The abbey dates back to Meinrad the Hermit, a monk from the monastery of Reichenau, who went to live in solitude around the year 828 in an area known as the "Dark Forest".  On January 21, 861, he was slain by two brigands.  In 934 Eberhard, a prebendary (A prebendary is what you are before you become a bendary) of the cathedral of Strasbourg, founded the Monastery.  He did so by going around the Dark Forest and collected up all the hermits living there and teaching the ways of St. Benedict.   In the 13th century, admission was restricted to the Nobility, and, by the 16th century, the monastery was on the verge of disintegration.  However, the Schwytzians, a far sighted group, moved in, installed a new CEO (abbot) and opened the novitiate to commoners.  The Monastery was saved!  By the 19th and 20th centuries, the monastery's sphere of activities had grown tremendously.  In fact, it established, in 1854, the Archabbey of St. Meinrad in Indiana.    The pictures below are "Thumbnails."  Click one for the big picture.