A Glance into the Catalogus: Large Monasteries and Popular Names

As in every issue of NEXUS, this time too there are some statistics from the Benedictine Confederation: the largest monasteries and the most popular names.

Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist by El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) and workshop. Public Domain also Museo Nacional del Prado.

2 October 2026

The ten largest monasteries of the Benedictine order

Monastery Country Congregation Monks*
Saint Vincent, Latrobe USA American-Cassinese 150
Hanga Tanzania St. Ottilien 114
Waegwan South Korea St. Ottilien 113
Saint John’s, Collegeville USA American-Cassinese 96
Thien An Vietnam Subiaco-Cassinese 90
Mvimwa Tanzania St. Ottilien 84
Thien Phuoc Vietnam Subiaco-Cassinese 84
Münsterschwarzach Germany St. Ottilien 79
Ndanda Tanzania St. Ottilien 78
St. Ottilien Germany St. Ottilien 73

*without novices

The most popular religious names

In many monasteries, new members receive a religious name upon entering the order. Here are the 30 most common:

Name Count
John, Giovanni, Johannes, Jean etc. 295
Joseph 207
Peter 146
Francis, Franziskus, François etc. 122
Michael 108
Benedict 101
Andrew 92
Anthony 92
James, Jacques, Jakob, Santiago etc. 92
Paul 92
Thomas 85
Bernard 81
Matthew 79
Mark 73
Gregory 67
Martin 67
Augustine 65
Philip 64
Louis, Alois, Ludovico, Ludwig 63
Luke, Lukas, Luca 61
Daniel 60
Dominic 58
Stephen 53
Gabriel 51
David 46
Robert 46
Raphael 45
Vincent 44
Nicholas 43
Maurus 43

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