Welcome to the new AIM website - The InterMonastery Alliance.
✅ The site is available in French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, English 🇬🇧, Spanish 🇪🇸 and Italian 🇮🇹.
🕐 The site will soon be available in Portuguese 🇵🇹.
MONASTIC LIFE
Formation places and programs
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Regional monastic associations
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Statistical developments
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Reference texts
In the different regions of the world, associations have gradually emerged with the support of the AIM which bring together both Benedictine and Cistercian superiors. They work together to share the concerns of their communities, to initiate training modules, and to consider the evolution of monastic life in general. These organizations are really a great opportunity for all these monasteries which need to support each other in a fragile world.
Since the time of Saint Benedict, monastic life has experienced varied situations. One aspect of this reality is statistical evolution. To take recent history, the 19th century was a time of renewal, which allowed the 20th century to be triumphant at least in number of monks and nuns. This gave the possibility of numerous foundations on all continents, starting in the 1960s. Recent years have seen a decline in the number of monks and nuns but a maintenance of the number of communities. We give on this page some figures of this evolution.