Abbey cloister with a view of the Abbey Church
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Monastery information | |
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Other names | New Subiaco Abbey, St. Benedict Priory |
Order | Benedictine |
Established | March 15, 1878 |
Mother house | St. Meinrad Archabbey (1878-1887), Einsiedeln Abbey |
Dedicated to | St. Benedict of Nursia |
Diocese | Little Rock |
People | |
Founder(s) | Dom Wolfgang Schlumpf, O.S.B. |
Abbot | The Right Rev. Leonard Wangler, O.S.B. |
Prior | Bro. Edward Fischesser, O.S.B. |
Architecture | |
Status | active |
Functional Status | abbey |
Heritage designation | NRHP Ref. #78003484 |
Designated date | February 28, 1978 |
Groundbreaking | 1898 |
Completion date | 1902 |
Site | |
Coordinates | 35°18′04″N 93°38′00″W / 35.3011°N 93.6333°WCoordinates: 35°18′04″N 93°38′00″W / 35.3011°N 93.6333°W |
Website | www |
Subiaco Abbey is an American Benedictine monastery located in the Arkansas River valley of Logan County, Arkansas, part of the Swiss-American Congregation of Benedictine monasteries. The abbey and the preparatory school it operates, Subiaco Academy, are major features of the town of Subiaco, Arkansas. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and is named after the original Subiaco Abbey in Italy, the first monastery founded by Saint Benedict.
In 1877, the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad (LR&FS) owned thousands of open acres which 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. 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.