COLLEGEVILLE -- At first, the quiet of a monastery cell is unnerving. Photos There are no sounds of cars...it's the stillness that has drawn guests to Benedictine monasteries like St. John's Abbey for 15 centuries. "You have to...

ST. JOSEPH (AP) -- Benedictine nuns here are joining monasteries around the world in observing an all-night prayer vigil to open the millennium. St. Benedict's Monastery is welcoming visitors for all or part of the vigil, which begins...

...desire to learn more about life inside a monastery. Free room and board. No salary. No...Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery have launched a Benedictine Associates...to our community," said Horak, the monastery's director of vocation ministry. Sister...

...headstones outnumber the monks at the Crosier Monastery, a sign of why the order is vacating...whispery silence of the Roman Catholic monastery's 16 wooded acres in this south-central...Rev. Jim Moeglein, 57, who led the monastery for nine years. The 13 priests and brothers...

...The 82-year-old pontiff traveled by helicopter to the southern town of Rila for a visit to the 1,000-year-old Rila Monastery, not far from the tomb of St. Ivan Rilsky, patron saint of the Bulgarian people. The trek signaled the pope's desire...

...where the priest lived alone, according to court records. The priest was a staff member at the Servants of the Paraclete, a monastery and clinic in the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico. Investigators said the men did not know each other. "We...

...Health St. Joseph's Medical Center, anchored in the Benedictine tradition, started with the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth more than 100 years ago. "Care of the sick must rank above and before all else so that they may be served as Christ...

Opens Friday, Mar 8, 2013 Synopsis: One man's soul is caught up in a battle of good vs. evil in this period drama from director Dominik Moll. Ambrosio (Vincent Cassel) has spent most of his life within the walls of a Capuchin monastery in Spain; he was left on their doorstep as an infant, and has grown into a man of God respected among his brothers for his fiercely held principles and intense faith. A new follower joins the order, Valerio (Déborah François), who wears a mask after being horribly disfigured in a fire, but Ambrosio discovers this story isn't true -- Valerio is disguised because he's actually a woman. Shortly after Valerio's secret is revealed, Ambrosio is bitten by a scorpion and the poison nearly kills him. Ambrosio eventually recovers, but he's a changed man after he returns to health, and begins showing a highly inappropriate interest in Antonia (Joséphine Japy), an innocent but beautiful young woman living nearby. As Ambrosio works a greater control over Antonia, some wonder if the monk was more deeply impacted by the scorpion's sting than they imagined -- or if Valerio's gender was not her only secret. Adapted from a novel by Matthew G. Lewis, Le Moine (aka The Monk) was an official selection at the 2011 Palm Springs Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi Cast: Vincent Cassel, Déborah François, Joséphine Japy, Sergi López, Geraldine Chaplin Movie Details Play Trailer Movie Review

...of the places I would visit would be the Buddha of Kamakura. It is an ancient pilgrimage place near the sea with several monasteries and temples, gardens and museums. I have read that the Kamkura Buddha stands above the trees and buildings. He sits in...

...producing goods for one of hundreds of monasteries rapidly establishing themselves after...raiders were about to plunder churches and monasteries, the fleeing clergy carried off the...offerings that benefited the local church or monastery. So lucrative were these pilgrimages...