Digos Conventual Priory

In 1981, Bishop Generoso Camiña of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Digos asked Archabbot Notker Wolf to establish a monastery of Missionary Benedictines on the island of Mindanao. Archabbot Wolf visited Digos in the autumn of that year, and then submitted a report to the Council of the Congregation. The Council decided that a foundation should be made, to be under the authority of the Council itself rather than a particular monastery of the Congregation.

However, the Council's decision did not meet with unanimous approval among Missionary Benedictine monks. Some monks voiced concern over the declining numbers of monks in European monasteries, questioning whether a foundation in the Philippines, not an area traditionally served by the Missionary Benedictines, was prudent. Additionally, Mindanao's tumultuous political situation provided further reason for concern.[1]

Despite these questions, the planned foundation proceeded. In autumn 1982, Odo Haas, Abbot Emeritus of St Maurus and St Placidus Abbey, Waegwan, and two other Missionary Benedictine monks arrived in Digos. This initial team was soon joined by two Korean monks. Such a combination presented the first occasion in which monks from a European "mother abbey" and monks from a mother abbey's foundation worked together to establish a new monastic community.

St Benedict's Monastery was opened on July 11, 1983. The first facilities included a church, a guesthouse, a retreat center, and a cloister that could accommodate twelve monks. On May 20, 1986, the church was consecrated by Bishop Camiña. The Bishop of Digos was accompanied by Archbishop Antonio Lloren Mabutas of Davao and Bishop Patricio Hacbang Alo of Mati, who expressed their hope that the presence of the Missionary Benedictines would spread throughout Mindanao.

For the young community, Bishop Camiña envisioned the performance of extraordinary pastoral work, to include the preaching of retreats and the provision of adult catechesis. The monks themselves wanted to maintain a peaceful monastery that could provide a location for Christians to deepen their faith, while at the same time obliging Bishop Camiña's wishes inasmuch as these did not conflict with a life in accordance with the Rule of Benedict. Further, the monks began agricultural operations on their 28ha in an effort to establish a regular income for the monastery.

The combination of Korean and German monks, living together in monastic community, encouraged local vocations, which could have been stunted by a culturally homogeneous monastic community. The community began to recruit local vocations in 1984. By 1988, four monks had professed temporal vows; two of these made solemn profession in 1991. The growing numbers of the community contributed to the monks' primary apostolate, retreat work.[2]

On July 11, 1989, exactly seven years since its foundation, St Benedict's Monastery was raised to the status of a simple priory, still under the authority of the Council of the Congregation. Seven years later, on July 11, 1996, the monastery became a conventual priory, gaining independent status.[3]