IN 1898, the Archabbey of Beuron authorized the foundation of the Missionary Procura of St. André in Brugge.  This procura, or monastic training center, was intended to facilitate the restoration of the Brazilian Benedictine Congregation, a labor the German Beuronese Congregation had agreed to undertake at the request of Pope Leo XIII through the intermediary of Gerard Van Caloen, a monk of Beuron who was at that time Procurator of the Beuronese Congregation,

THIS school for the work in Brazil was created through the generosity of Gerard Van Caloen’s family near their home in Lophem, and close to the site of the ancient, medieval Belgian abbey of St. Andre, founded in 1100 and supressed in 1796 during the French Revolution.

IN 1901 St. André was elevated to the status of an abbey and  designated a monastery “for the missions”.  It was accorded all the rights and privileges of a Beuronese monastery; however it was completely independent of Beuron and was eventually affiliated to the Brazilian Congregation, with Van Caloen its first superior.  Busy with the work of restoration and mission in Brazil, Van Caloen entrusted the leadership of St. André to Theodore Neve, a monk of Maredsous, who reigned as abbot for more than fifty years.

UNDER Abbot Neve the monks of St. André undertook missionary responsibilities and founded monasteries in China (1927), Poland, (1939) Africa (1947), India (1952), California (1954) and Belgium (Ottignies, 1972).

IN 1920 St. André joined the other Belgian abbeys of Maredsous and Mont César (now Kaiserberg) to form the Benedictine Congregation of the Annunciation, also known as the Belgian Congregation.

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