"A fitting culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the story of the Benedictines of the American Cassinese Congregation, Jerome Oetgen has provided a comprehensive narrative of that story, bringing it up and through the pandemic of 2020. From Boniface Wimmer and pioneer beginnings to the third millennium, the reader can take in a penetrating and sensitive study of the Benedictine charism’s many historical expressions within the largest congregation of American Benedictine monks."
Abbot Joel Rippinger, OSB, Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois
"Jerome Oetgen has taken hundreds of pieces of information I knew and thousands I didn’t and incorporated them into a coherent and fascinating narrative. He tells the story of what was for many decades the largest congregation of Benedictine monks straightforwardly, situating its early and sustained expansion and recent rapid contraction in the history of Catholic Church and American society. No one could have done it better."
Hugh Feiss, OSB, Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, Idaho
"In this tour de force, Jerome Oetgen deftly weaves together monk biographies, the histories of over two dozen monasteries, the stories of Benedictine colleges and secondary schools, the development of congregational constitutions and statutes, general chapter proceedings, and narratives of some of the most important events in American, American Catholic, and American Benedictine history to tell the story of the first 170 years of the American-Cassinese Congregation. This should be required reading for anyone studying American Benedictine history and will be engaging reading for all those who live monastic life."
Sr. Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB, Editor, American Benedictine Review
"Historian Jerome Oetgen has contributed a scholarly and detailed account of the Benedictine order in the United States from 1855 until the present. For a Franciscan, this story of monasticism creatively lived out in active missionary work is nothing short of astounding."
Father Joseph Nangle, OFM, Assisi Community, Washington, DC
"Fr. Jerome Oetgen presents a detailed and honest history of the American-Cassinese Congregtion, but is extremely readable and interesting. Any monastery, of any Congregation, would surely enjoy reading this too."
The Downside Review
"The style and content of this book are excellent. Everyone will find something of interest in this mammoth volume, whether it is interesting statistics, keen analysis, or insightful stories."
Cistercian Studies Quarterly
"The style and content of this book are excellent. Everyone will find something of interest in this mammoth volume, whether it is interesting statistics, keen analysis, or insightful stories."
Cistercian Studies Quarterly
"I found reasons for encouragement in this book. In looking backward, Jerome Oetgen has given us stories and tools to help us look forward. We owe him our profound gratitude."
Abbot Benedict Neenan, OSB, Conception Abbey for American Benedictine Review
"One simply cannot understand American Benedictine history (or for that matter, Benedictine history in the last 200 years) without recourse to this text. Oetgen provides an indispensable map for future Benedictine scholars and a prime resource for U.S. Catholic historians, with an extensive bibliography and detailed index. Few authors could craft the book’s balanced and insightful narrative for such a massive project, and American Benedictine scholarship will remain indebted to Oegten for generations."
American Catholic Studies
