Waegwan Abbey

Waegwan Abbey

Location within South Korea
Monastery information
Other names	St Maurus and St Placidus Abbey
Order	Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien, Order of Saint Benedict
Established	1952
Dedicated to	St Maurus and St Placidus
Diocese	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Daegu
People
Founder(s)	Fr Timothy Bitterli, OSB
Abbot	Blasio Park
Prior	Gregorio Lee
Site
Location	Waegwan, Chilgok, North Gyeongsang, South Korea
Coordinates	35°59′20″N 128°24′12″E / 35.988832°N 128.403246°E / 35.988832; 128.403246Coordinates: 35°59′20″N 128°24′12″E / 35.988832°N 128.403246°E / 35.988832; 128.403246

St Maurus and St Placidus Abbey, Waegwan, Chilgok, North Gyeongsang, South Korea is a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien. Established in 1952 by Korean monks who had survived the dissolution of St Benedict's Abbey, Tokwon, and Holy Cross Abbey, Yanji, the monastery is currently home to 131 monks. Abbot Fr Blasio Park is the community's superior.

With the rise of Communism in China and North Korea, the monasteries of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien in Tokwon and Yanji were dissolved. A number of the monks — Germans, Koreans, and Swiss — were interned in labour camps, where some were executed. Twenty-six surviving Korean monks fled to South Korea. Upon hearing that they had formed a nascent monastic community in Busan, Archabbot Chrysostomus Schmid of St Ottilien ordered Fr Timothy Bitterli, a Swiss Missionary Benedictine who at the time resided at St Paul's Abbey, Newton, to relocate to South Korea in order to assist the community of Korean monks.