Mount Michael Abbey
Mount Michael Abbey
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Mount Michael Abbey

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Mount Michael Abbey

Mount Michael Abbey is a Benedictine monastery outside Elkhorn, Nebraska. It is located in the Archdiocese of Omaha. The Abbey sits within 400 acre grounds just northwest of the city. The majority of which is a mixture of cropland, pasture, and woodlands. Also on the property are the buildings of the high school (which was founded by the Abbey), multiple guest houses, barns for the farm equipment, and outdoor shrines for monks and visitors to reflect and pray. The abbey is part of the Swiss-American Congregation and traces its roots to Engelberg Abbey in Switzerland and Immaculate Conception Abbey in Missouri.

In 1942 Conception Abbey and Seminary, located in Missouri, was expanded to a 12-year institution, including a preparatory high school, a junior college, a senior college, and a school of theology. By 1950 increased enrollment and a change in focus led to the transfer of the high school division to a new Benedictine monastery. Abbot Stephen Schappler began to look for a place to which he could move the minor seminary.

In 1952 he found a host in Omaha, Archbishop Gerald T. Bergan. Abbot Stephen sent Fathers Edward Malone, Lawrence Gidley, and Daniel Schuster to Omaha NE to find a property for the new foundation. They came up short but Oblate Director Fr. Dominic Lavin began his own search. Fr. Dominic’s persistence brought him into contact with Mr. Rex Olsen, a retired journeyman who owned a Journey's End farm on the eastern edge of the Elkhorn Valley. Fr. Lavin visited Journey's End and found it to be ideal for the new foundation. After viewing the farm Fr. Lavin met with Olsen and told him that he found the site quite suitable. Olsen was initially hesitant to give up the farm but after some consultation from the bishop of Grand Island, Olsen generously donated his farm, all his equipment, and livestock. The monks accepted the property on September 29, 1952, the feast of St. Michael, and the first monks were sent to Omaha on May 14, 1953.

The first monks lived in the Olsen family farmhouse and oversaw the conversion of the property to a seminary campus. The monastery would be named Mount Michael because of its location at the highest elevation in Douglas County, Nebraska and because the land was given to the monks on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel.

The first building constructed was a simple chapel for the monks, built on the existing house. The second was for the primary apostolate—educating and forming young men for the priesthood. The breaking ground ceremony for the St. John Vianney Seminary building took place on January 30, 1955, more than a year and a half later the building and the attached new chapel were dedicated on October 28, 1956. Mount Michael hadn't yet constructed a monastery building, so when more monks began arriving from Conception to begin teaching they were forced to live in the seminary attic.

In the early 1960s, the new Prior, Father Anselm Coppersmith, decided to finally move the faculty out of the attic. He initiated the construction of a temporary metal building located a short distance away from the school and the chapel, that would serve the community until a permanent structure could be built.

To this day, because of the distance between the monastery and the chapel, the monks walk across the grounds to the chapel in the school for the Divine Office and Mass.

In the 1963 Mount Michael, still a priory of Conception Abbey, was given a choice to become an independent priory or become an independent abbey. The monks voted to become an abbey and petitioned the Vatican for abbatial status. Father Raphael Walsh was appointed the first abbot and on October 6, 1964, Mount Michael was raised to abbatial status

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