Boniface Wimmer: Abbot of Saint Vincent in Pennsylvania

It would be impossible to say anything substantial about Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, or, for that matter, of Benedictine monasticism in North America, without some mention of Archabbot Boniface Wimmer. Extensive books and intensive articles over recent years have provided a wealth of information, commentary, and perspective on the essential role of this nineteenth century monastic missionary and founder in the unfolding of American Benedictine history. In one way or another, these studies have also drawn on the first biographical sketch of Boniface Wimmer, published just a few years after his death. But the original modestly sized sketch itself has become increasingly inaccessible or, at least, neglected, due to the fact that it was originally published by Benzinger Brothers of New York, Cincinnati and Chicago in 1891 and in the German language. The present volume therefore has no more ambitious purpose than to provide an English translation of this first biographical portrait of this key figure in American Benedictine history.