Art & Heritage Place - St. Joseph, Minnesota

Art & Heritage Place - St. Joseph, Minnesota

This museum shows the art talent of the Benedictines.  The people that come to the museum learn something new about the Sisters and the monastery with each visit. 

On display at the Haehn Museum are pieces of the exquisite needlework created by the Sisters during the first half of the 20th century truly reflects a culture in which thimble and thread give insight and access to the divine. You will see the beauty of the designs, the utilization of the finest silk and gold threads available and the superb technical expertise in the creation of liturgical vesture with images which move the heart and mind inward and inspire faith and hope.

This exhibit includes vesture today which is in somewhat stark contrast to that of earlier years. A sense of the sacred is communicated and expressed more simply now, through the use of color, line and movement. Contemporary woven vesture made of the same silk threads has replaced the earlier hand-embroidered vesture. Together with musical texts that engage the gathered community, these simpler expressions of art forms call forth a deep, personal relationship with the God we worship and praise.

The Artisan Studios have the Sisters and local women artists weave, paint, sew, quill, tat and make paper, cards, scarves, candles and a host of other goods.  They form a supportive community for each other in this workplace.  The studios also serve as an area for preparing and packaging items for sale.  Their items, both beautiful and useful, are sold at the Art and Heritage Place  at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, and  elsewhere.

Saint Benedict’s Monastery is located in St. Joseph, Minn., eight miles west of St. Cloud, in Central Minn. It is adjacent to the campus of the College of Saint Benedict and three miles east of Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville. In its rural setting with wooded areas, prairies, wetlands, gardens and well-landscaped grounds, the monastery gives witness to a tradition of reverence and care for the earth.

Location: 104 Chapel Lane, St. Joseph, Minnesota 56374-0220

Phone: 320-363-7100