Overview

An inspiring narrative history of the oldest congregation of Benedictine monasteries in the United States.   Commissioned by the American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, Schools for the Lord’s Service is a comprehensive narrative history of the oldest congregation of Benedictine monasteries in the United States. In vivid detail, it describes how monasteries of the American-Cassinese Congregation initiated monastic life in North America according to the Rule of St. Benedict and how, in doing so, they have engaged for nearly 170 years with the American Catholic Church, the global Benedictine Order, the Holy See, and American society. Following a Benedictine tradition that stretches back to the early Middle Ages, American-Cassinese monks spread out from Pennsylvania to establish monasteries throughout the United States. Led by Boniface Wimmer, a visionary monk from the Bavarian abbey of Metten, the Benedictines introduced monastic observance according to the Rule of St. Benedict in these monasteries, and from them they founded missions, parishes, and schools where they continue to carry on pastoral, educational, and missionary apostolates in the service of the people of God. Comprised of twenty-five monasteries located in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Taiwan, the legacy and spirit of the American-Cassinese Benedictines continues to reinforce and complement the words of Abbot Boniface Wimmer who constantly exhorted his Benedictine brothers and sisters, “Forward, always forward.”

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Reviews

"""A fitting culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the story of the Benedictines of the American Cassinese Congregation, Jerome Oetgen has provided a comprehensive narrative of that story, bringing it up and through the pandemic of 2020. From Boniface Wimmer and pioneer beginnings to the third millennium, the reader can take in a penetrating and sensitive study of the Benedictine charism's many historical expressions within the largest congregation of American Benedictine monks."" Abbot Joel Rippinger, OSB, Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois-- (7/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)"

""Jerome Oetgen has taken hundreds of pieces of information I knew and thousands I didn't and incorporated them into a coherent and fascinating narrative. He tells the story of what was for many decades the largest congregation of Benedictine monks straightforwardly, situating its early and sustained expansion and recent rapid contraction in the history of Catholic Church and American society. No one could have done it better."" Hugh Feiss, OSB, Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, Idaho -- (7/8/2024 12:00:00 AM) ""Historian Jerome Oetgen has contributed a scholarly and detailed account of the Benedictine order in the United States from 1855 until the present. For a Franciscan, this story of monasticism creatively lived out in active missionary work is nothing short of astounding."" Father Joseph Nangle, OFM, Assisi Community, Washington, DC-- (7/29/2024 12:00:00 AM) ""In this tour de force, Jerome Oetgen deftly weaves together monk biographies, the histories of over two dozen monasteries, the stories of Benedictine colleges and secondary schools, the development of congregational constitutions and statutes, general chapter proceedings, and narratives of some of the most important events in American, American Catholic, and American Benedictine history to tell the story of the first 170 years of the American-Cassinese Congregation. This should be required reading for anyone studying American Benedictine history and will be engaging reading for all those who live monastic life."" Sr. Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB, Editor, American Benedictine Review-- (7/25/2024 12:00:00 AM) ""A fitting culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the story of the Benedictines of the American Cassinese Congregation, Jerome Oetgen has provided a comprehensive narrative of that story, bringing it up and through the pandemic of 2020. From Boniface Wimmer and pioneer beginnings to the third millennium, the reader can take in a penetrating and sensitive study of the Benedictine charism's many historical expressions within the largest congregation of American Benedictine monks."" Abbot Joel Rippinger, OSB, Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois-- (7/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)

"""Jerome Oetgen has taken hundreds of pieces of information I knew and thousands I didn't and incorporated them into a coherent and fascinating narrative. He tells the story of what was for many decades the largest congregation of Benedictine monks straightforwardly, situating its early and sustained expansion and recent rapid contraction in the history of Catholic Church and American society. No one could have done it better."" Hugh Feiss, OSB -- (7/8/2024 12:00:00 AM) ""A fitting culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the story of the Benedictines of the American Cassinese Congregation, Jerome Oetgen has provided a comprehensive narrative of that story, bringing it up and through the pandemic of 2020. From Boniface Wimmer and pioneer beginnings to the third millennium, the reader can take in a penetrating and sensitive study of the Benedictine charism's many historical expressions within the largest congregation of American Benedictine monks."" Abbot Joel Rippinger, OSB, Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois-- (7/1/2024 12:00:00 AM)"

Author Information

Jerome Oetgen is author of An American Abbot: Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., 1809–1887;, Mission to America: A History of Saint Vincent Archabbey, the First Benedictine Monastery in the United States; and Always Forward: A History of Saint Vincent Archabbey, 1949–2020. He is also editor of Boniface Wimmer: Letters of an American Abbot. Educated from an early age by the Benedictines, Oetgen is a graduate of St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania and holds an MDiv from St. Vincent Seminary, an MA from the University of North Carolina, and a PhD from the University of Toronto. A retired senior foreign service officer, he served at United States embassies in Italy, Spain, Ecuador, Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Haiti. He currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.

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