Subiaco Abbey (Arkansas)

In 1877, the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad (LR&FS) owned thousands of open acres that it wished to settle. Deciding to offer land only to German Catholics, the company approached the Abbot of St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, Martin Marty, O.S.B., with an offer for the establishment of a monastery and school to serve the German population it was bringing into the region.[1] The abbot negotiated with an agent of the railroad of a grant of 640 acres (2.6 km²) for the establishment of a Benedictine monastery for monks and an additional 100 acres (0.40 km²) for the foundation of a monastery for Benedictine nuns. This agreement received the support of Bishop Edward Fitzgerald, Bishop of Little Rock, who was in need of German-speaking priests for his diocese.

The original foundation was made on March 15, 1878, upon the arrival of three monk-missionaries from St. Meinrad Archabbey, Father Wolfgang Schlumpf, O.S.B., Brother Kaspar Hildesheim, O.S.B., and Brother Hilarin Benetz, O.S.B.. The foundation was named St. Benedict's Priory. Due to financial and personnel difficulties, St. Meinrad requested assistance. In the fall of 1887, its own founding monastery, Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland, responding to appeals from the foundation in Arkansas, sent Fr. Gaul D'Aujourd'hui with eight candidates for the monastery, who became known in the tradition as the Eight Beatitudes.

In 1886 the monastery was raised to a conventual priory, independent of St. Meinrad Archabbey, and in 1891 was named an abbey by Pope Leo XIII, receiving the name Subiaco Abbey in honor of St. Benedict's original monastery in Subiaco, Italy. The first abbot, Ignatius Conrad, O.S.B., a monk of Einsiedeln who was serving in Missouri, was elected in March 1892. Under his leadership, construction of a new abbey, made from local sandstone, was begun in 1898. In December 1901, just as the construction was nearing completion, the original wooden abbey, located about a mile away, burned to the ground and the monks transferred to the current site. This building was gutted by fire in 1927 and rebuilt. The third Abbot of Subiaco, Paul Nahlen, O.S.B., obtained Pope Pius XII's blessing for the construction of the present church on the campus. The church was completed in 1959.[1] This act is depicted in one of the 182 stained-glass windows in St. Benedict Abbey Church.

Over the years, the Benedictine monks at Subiaco have pursued various spiritual, agricultural, and commercial endeavors. First were missionary works, then the establishment of Subiaco Academy, a university-preparatory school. In 1927, Subiaco Abbey took its first step in establishing what would become Corpus Christi Abbey in Corpus Christi, Texas, until its closure in 2002. An overseas foundation was made in 1964 in Nigeria, but had to be closed in 1968, due to the Biafran War. A subsequent foundation, Santa Familia Priory, was made in Belize in 1971 and closed in 2002.[1]

1. Rt. Rev. Ignatius Conrad, O.S.B. (1892-1926)
2. Rt. Rev. Edward Burgert, O.S.B. (1926–1939)
3. Rt. Rev. Paul Nahlen, O.S.B. (1939-1957)
4. Rt. Rev. Michael Lensing, O.S.B. (1957–1974)
5. Rt. Rev. Raphael DeSalvo, O.S.B. (1974–1989)
6. Rt. Rev. Jerome Kodell, O.S.B. (1989–2015)
7. Rt. Rev. Leonard Wangler, O.S.B. (2015–present)

The abbey pursues the commercial cultivation of grapes and other fruits, cattle feed crops (hay), and stands of timber.

The abbey maintains an electronic commerce website where products made at the abbey are sold. They include rosaries, cremation urns, candles, woodwork, soap, calligraphy, and books. Their primary products are candy (peanut brittle) and a habanero hot sauce termed "Monk Sauce".

For decades, the abbey maintained a dairy operation, but that effort was abandoned in 1964 with an open auction of the dairy cattle. Beginning in 1999, the abbey decided to make another attempt and began raising a registered herd of black Angus cattle, starting with cattle donations from local ranchers. The quality of the herd is carefully controlled with a program of artificial insemination. In 2001, the cattle operation became one of the first to begin a program of ultrasound of pregnant cattle, which enabled close monitoring of the breeding program and the quick sale of bulls. The program reached a milestone in January, 2005, with the first sale of registered Angus cattle, bringing an average price of more than $5500 per animal. In 2018, the cattle operation was leased out to a local farm family, but continues on the property.

In 2018, the Abbey began a craft beer brewery, CountryMonks Brewing, and sells various brews on Saturdays at their Taproom located on the Subiaco Property.

Subiaco provides accommodation for friends of the abbey, family members of academy students, and in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, anyone who comes in peace. Visitor accommodations are made at the Coury House Retreat Center, an hotel-like establishment on the campus that provides room and board to visitors—including married couples—who wish to experience the spiritual renewal and solitude of the Subiaco Abbey and campus.

Subiaco Academy is a boarding/day school of Catholic tradition for any qualified young man in grades 7 through 12. It offers college preparatory classes, with co-curricular activities including sports, arts, and music and outdoor activities including hiking, camping, fishing, swimming, boating, water skiing, and kayaking. The Academy's stated goal is to form each student in "faith, scholarship, character and brotherhood."

David Wright, Ed.D., was appointed in 2018 as the new Subiaco Academy Headmaster. He was previously Assistant Vice-President and Athletic Director of Gettysburg College.[2] In 2019 he instituted a new “Parallel Curriculum” within the Academy to focus on “integrity-based and socially responsible leadership.”[3]

Great Big Story, a media company of CNN, produced a segment on the Hot Sauce operations of the Abbey.[6] American Angus Association produced a segment on the Angus Farm operations of the Abbey.[7] KTHV, a media company in Little Rock, AR, produced a segment on the new CountryMonks Brewing and the Hot Sauce operations of the Abbey.[8]

On September 10, 2018 the Little Rock diocese released a report disclosing the names of clergy who at some time served in Arkansas and who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse.[9] On January 24, 2020 the Abbey of Subiaco released a report disclosing the names of three deceased monks with established allegations of abuse: Nicholas Fuhrmann, Francis Zimmerer, and Patrick Hannon. Two additional deceased monks were listed as "Of Note": Fr. Timothy Donnelly for "multiple incidents of inappropriate touching" and Fr. Bede Mitchel as a "credible allegation of abuse" by the Diocese of Fort Worth (TX) of which neither Subiaco Abbey nor a third party independent investigator could find any evidence. A criminal investigation is still pending on a former monk, Fr. Jeremy Myers, who left Subiaco Abbey to become a diocesan priest in the Diocese of Dallas (TX) in 1991.[10]

• Subiaco, Italy (the city)
• Subiaco Abbey, Italy
• Einsiedeln Abbey
• St. Meinrad Archabbey

• Subiaco Abbey and Academy homepage
• Subiaco Abbey Online Store
• "Guide to the New Subiaco Abbey Postcard and Prayer Card Collection", Collection of postcards depicting New Subiaco Abbey in Subiaco, Arkansas, housed in the University of Dayton's U.S. Catholic Special Collection.