AMRHEIN, ANDREAS. — Founder of the Benedictine Congregation of S. Odilia for the Foreign Missions (Benediktiner von St. Ottilien für auswärtige Missionen). Born at Gunzewile (Switzerland) on 1 February 1844; died at St. Ottilien (Bavaria), the mother house of the Congregation, on 29 December 1927. He completed his early studies in his homeland, then went to Italy and Paris to study the fine arts. Having become a Benedictine at Beuron (ordained a priest in 1872), he felt impelled to create a German institute for the foreign missions; he visited Mill Hill and Steyl, and opened the first house in 1887. The institute was subsequently incorporated into the Benedictine family as a congregation in its own right.
BIBL.: C. Wehrmeister, Die Benediktiner-Missionäre von St. Ottilien, St. Ottilien 1928.