Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Penn., is celebrating the 200th birthday of Father Abbot Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria who founded the first Benedictine monastery in North America and the schools that would later become Saint Vincent College, Saint Vincent Preparatory School, and Saint Vincent Seminary. This past September, Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, O.S.B., Chancellor of Saint Vincent College and Seminary, presented Pope Benedict XVI with a specially bound collection of Wimmer’s letters. “The celebration will underscore the fact that Saint Vincent has proudly worn the mantle of a Benedictine institution, mindful of its rich Catholic, Benedictine heritage and operating with the belief that a love of God and a love of learning go together.” Following the promulgation of Ex corde Ecclesiae, a Committee on Benedictine Intellectual Tradition was formed which identified these 10 hallmarks distinguishing a Benedictine institution, to which Saint Vincent College adheres: prayer, obedience, stability, discipline, stewardship, humility, community, hospitality, conversatio (formation and transformation) and love of Christ and neighbor. Source: Saint Vincent College