Visit to Gerleve Abbey

Münster, June 17, 2026. The participants and guests of the International Archival Conference visited Gerleve Benedictine Abbey today and gained a wide range of insights into the life and work of the monks. Between the communal celebration of the Eucharist in the morning and midday prayer in the monastery church, the Benedictines guided the participants through the library and the archives, the bookbinding workshop, and the cloistered section of the monastery garden. Lunch at the monastery restaurant rounded out the visit before the group boarded the bus back to the motherhouse in Münster.

Shortly before nine o’clock, Abbot Andreas Werner, OSB, warmly welcomed the international guests from Münster and led them into the monastery church for the morning celebration of the Eucharist, which was presided over by the priests and accompanied by Latin chants. Afterward, the participants were divided into three groups and guided through the monastery and the surrounding park.

Father Bartholomäus Denz, OSB, gave the visitors from Münster a tour of the archives of the abbey, which was founded in 1899, and also explained his work in the bookbinding workshop. To mark the 100th anniversary of Gerleve Abbey, Father Bartholomäus personally compiled a chronicle of the abbey covering the years 1899–1998, and produced a print run of ten copies. A necrology containing the biographies of the deceased brothers, along with an accompanying volume with their photos also originated from his workshop.

Father Daniel Hörnemann, OSB, provided a glimpse into the monastery library, which contains some 250,000 books and journals, primarily on theology. The oldest fragment in the library dates back to the 9th century, and there are about 3,000 works from before 1800. The smallest book preserved there is smaller than a thumbnail and is kept, along with the necessary magnifying glass, in a lined casket measuring approximately four by four centimeters.

Brother Michael Brun, OSB—who joined the Order in 1984 and has been responsible for the green spaces on the abbey’s 64-hectare grounds since 1988—led the tour through the cloister garden, a 30-morgen parkland. The wonderful tree population dates back to Abbot Father Raphael, who was the first abbot in Gerleve from 1906 to 1948. At the time of his entry into the order, Brother Michael reported, there were also fruit and vegetable gardens where 20 monks worked at that time.

After taking all these impressions in, the participants had the opportunity to shop for cards, books, devotional items, and locally produced jams and pastries in the abbey’s visitor’s shop, and then enjoy lunch, coffee, and cake at the monastery restaurant. Everyone agreed: It was a very successful outing with many wonderful encounters and fascinating insights into the life and work of the monks. “We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Benedictines of Gerleve and their wonderful team for their great hospitality and the many inspiring experiences,” said Superior General Sister M. Margarete Ulager on behalf of all participants at the International Archives Conference.

Some impressions of the day: