Around the World
Benedictine Revival
Most of the monasteries of Europe that survived the Protestant Reformation were closed and expropriated during the Napoleonic era. As a result, the number of monasteries were very few at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
During the course of the 1800s, however, Benedictines experienced a revival. Some congregations, for example, the Solesmes (France) and Beuronese (Germany) Congregations, restored a kind of Benedictine monasticism that stressed the enclosed life with its round of liturgical prayer performed with great precision and splendor.
Modern Diversity
Other congregations; for example, the St. Ottilien Congregation (Bavaria) and groupings of American Benedictine women, stressed the missionary endeavors of evangelizing, teaching, and health care in the spirit of Saint Boniface, Apostle of Germany. Men and women Benedictines continued to establish new houses in many countries right up to the time of Vatican Council II (1962-1965). Since then the number of Benedictines has declined once again, at least in the First and Second World, but it has increased in other regions; for example, East Africa and South Korea.
In 1887 Pope Leo XIII, a great fan and supporter of the Benedictines, reestablished the College of Saint Anselm in Rome. It continues today as an institute for Benedictine students and others from all over the world who wish to obtain graduate degrees in philosophy, theology, liturgy, and monastic studies. The Abbot Primate resides at Saint Anselm and serves as the symbol of unity for Catholic Benedictines.
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