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The Benedictine Order in the United States
By the early part of the nineteenth century, political forces had reduced Benedictine houses on the European continent to their lowest numbers in over a millennium. At the century's close, however, the Order was enjoying a glorious springtime. This growth was nowhere more vigorous than in North America, where, beginning in 1846, an ever-increasing number of Benedictine men and women arrived to minister to the German-speaking immigrants. These monastic missionaries would carry Benedictine ideals across the frontier, providing a leaven for a growing American Catholic Church.Father Joel Rippinger's account of monastic life in the United States in the last 150 years is as rich and varied as the Benedictine tradition itself. While individual monasteries and convents have left written records of their own history, Father Rippinger's particular contribution lies in weaving those various strands into their religious, social, political, and cultural context. The resulting synthesis is a valuable addition to the literature not only of the Benedictine Order but also of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Joel Rippinger, O.S.B., a monk of Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois, received his M.A. in American History from the University of Notre Dame in 1971 and his S.T.L. in Monastic Studies from the Pontifical University of Sant'Anselmo, Rome, in 1976. He has taught in schools operated by his monastic community in Aurora and in Guatemala and has written numerous articles on monastic history and spirituality.
Illustrated.