Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

s near the city of Mt. Angel, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was established in 1882 from the Abbey of Engelberg

Engelberg Abbey

Engelberg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Engelberg, Canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. It was formerly in the Diocese of Constance, but now in the Diocese of Chur...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The abbey, located on the top of Mount Angel, a 485-foot high butte, has its own post office separate from the city of Mt. Angel's—Saint Benedict

Saint Benedict, Oregon

Saint Benedict is the name of the post office at Mount Angel Abbey in Marion County, Oregon, United States.When it moved from Gervais to the town of Mt. Angel in 1884, the postal service would not allow the abbey to establish its own post office as it was less than a mile from the Mount Angel post...

. The library at the abbey was designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...

.

Mount Angel Seminary, which was originally part of the now defunct Mount Angel College, serves numerous western diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s and currently has over 200 students. The make up of the seminary population is 40% Anglo-American and 60% minorities, primarily Hispanic, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

The Seminary's main church has a tower that contains the largest free-swinging bells on the west coast.

The Seminary has two programs, for undergraduate studies and for graduate studies. The undergraduate program is devoted towards a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. However, students can opt to 'double major' in two other fields, Religious Studies or Literature. Many of the students from the undergraduate degree program continue on to study in Rome, San Francisco, Chicago, Leuven, and Washington D.C.

Mount Angel Abbey Museum

The Mount Angel Abbey Museum is a collection of assorted artifacts, including mounted animal dioramas, rocks and minerals, antique liturgical vestment

Vestment

Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...

s and religious items, and American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 memorabilia. The museum is open to the public daily.

See also

• Westminster Abbey (British Columbia)
  Westminster Abbey (British Columbia)
  Westminster Abbey is a community of Benedictine monks in Mission, British Columbia, established in 1939 from the Abbey of Mount Angel, Oregon...
  
  
• Engelberg Abbey
  Engelberg Abbey
  Engelberg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Engelberg, Canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. It was formerly in the Diocese of Constance, but now in the Diocese of Chur...
  
   The parent-abbey of Mount Angel

External links

• Mount Angel Abbey (official website)
• Photos by talkingcrow at flickr
  Flickr
  Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
  
  
• Mount Angel Abbey Museum