ABOUT SAINT JOSEPH ABBEY

Saint Joseph Abbey is a Benedictine community of monks located on 1,100 acres of beautiful pine forests in Saint Benedict, Louisiana. Over the past century, the Abbey has been an abiding spiritual presence in the Gulf South and has left an indelible mark on local and regional history. The Abbey has educated many of the region's civic and religious leaders, and it has founded and staffed numerous parishes in the New Orleans and Northshore areas. It has also had a significant impact on area culture by sponsoring and promoting programs in both liturgical and secular arts. And finally, Saint Joseph Abbey’s monks have remained faithful to prayer, work, and the monastic way of life.

Saint Joseph Abbey is a member of the Swiss-American Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, a network of autonomous, Roman Catholic monasteries in the United States, Canada, and Central America. Currently, the Right Reverend Justin Brown, O.S.B., former abbot of Saint Joseph Abbey, is the congregation’s Abbot President.

The monks of Saint Joseph Abbey live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Written in the 6th century by Benedict of Nursia as a guide to monastic life, it provides teaching about the basic monastic virtues of humility, silence, and obedience as well as directives for daily living. The Rule prescribes times for common prayer, meditative reading, and manual work; it legislates for the details of common living such as clothing, sleeping arrangements, food and drink, care of the sick, reception of guests, recruitment of new members, journeys away from the monastery, and more. While the Rule does not shun minute instructions, it allows the abbot to determine the particulars of common living according to his wise discretion.

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