Belmont-Mary Help of Christians

Abbey church in Belmont

The Abbey Belmont-Mary Help of Christians (lat. Abbatia B. Mariae de Auxiliatricis Belmont ) is a Benedictine Abbey in Belmont , North Carolina .

History of the abbey

The abbey was founded in 1876. On June 8, 1910 she was raised to the rank of Abbatia nullius (Private Abbey) and subordinated to the Archdiocese of Baltimore as a suffragan. The abbey belongs to the American-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation .

With a size of 3,340 km², the department territory included the areas of Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Lincoln, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford Counties, Gaston County and Belmont. After she had lost all areas except Belmont and Gaston County to the Diocese of Raleigh on April 17, 1944 , she still counted 710 Catholics (0.6%) in 5 parishes with 22 religious priests and 125 religious sisters in 1950 .

When she gave up Gaston County to the Diocese of Raleigh in June 1962, she only had her own parish, which in 1966 consisted of 550 Catholics (95.7%) with 2 diocesan priests and 32 religious priests . In 1977 this parish of the Benedictine monastery, which now had 27 religious priests, also fell to the diocese of Charlotte . By losing its own territory, the monastery lost its canonical status as a regional abbey. H. a particular church and has been a normal Benedictine abbey ever since .

Monastery church

The monastery church was built in 1892 and 1893 and consecrated the following year. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1998 Pope John Paul II granted the former cathedral the title of Basilica minor .