Finding aid for the St. Meinrad Archabbey materials

History of St. Meinrad Archabbey

St. Meinrad Archabbey was founded in southern Indiana in 1854 by Benedictine monks from Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland, responding to requests from a local priest for additional support ministering to the local German Catholic immigrant population. Soon after, the Benedictines opened a school, where they taught local boys and trained new priests. Abbey Press was founded in 1867, and published The Grail, a popular Catholic magazine, from 1919 to 1958.

Today, the Seminary and School of Theology at St. Meinrad Archabbey offers graduate degrees in theology to both seminarians and laypeople. St. Meinrad's continues to operate Abbey Press, a printing house of religious images, books, and other printed items. In 1999, Abbey Caskets was founded; this business venture sells handcrafted caskets to raise money for the School of Theology.

Scope and Content

This collection contains various printed ephemera originating from Saint Meinrad Archabbey. The first series consists of items produced by all divisions of the Archabbey outside of Abbey Press. Folder 1 contains prayer cards distributed by The Grail, dating from around 1940. Folder 2 contains undated postcards depicting St. Meinrad Archabbey. The third folder contains promotional materials from Abbey Caskets. Folder 4 contains brochures promoting the Seminary and School of Theology. The fifth folder contains employee materials, and the sixth folder contains mailings sent out by the alumni and development offices. Folder 7 contains information about the retreat house at St. Meinrad's. The last folder in this series contains other materials relating to St. Meinrad's that did not fit into the previous categories. The second series consists of publications of Abbey Press. Folder 8 contains miscellaneous items printed by Abbey Press. These are mostly holy cards, but also include greeting cards, pamphlets, and newsletters. Two of the holy cards in the Abbey Press folder have handwritten inscriptions on the verso. The next eighteen folders contain issues of CareNotes, a pamphlet published by One Caring Place, a division of Abbey Press. These pamphlets are published on a variety of topics dealing with grief, loss, illness, and suffering. Following are folders containing issues of CaringMentors, CareNotes for Kids, Talking With Your Kids, CareNotes for Teens, and PrayerNotes.

Statement of Arrangement

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open and available to the public for research in the U.S. Catholic Special Collections reading room. The materials are non-circulating.

This collection is just a sampling of printed ephemera from Saint Meinrad Archabbey, and is not an exhaustive collection of their papers. The Archabbey houses its own archives, which can be contacted at archvies@saintmeinrad.edu.

Numerous books printed by Abbey Press can be found in the library collection by searching the catalog. Some issues of The Grail are available in the U.S. Catholic Periodicals, though the library does not possess a full run of this serial.

Other items in the library collection of note include: Souvenir St. Meinrad's Abbey [a collection of postcards depicting St. Meinrad's pasted into a souvenir booklet], U.S. Catholic Collection, BX2525.S25 S69 1916. Saint Meinrad Archabbey and School of Theology Report of Stewardship [2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008], U.S. Catholic Collection. See online catalog.

The Commemorative Holy Cards Collection (CSC9) contains holy cards printed by Abbey Press, a division of St. Meinrad Archabbey.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the collection of St. Meinrad Archabbey materials CSC.025, U.S. Catholic Special Collection, The Roesch Library, University of Dayton.

Full Finding Aid

To view the full finding aid for this collection, visit http://digital.udayton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/findingaids/id/58/rec/2.