Missionary Benedictine Texts and Studies

The series was founded in 2008 for the research and documentation on the history of the Missionary Benedictines of St. Ottilien and Tutzing. It is directed by Joel Macul, O.S.B. (Newton/Schuyler) and Cyrill Schaefer, O.S.B. (St. Ottilien).

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Neudegger O.S.B., John

Adventure for God

Experiences in Africa (1978–2001)

Adventure for God

Just arriving in East Africa in the year 1978, Father John is entrusted with founding a monastery in Kenya. With courage and unusual methods, the young community grows on the outskirts of Nairobi. A new area of responsibility opens up with the founding of another monastery in neighboring Uganda. In the war-torn country, “Major John” is able to survive numerous life-threatening situations resourcefully and with diplomatic skills. For more than 20 years, Father John Neudegger lived and served as a Missionary Benedictine in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Namibia. Due to his charismatic character and an unshakeable faith in God he managed to build up three Benedictine monasteries. The exciting and humorous memories bring an eventful piece of missionary and Benedictine history to life.

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17

Sieber, Gottfried

Monks and Missionaries

The Monasteries of the Benedictine Congregation of Sankt Ottilien

Monks and Missionaries

The Benedictine Congregation of Sankt Ottilien was founded as a new form of blending the missionary charism of the Christian Faith into the contemplative tradition of monastic life. Starting as a single monastery in Bavaria, this congregation spread into 20 countries all over the world and includes today around 1000 monks in more than 50 monastic foundations.

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Milliken OSB, Damian

African Pilgrimage

Reports and Reflections from Tanzania

African Pilgrimage

Father Damian Milliken has lived and served as a Missionary Benedictine for more than 60 years in Tanzania. In his reminiscences, he shares his impressions and experiences and how Africa transformed him over the years just as Tanzania itself has changed considerably in recent decades. In a very personal and often humorous way, Father Damian allows the reader to follow his manifold discoveries and encounters, and his growing involvement with top-grade education for African women.

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Sieber, Gottfried

In the Valley of a 1000 Hills

Experiences of a Benedictine Missionary in Africa

In the Valley  of a 1000 Hills

In 1968, Father Godfrey Sieber, a Benedictine monk from Bavaria, began his missionary engagement in Zululand, South Africa. It lasted over fifty years. In this volume he recalls his experiences with the people he met at the places he worked. It illustrates at the same time the political and social changes that happened in South Africa.

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13

Nyirenda, Alcuin

The Missionary Witness of Hanga Benedictine Community in Tanzania

Experiences and Prospects for Monastic Mission in Africa

The Missionary Witness of Hanga Benedictine Community in Tanzania

The community of African Benedictines of Hanga was founded in 1957 in the South-Eastern part of Tanzania. It is the first Benedictine community of Africa which draws its members exclusively from local vocations. From the very beginning the Hanga monks asked themselves which kind of mission is entrusted to them in Tanzania? Or more concrete: in which way their social, cultural and political situation enters into their monastic life? An important discovery was the fact that missionary vocation can’t be dissociated from monastic life. On the contrary: monasticism which is deeply rooted and “incarnated” in the local culture can immensely contribute in spreading the light of the Gospel.

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12

Gerster OSB, Chantal

Called for Service

Founding of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing in Kenya

Called for Service

In January 1980, the Missionary Benedictines of Tutzing started a new foundation at Nairobi, Kenya. Over the years, it experienced astonishing growth, not only outwardly but also in the internal establishing of the community, and regarding its engagement in the different missionary areas. Additional missionaries who joined us from Germany, the Philippines and South Korea, contributed to the internationality of the community. The many young women who joined in came from different African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola and Nigeria. This historical glance back is a first attempt to describe the deeply rooted evolution of the Congregation of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing in Kenya.

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11

Staufer, Heribert C.Dering OSB, Cyprian

Album heraldicum Congregationis Ottiliensis

Armorial of the Missionary Benedictines of St Ottilien

Album heraldicum Congregationis Ottiliensis

Coat of arms are little artworks which communicate the identity of a monastery or the program of an abbot. This collection unites the coat of arms of the Missionary Benedictines of St Ottilien. It is a documentation of communal and personal history, but also of the convictions, devotions and hopes of a worldwide family and its missionary efforts to spread the Word of God.

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