Solesmes Congregation

Solesmes Congregation
	St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes
Abbreviation	O.S.B.
Formation	c. AD 1837; 187 years ago
Founder	Pope Gregory XVI
Type	Catholic religious order
Superior General	Abbot Geoffrey Kemlin, O.S.B.
Website	solesmes.com

The Solesmes Congregation is an association of monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbey of Solesmes.

History

The congregation was founded in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI as the French Benedictine Congregation, with the then newly reopened Solesmes Abbey, founded by Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B., who wished to re-establish France's ancient and rich presence of monastic life, which had been wiped out by the French Revolution. The first foundation of the new congregation in 1853 was Ligugé Abbey, founded by St. Martin of Tours in 361. In course of time other daughterhouses were founded from Solesmes: in 1880 the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain, Glanfeuil in 1892, and Fontenelle in 1893. These four were old monasteries restored.^[2] The congregation's first monastery of women was St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes, founded in 1866 by Guéranger and Cécile Bruyère.

Some of the monasteries of the congregation, especially in France, use the pre-conciliar Latin liturgy, and most of them focus on Gregorian chant. One of its abbeys, Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey, became internationally famous when an album its monks recorded in 1973, Chant, became a huge hit when re-released in 1994, peaking at #3 on the U.S. album charts.