The Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum

(CIB)

The Communio Internationalis Benedictarum (CIB) was born in 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya, during a meeting of representatives of female Benedictine communities from around the world. It had been about thirty years since efforts had been made to bring together through a fraternal bond the nuns and sisters affiliated with the Benedictine Confederation. If each of the communities has its own charisma and particularity, the sisters have learned to recognize and appreciate their unity in the rule of Saint Benedict and in the Benedictine tradition, which has spread across the cultures and countries of the world. The CIB allowed the sisters to experience in depth and in a concrete way all the richness of the Benedictine charism, which is expressed in the life of their communities.

Brief history of the CIB

The Benedictine Confederation

Between 1886 and 1893 Pope Leo XIII took steps towards the establishment of the Benedictine Confederation, the structure for the network of male congregations existing at the time, with the Abbot Primate for unity at the head of the community at Sant'Anselmo in Rome. The aim of the Confederation was to create and consolidate international contacts between male Benedictine monasteries in order to promote the common tradition of Western monasticism and to prepare monks through serious study for their service in the Church in the 20th century. There was no parallel foundation for the Benedictines. Gradually monasteries and women's congregations were admitted by association into the Benedictine Confederation, but not with full rights. Their status in the Confederation did not give them the possibility of helping each other through regular meetings and international contacts.

First steps to form a network between Benedictines after Vatican II

In Paragraph 23 of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis , this conciliar document concerning the renewal of religious life, conferences and councils of major superiors are expressly encouraged as a means of bringing small communities out of isolation and sharing potential. Since 1893 the Congress of Abbots was such a conference of major superiors comprising all Benedictine monasteries. From 1965 it became clear that something had to be done to create a similar possibility for the Benedictines.

1968

The Synod of Abbot Presidents around Abbot Primate Rembert Weakland voted that the Primate would constitute a Commission for the nuns and sisters and that this Commission would be divided into two sections, one for the nuns and one for the sisters, but with the ( the ?) same secretary for both. It was also decided that these two consultative groups would be made up of an equal number of men and women (Circular letter to the Benedictines of October 28, 1968). These two Commissions met separately around the Abbot Primate a number of times over the following years.

1972

The Synod of Presidents decides to invite the Commission of Nuns and several prioresses general of Benedictine sisters as observers to the Congress of Abbots.

1980

The Confederation organized a centenary symposium to celebrate the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict. Fifty-five abbesses and prioresses were invited to represent the women. It was the first time that Benedictine abbesses and prioresses, nuns and sisters from various traditions and from various parts of the world met in Rome, but then only as guests at the Congress of Abbots.

1984

The two Commissions meet together for the first time to discuss the possibility of a common meeting of nuns and sisters.

1987

The Benedictine sisters invite sixteen nuns and forty sisters for an assembly on the implications of the rule of Saint Benedict for the life of Benedictines, to the Casa Santo Spirito , general house of the Benedictine sisters of Tutzing in Rome. This first symposium organized by the sisters had a pioneering role for cooperation between nuns and sisters.

1988

The two Commissions merged around Abbot Primate Victor Dammertz. Members were to be representatives of eighteen regions of the world, international congregations and the AIM. An Executive Committee was to organize the following symposium, common to all. The Executive Committee wrote a first draft of the statutes with the help of Abbot Primate Victor Dammertz.

For more details, see the CIB website: http://www.benedictines-cib.org/

List of Regions sending delegates to the CIB Conference

1. Italy, Malta

2. Spain, Portugal

3. France, Israel website

4. Great Britain, Ireland

5. Benelux

6. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia (AASS)

7. Poland

8. Croatia

9. USA, Canada (with 3 delegates)

10. ABECCA (Benedictine-Cistercian Association of the Caribbean and the Andes: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bahamas, Cuba, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Bolivia, Venezuela)

11. Brazil

12. Cono-Sur (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)

13. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam

14. Philippines

15. Oceania

16. East Africa

17. Central and West Africa, Madagascar

18. South Africa, Namibia, Angola

19. India, Sri Lanka

Member communities of the European Benedictine Congregation of the Resurrection :

• Germany: Dinklage, Bonn-Steinfeld, Alexanderdorf

• France: Simiane-Collongue

• Belgium: Liège and Hurtebise

• Netherlands: Oosterhout and Egmond-Binnen

• Sweden: Omberg (Vadstena)

• Lithuania: Kaunas

• Spain: Montserrat

Member communities of the Monastic Congregation of Saint Hildegard (Spain):

• Alba de Tormes, Algezares, Alzuza, Aranda de Duero,

• Barcelona, Burgos,

• Cuenca, Cuntis,

• El Tiemblo, Estella,

• Jaca,

• León,

• Madrid Encarnación, Madrid Natividad,

• Oñati, Oviedo,

• Palacio de Benaver,

• Sahagún, San Pedro de las dueñas, Santiago de Compostela,

• Trasmaño,

• Valfermoso de las Monjas,

• Zamora, casa San José Zamora, Zaragoza.