Abbey Church

 
From left to right: Marcel Breur (architect) with Abbey Church, undated; Abbey Church 2007 (click thumbnail for larger image)

Architect: Marcel Breuer & Associates, New York
Dates: 1958-1961, 1984

A wealth of information is available about the Abbey Church.  See A Brief History of Saint John’s Abbey and the other sources listed below.

See also the Abbey website for the Guesthouse or the Guesthouse tour.

Selected Bibliography  

See also Breuer Bibliography

Videos:

• Abbey Church Construction, a YouTube video (14:40 min) using archival photos to show the monumental task of building the church.
• Connell, Martin. ” Hidden In Plain View: Artwork at Saint John’s that Tells a Story,” a 2016 PowerPoint on religious symbolism in the old Abbey Church, i.e. the Great Hall, and other locations on campus.  An earlier version of Connell’s PowerPoint was shown at his ” Lunch and Learn: Hidden in Plain View”  presentation at SJU on April 5, 2016.
• Young, Victoria.  Saint John’s Abbey Church: Marcel Breuer and the Creation of a Modern Sacred Space ,a Lunch and Learn presentation at SJU on December 4, 2014.
• Designing a Church for Saint John’s in the Mid-20th Century: What the Architect and the Monks Had in Mind by David Paul Lange, OSB, 2 October, 2013, a YouTube video (55 min) on the designing of the first and second Abbey churches.  A taping of a Benedictine Institute Lunch and Learn presentation.
• Building the Saint John’s Abbey Church. CSB/SJU Media Services, 2012. Produced and directed by Mike Geib, class of 2012.  A YouTube video (9:25 min) describing the architecture and the construction process of the Abbey. 

Print Sources: 

• Goltz, Andrew, OSB.  “Summa Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts” [about the stained glass windows of the Abbey Church], Abbey Banner, Spring 2022, cover page and p. 17-21.
• Walking Tour of the Abbey Church, a brochure with a map and information
• Thimmesh, Hilary, OSB.  Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church: A Monastic Memoir. Collegeville: SJU Press, 2011.  NOTE: CSB/SJU login required.
• Durken, Daniel, OSB. “Pavilion blessed, Eucharistic devotions stressed at dedication.”Abbey Banner,   Fall 2007, p. 13-14.
• Fecht, Geoffrey, OSB.  “Abbey Guesthouse and Pavilion will be dedicated October 21-22, 2006.”Abbey Banner, Fall 2006, p.22-23.
• Abbey Church Tour Brochure, colored photos and descriptions of the church and its features; includes “The Relics of Collegeville: Souvenirs of the Saints” by Michael Kwatera, OSB, from the Abbey Banner, Fall 2002 , p. 12-13.
• Horwich, Jeff. ” Still controversial, the Abbey Church turns 40,” Minnesota Public Radio. 24 October 2001.
• Tegeder, Vincent. “Master Plans,” Scriptorium, v. 26, 1988, p. 1-22. A chronological examination of the building projects at St. John’s between te end of World War I and the creation of Marcel Breuer’s Master Plan in the 1950s. See p. 20-22. 
• Haeg, Ben, ” 86 is Year of Architectural Anniversaries,” Alumni Magazine,  Autumn, 1986, p. 6-8.
• Dworshack, Abbot Baldwin, OSB.  “A Tale of Two Churches.”  Scriptorium, v. 24, 1985, p. 181-195.
• Abbey and University Church of Saint John the Baptist, 5th ed, a 36-page illustrated booklet about the Abbey Church, 1980.
• “Bishop Bartholome Consecrates Abbey Church,” The Record, 25 August 1961, p.1.
• Dean, B. “St. John’s New Abbey Church: Theological, Liturgical Aspect,”Scriptorium, Vol. 20, 1961, p. 1-29 
• Millette, Brian, OSB. “St. John’s New Abbey Church: A Chronicle of Construction,”  Scriptorium, Vol. 20, 1961 p. 75-103
• Avery, Benedict R., OSB. The Crypt Furnishings of the Abbey Church of Saint John the Baptist. 11-page unpublished document describing the features of the church, including the art works in the crypt’s 34 individual chapels.
• Steinbronn, Tim “ Stained Glass Artistry Progesses,” The Record, 6 May 1960, p.2.
• To Praise the Living God, a 16-page illustrated booklet about the Abbey Church planning, ca. 1958.
• Twomey, Mark New Church, St. Thomas Hall Ahead of Schedule,” The Record, 10 October 1958, p.4.