Subiaco Abbey, originally called St. Benedict Priory, is a member of the
Swiss-American Congregation (group of monasteries) of the world-wide
Benedictine Confederation. Subiaco was founded by three monks of
St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana:
Fr. Wolfgang Schlumpf, Br. Kaspar Hildesheim
and Br. Hilarin Benetz, and soon "adopted" by the motherhouse of
St. Meinrad, the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln
in Switzerland. In November,
1877, an offer of land for a new Benedictine foundation in Arkansas was
made to Abbot Martin Marty of St. Meinrad Abbey by the Little Rock-Fort
Smith Railroad Company. The monks of this new foundation were to
minister to the German-Catholic settlers coming to the western Arkansas
River Valley. On March 15, 1878, the three founding monks arrived in
Logan County to begin the new Benedictine enterprise. Gradually the
little community grew as new members, largely from Switzerland and later
from the U.S. came to help in the work.
Abbot Ignatius Conrad
In 1891, Pope Leo XIII raised St. Benedict Priory to the rank of an
abbey, with the name Subiaco (the place in Italy where St. Benedict
began life as a hermit). In March, 1892, the first abbot was elected, Fr.
Ignatius Conrad, a monk of Einsiedeln Abbey, who was working in
Missouri.
In 1898, work was begun on a new abbey in the present location, built of
"Subiaco" sandstone. The original frame monastery, about a mile distant,
burned in December, 1901, by which time part of the new stone abbey was
almost ready for occupation. By now the monks had a farm, a school for
boys and many German-American parishes in Arkansas and Texas.
The second abbot, Fr. Edward Burgert, was elected in 1926 and governed
until his resignation in 1939. In 1927, the interior of the abbey was
largely destroyed by fire.
Fire of 1927
In 1939, the third abbot, Fr. Paul Nahlen, was elected. The most
important event in the 1940s and 1950s was the planning and building of
the abbey church, completed in 1959. Abbot Paul died in 1957 and Fr.
Michael Lensing became the fourth abbot. The period: 1958-1968 was a
great period of building, expansion and renovation at Subiaco. Other
important events in this decade were: the opening of Coury Guest-Retreat
House in 1963, Subiaco monks leaving to pioneer a new foundation in
Nigeria, 1964-1968 and the founding of Santa Familia Priory in Belize,
Central America in 1971 after Subiaco Abbey lost its foundation in
Nigeria due to the Biafran War. Abbot Michael Lensing resigned for
health reasons in 1974 and Fr. Raphael DeSalvo was elected fifth abbot.
The renewal and modernizing of Subiaco continued under Abbot Raphael's
leadership during the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1989 the sixth and present abbot of Subiaco, Fr. Jerome Kodell was
elected. By this time there were fewer monks and "downsizing" became
necessary in some of the traditional work of the abbey, especially
parish and school work. But other apostolates developed or continued.
Newly upgraded programs and buildings at the abbey continue the
traditional works of Benedictine monks. The main spiritual work of
monks: the public praying of the daily Divine Office (now down to four
times a day in the church), begun in November, 1883, continues each day
at Subiaco.
