About Monastery of the Holy Cross · Chicago, Illinois
The Monastery of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery of the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation located in Chicago's historic Bridgeport neighborhood at 3111 South Aberdeen Street. Founded as a contemplative monastic community, it is distinguished as the only urban Benedictine monastery in the United States, living out the traditional Benedictine life of prayer, silence, work, and hospitality amid the noise of the modern city. The community, currently numbering eight monks in Solemn Vows, has become especially known for its celebration of the Mass and Divine Office in Gregorian chant sung in Latin and English. Both the daily Mass and the full Liturgy of the Hours are open to the public, making the monastery a quiet oasis of liturgy at the heart of Chicago's South Side.
- Established
- 1988
- Patron
- The Holy Cross (the monastery is named for the September 14 feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the day permission for the foundation was granted in 1988)
- Rector
- Prior Peter Funk, OSB (Conventual Prior)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Chicago
Why belong here
The Monastery of the Holy Cross offers something rare in American Catholic life: a true contemplative Benedictine community living in the heart of a major city, where visitors can join the monks for daily Mass and the full Liturgy of the Hours sung in Gregorian chant. Hospitality is the community's primary work — guests are welcomed into its bed-and-breakfast apartments, retreat house, and guest loft — and laymen and clergy may associate with the monks as oblates, living according to the values of the Rule of Saint Benedict in their own state of life. Coming to the monastery means stepping into an oasis of prayer, silence, and beauty, and praying daily alongside the monks for the bishops, priests, and consecrated persons of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Mass times at Monastery of the Holy Cross
Weekly Mass schedule
History of the Monastery
The Monastery of the Holy Cross was founded in 1988 by three religious who had begun their monastic life in the foreign missions in Haiti and Brazil. After completing a second novitiate with the Community of Jerusalem in Paris in 1986, they returned to the United States and spent three years in a rural Midwest diocese, serving in parish ministry while preparing to found a new community. Permission for the foundation was granted on September 14, 1988 — the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross — and the new house took the day's name. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin formally invited the community to Chicago in 1990–1991, and the brothers chose the closed Immaculate Conception church and convent in Bridgeport, drawn by its nearness to downtown and its remarkable beauty. In the mid-1990s they affiliated with the Subiaco Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, with the Abbey of Christ in the Desert as their adopted mother-house. The founding members made their Solemn Professions on March 25, 2000, and in 2011 the community was erected as an autonomous house. The Monastery is now one of three contemplative communities in the Archdiocese of Chicago, alongside the Carmelites of Des Plaines and the Poor Clares of Lemont.
- 1986: Founders complete second novitiate with the Community of Jerusalem in Paris
- September 14, 1988: Permission for the monastic foundation granted; monastery named for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
- 1990–1991: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin invites the community to Chicago; brothers take over the closed Immaculate Conception church and convent
- Mid-1990s: Affiliation with the Subiaco Congregation; Abbey of Christ in the Desert becomes adopted mother-house
- March 25, 2000: Founding members make Solemn Professions as Benedictine monks
- August 2004: Prior Peter Funk becomes the third superior
- December 31, 2011: Community erected as an autonomous house by Abbot Bruno Marin, OSB
- February 4–6, 2019: Prior Peter elected and installed as first Conventual Prior
- June 2021: Commission on Chicago Landmarks approves landmark designation for the church
Benedictine Life: Ora et Labora
The monks of Holy Cross live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, seeking God through prayer, silence, work, and hospitality. Their day is built on the Benedictine motto ora et labora — prayer and work — with about three hours of communal prayer each day and periods of manual labor woven between the hours. As a contemplative community, they do not engage in active ministries such as teaching outside the monastery; instead, they seek to evangelize by the witness of a joyful and reverent celebration of the Church's liturgy and by hospitality to guests. The monks do all routine maintenance and administrative work themselves, only hiring skilled tradespeople when necessary. Their various labors and crafts include cooking, beer-brewing, cleaning, gardening, machine repair, iconography, and musical composition.
- Rule of Saint Benedict
- Ora et labora (prayer and work)
- Manual labor and crafts: cooking, beer-brewing, gardening, iconography, musical composition
- About 1.5 hours of lectio divina daily
- Benedictine vow of stability — monks are committed to this particular monastery
Liturgy and Gregorian Chant
The Monastery of the Holy Cross has become especially known for its celebration of the Mass and Divine Office in Gregorian chant sung in both Latin and English. The community chants the full Liturgy of the Hours and sings the Mass according to a more traditional liturgical style that they have refined over the years. Prior Peter Funk, who holds a music degree from the University of Chicago and was a professional tenor before entering monastic life, serves as music director and has composed four settings of the Mass and numerous motets for the celebration of the Divine Office. Both the Mass and the Divine Office are open to the public every day of the week.
- Gregorian chant in Latin and English
- Full Liturgy of the Hours chanted daily
- Prior Peter Funk as music director and composer
- Four settings of the Mass and numerous motets composed in-house
Daily Prayer Schedule
The community gathers for prayer about three hours each day. Vigils and Prime are prayed privately by the monastic community, while Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline are open to the public. Sunday Vespers is followed by Benediction. Once a month, the community observes a Desert Day with no public liturgy — usually on Mondays, and sometimes on the following Tuesday as well.
