A Letter from the Abbot.

Dear Friend,

    Welcome to Assumption Abbey. My name is Abbot Brian Wangler. The abbot of a monastery is the leader of the community. On behalf of all the monks of Assumption Abbey, I welcome you to our website. May God use this site as a means to bless you and show his love for you. Thank you for visiting us in this way.

    Assumption Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located on the edge of Richardton, ND in the southwestern part of the state. We are on I-94, seventy-five miles west of Bismarck, ND. This area is part of the high plains. It is basically a treeless prairie which enables on to see for miles and miles. From our cafeteria window, for example, one can see a distance of 40 miles.

    During the late 1880’s and 1890’s Germans from Russia and Germans from Hungary moved into this part of the state. To serve them, German speaking monks form Einsiedeln, Switzerland, came and founded this monastery. They left a lasting impact upon the area. The monks brought with them the monastic traditions of community, education, civilization, missionary work, farming, crafts, and, of course, faith, prayer and spirituality.

     Today Assumption Abbey consists of 62 monks. Of these 48 are in the USA and 14 are at our daughter house, Monasterio Benedictino de Tibati, in Bogotá, Colombia. Monastic life is a life lived in community, with communal prayer four times a day and working at a variety of ministries, including parish work, teaching and farming.

     Our vocation calls us to serve God according to a monastic manner of life. As we try to sustain ourselves on these prairies, please pray for us. We pray for all our relatives, friends and benefactors. Thank you again for visiting us by means of this website. If you have the opportunity to come to this beautiful and demanding part of the world, please stop in and visit us. We are blessed to here and I believe you will be also.

     We welcome people to come and make a private retreat here for a few days or a week. Contact us if you are interested. Retreatants have the opportunity to pray and eat with us.

     Please let us know if you have any questions after visiting the various avenues of this website. Again, our wish is to be used by God as a blessing for you. Peace be with you.

Sincerely,

Abbot Brian Wangler, OSB