a year, however, all the members of the monastic community had died of yellow fever.

Second mission

In 1877, the abbot sent a new group of monks to Georgia, under the leadership of Dom Oswald Moosmueller, O.S.B., to continue the mission to the former slaves. The monks bought 713 acres on Skidaway Island. At this site (now believed to be preserved, not part of a golf course, and is currently undergoing archaeological research) they built a new monastery and school. Unfortunately, in less than ten years, the project was abandoned as a failure because the monks could not attract enough interest among the African American community in their enterprise.

Benedictine Priory of Savannah

The ten monks of the mission, now operating under the authority of Belmont Abbey in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, made the decision to move to Savannah, where they established a monastery at 31st and Habersham Streets, adjacent to Sacred Heart Parish, which they then served. Recognizing the need for a Catholic boys' school, they established Benedictine College in 1902, later the Benedictine Military School, next to the church. In 1963, both the priory and the school moved to their current location on the southside of Savannah. Shortly after moving to the new location, the monastic community chose to return to the authority of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe.

Current status

Today the community consists of seven monks, all of whom serve on the staff of the school in various capacities. The monks also provide sacramental assistance in the Diocese of Savannah.

References