St. Anselm's Abbey (Washington, D.C.) | monastery, Order of Saint Benedict, catholicism

 monastery, Order of Saint Benedict, catholicism

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In the early 1920s, a group of Americans under the direction of Fr. Thomas Verner Moore purchased a tract of land on Sargent Road, and in 1923, Saint Anselm's Priory was born. The house was formed under the sponsorship of Fort Augustus Abbey in Scotland, which provided monastic training and sponsorship for the new priory. It was named after St. Anselm of Canterbury, the eleventh century archbishop and theologian best known for his ontological argument for the existence of God. Initially, the monks were housed in an old farmhouse; the first church/monastery was built on a hill above South Dakota Avenue at 14th Street in 1930. A major addition was made to the monastery building in 1960 to accommodate the growing number of monks.

In 1942, the monks opened the Priory School. As the number of monks increased, the monastery was made a conventual priory of the English Benedictine Congregation. In 1961, His Holiness Pope John XXIII elevated the Priory to the rank of Abbey. Former prior Fr. Alban Boultwood, OSB, was named the first abbot.

Presently, the Abbey is led by Abbot Aidan Shea, OSB. There are currently 16 monks in residence at the monastery, the majority of whom are involved in teaching, either at St. Anselm's Abbey School or nearby at The Catholic University of America.