History
The Seminary was founded in 1931 by Archbishop William Mark Duke of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Five monks, including Father Eugene Medved, later Prior and Abbot, were sent from Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon, to British Columbia in 1939 to found a priory and to take over the running of the Seminary of Christ the King, which was then located in Ladner, B.C..
The following year, the monks moved their new priory together with the seminary to Burnaby, near Vancouver, B.C.. It became a conventual (independent) priory in 1948. In 1953 the Holy See raised it to the status of an Abbey. Prior Eugene was elected as the first Abbot of the new abbey.
The same year, construction began on a new abbey, church, and seminary, designed by the Norwegian architect, Asbjørn Gåthe. The new location was on the outskirts of the town of Mission. The monks began to live on this site beginning in 1954; buildings were gradually added, culminating in the abbey church in 1982. The abbey is located on a hill northeast of the town centre, with a commanding view up the Fraser River valley.
Father Maurus Macrae was elected abbot in 1992 after the death of Abbot Eugene. He continued as abbot until his death in 2005, when Father John Braganza, the present abbot, was elected.
The abbey currently has around 30 monks.
Read more about this topic: Westminster Abbey (British Columbia)
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