The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictine nuns in the United States. Mother Benedict and Mother Mary were both nuns of the Benedictine Abbey of Notre Dame de Jouarre in France. Until the monastery of Regina Laudis gained abbatial status, it was a dependent priory of Notre Dame de Jouarre, a 7th century abbey northeast of Paris.
The Abbey is home to an "exquisite museum quality, 18th century Neapolitan Crèche," according to the Web site of the Town of Bethlehem.
Near the main entrance, the "Monastic Art Shop" of the Abbey is a store open to the public year round. Products include crafts and food, such as pottery, candles, woven and knitted goods, wool from the convent's sheep, granola, iron work hand-forged at the abbey blacksmith shop, cheese, honey, vinegar, herbs for seasonings, hot mustard, perfumes, skin creams, cards, books, medals and other religious art objects. The abbey also has CD recordings of its nuns performing Gregorian chant.
Famous quotes containing the words abbey and/or regina:
“The Abbey always reminds me of that old toast, “Above lofty timbers, the walls around are bare, echoing to our laughter, as though the dead were there.””
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)
““Mother of heaven, regina of the clouds,
O sceptre of the sun, crown of the moon,
There is not nothing, no, no, never nothing,
Like the clashed edges of two words that kill.””
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)