St. Benedict Abbey is a

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 ...

monastery in the village of Still River in

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is known for being centered on praying the Divine Office and the Novus Ordo Missae in Latin.''A Guide to Religious Ministries for Catholic Men and Women'', 31st Annual Edition, #MO33

History

Its predecessor, the Saint Benedict Center began in 1941 as a student center in an old furniture store in

Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue (Boston), Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, C ...

on the corner of Bow and Arrow Streets, just a half a block from the

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard is the oldest and among the most prominent parts of the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The yard has a historic center and modern crossroads and contains List of Harvard College freshman dormitories, most ...

. It was directly across the street from the Romanesque front porch of St. Paul Church, Cambridge's renowned "university church". The three original founders were Catherine Goddard Clarke, Avery Dulles (then a Harvard Law student), and Christopher Huntington, a Harvard dean. Catherine Clarke went on to help found the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Avery Dulles entered the Jesuit Order and later became a

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, and Christopher Huntington became a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York. Fr. Leonard Feeney later became the head of the Saint Benedict Center. The center was engaged in controversy with the Church over his interpretation of '' extra ecclesiam nulla salus'' (referred to as Feeneyism, meaning "outside the Church there is no salvation") which led to a lack of clarity regarding the center's status in the

Catholic Church 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 ...

. Under the direction of Feeney, Clarke and others organized into a religious community called the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In January 1958, the group moved from Cambridge to the town of Harvard. Differences in governance ultimately led to most of the Brothers becoming Benedictines and most of the Sisters reorganizing as the Sisters of Saint Benedict Center, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Canonical recognition

The brothers' community gained canonical recognition as a

Pious Union Pious may refer to: * Farshad Pious (born 1962), Iranian retired footballer * Minerva Pious (1903–1979), American actress * Robert Pious (1908–1983), American painter and illustrator * Pious (novel), ''Pious'' (novel), a 2010 novel by Kenn Biv ...

in 1975 and a

Priory dependent on the Swiss-American Congregation in 1980. The Priory became independent in 1990. In 1993, the Priory became a full-fledged

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

and the monks elected the Right Reverend Gabriel Gibbs, OSB, as first abbot.Abbot Gabriel Official Obituary
, accessed 2010-11-23. The Saint Benedict Abbey follows the Benedictine Rule and is governed by the Benedictine Confederation.

Abbots of St. Benedict Abbey

# Right Reverend Gabriel Gibbs, OSB (1993–2010) # Right Reverend Xavier Connelly, OSB (2010–2021) # Right Reverend Marc Crilly, OSB (2021–present)

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.abbey.org Benedictine monasteries in the United States Roman Catholic churches in Massachusetts Catholic Church in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Harvard, Massachusetts Communities using the Tridentine Mass

History

Canonical recognition

Abbots of St. Benedict Abbey

See also

References

External links