- Weekdays & Saturdays: Vigils 3:30 a.m. (private), Lauds 6:00 a.m., Mass 6:35 a.m., Prime 8:15 a.m. (private), Terce 9:30 a.m., Sext 12:45 p.m., None 2:30 p.m., Vespers 5:15 p.m., Compline 7:15 p.m.
- Sundays: Vigils 3:30 a.m. (private), Lauds 6:30 a.m., Prime 8:15 a.m. (private), Terce 9:40 a.m., Mass 10:00 a.m., Sext 12:45 p.m., Vespers with Benediction 5:15 p.m.
- Solemnities (except Christmas, January 1, and Easter): Mass 6:35 a.m., Terce 8:30 a.m.
Hospitality: Guesthouse, B&B, and Retreats
Hospitality is the community's primary work. The monks welcome travelers in two bed-and-breakfast apartments and welcome retreatants in a guesthouse (with an additional guest loft constructed in the church attic during the monastery's early renovation years). Originally, the community supplemented its income through hospital chaplaincies, library cataloguing, and digital editions of academic books, before developing its own monastic industries: a guesthouse, B&B apartments, and the sale of simple wooden caskets made by fellow Benedictine monks in rural Indiana.
- Two B&B apartments for travelers
- Retreat house / guesthouse for retreatants
- Guest loft in the former church attic
- Sale of caskets made by fellow monks in rural Indiana
- Daily prayer for bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and vocations in the Archdiocese
Oblates of the Monastery
Around 1999, friends of the monastery asked Father Brendan for talks on monastic spirituality, and the group that gathered became the core of the monastery's oblate community. Since then, many lay persons and several clergy have become oblates, promising to live a life in keeping with the values of the Rule of Saint Benedict according to their own state in life.
- Oblate community founded c. 1999
- Open to lay persons and clergy
- Promise to live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict in one's own state in life
The Building: Former Immaculate Conception Church
The monastery occupies the former Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and its adjacent rectory, built in 1908–1909 as a German national parish for German-speaking immigrants who had come to the Bridgeport neighborhood to work on the adjacent canals. The church was designed by Hermann J. Gaul in the German Gothic Revival style, inspired by the Cologne Cathedral, with a high-vaulted ceiling, slender tower, buff-colored brick and stone facades, high pointed gables, expressive gargoyles, ornate window tracery, and fine art glass from Austria. The building served a diverse community of immigrants from 1908 until the parish was closed in 1990, at which point it was used briefly as a warehouse before being transferred to the Benedictine community in 1991. In June 2021, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved final landmark designation, recognizing both its cultural significance to Bridgeport and its architectural merit. The monks have added altarpiece icons in traditional Byzantine egg tempera, painted by the internationally renowned iconographer Vladislav Andrejev.
- Built 1908–1909
- Architect: Hermann J. Gaul (German Gothic Revival, inspired by Cologne Cathedral)
- Originally a German 'national parish' — Immaculate Conception
- Closed as a parish in 1990; transferred to the Benedictines in 1991
- Designated a Chicago Landmark in June 2021
- Notable interior: high-vaulted ceiling with celebrated acoustics, 14 Gothic-arched Stations of the Cross
- Icons by Vladislav Andrejev in traditional Byzantine egg tempera
Community and Governance
The monastery is a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks of the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation. As of the most recent publication on the monastery's history page, the community numbers eight monks in Solemn Vows. (A 2019 US Catholic feature reported ten Benedictines, including four priests and one novice.) The community is led by Prior Peter Funk, OSB, the community's third superior and first Conventual Prior, who was elected by the Monastery Chapter in February 2019. The community is self-supporting and depends on the prayers and generosity of friends and benefactors.
- Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict
- Eight monks in Solemn Vows (per the monastery's history page)
- Mother-house: Abbey of Christ in the Desert, New Mexico
- Erected as an autonomous house on December 31, 2011
Visiting the Monastery
All are invited to join the monks for the daily celebration of the Mass and the Divine Office. Visitors should consult the monastery's published Desert Days calendar before coming, as the community sets aside certain Mondays (and sometimes Tuesdays) each month with no public liturgy. Inquiries about hospitality, retreats, the oblate program, or other matters can be directed to the monastery by phone or email.
- Address: 3111 S. Aberdeen St., Chicago, IL 60608
- Phone: (773) 927-7424
- Email: info@chicagomonk.org
- Website: chicagomonk.org
- Neighborhood: Bridgeport, South Side of Chicago
Subiaco-Cassinese Benedictine Identity
The community is a member of the worldwide Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict. This affiliation, adopted in the mid-1990s, gave the community its Benedictine formation under the guidance of the Abbey of Christ in the Desert. As Roman Catholic Benedictines, the monks' key principle is ora et labora; their prayer life centers on the full Divine Office chanted in Gregorian style.
- Member of the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation
- Adopted mother-house: Abbey of Christ in the Desert, NM
- Benedictine Rule of Saint Benedict as the foundation of life
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Thomas-Benedict Baxter, OSB
First Prior in Chicago during the initial years of renovating the former Immaculate Conception church and establishing the rhythm of liturgical life.
- Prior Peter Funk, OSB2004–present
Third superior in the community's history; became Conventual Prior (the first) when elected by the Monastery Chapter on February 4, 2019; formally installed February 6, 2019. Holds a music degree from the University of Chicago and a Master's in Scripture from Saint John's School of Theology, Collegeville, MN. He has composed four settings of the Mass and numerous motets.