Heligenkreuz Cistercian Abbey

It’s hard to find any Abbey nowadays with a healthy number of monks. But the Abbey of the Blessed Cross in Austria is certainly an exception. It is 1000 years old, and presently it is the home of 100 monks. It is located 8 miles away from Vienna and the average age of the monks is 49.  Close to the Abbey there is a School of Theology which was named for Pope Benedict XVI, and where many famed theologians taught periodically including the Pope himself when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. He actually visited it in 2007 and called the Abbey, ‘A Song in History.’ The photo shows the monks during a procession in their cloister.