VINCENT, SAINT. - Benedictine archabbey, in the diocese of Pittsburg in the State of Pennsylvania in the United States of America.
The monastery was founded in 1846 by d. Bonifacio Wimmert of the abbey of Metten in Bavaria, who, together with 4 students and 14 brothers, was sent to assist German immigrants in the region and then gradually founded missions for faithful of other nations, 9 for indigenous people and Black people. The monastery developed increasingly, and the abbey was created, often called the “Monte Cassino” of America. It established the abbeys of St. John's in Minnesota, St. Benedict in Kansas, St. Mary's in New-Jersey, Belmont in North-Carolina, and the priory of St. Procop in Illinois; it founded missions for the Indians in Minnesota and erected an agricultural school for Black people at Skidaway in Georgia; it established in Rome the College of S. Elisabetta for the education of its monks and later contributed to the foundation in 1887 of the International College of S. Anselmo. In 1883 the Pope granted the title of archabbey and the cappa magna to Archabbot B. Wimmert, who died on 8 Dec. 1887. His successors continued his work, founding the abbeys of St. Bernard in Alabama, St. Leo in Florida, Sta Croce in Colorado and St. Peter's in Canada, S. Bada in Illinois, and the University of Peking. At present, under the leadership of Archabbot A. Koch and his coadjutor D. Strittmatter, the archabbey has 185 priests, 28 clerics, 8 novices, 30 brothers, and 2 oblate brothers. It has a secondary school with 300 students and a college with 800 pupils; it directs the diocesan seminary of Pittsburg and administers 40 parishes in the diocese. Enrico Josi