Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Germany whose tranquil setting and daily liturgy gave Douglas Steere a sustained encounter with Western monastic spirituality. During an academic sabbatical there, its beauty, worship, and library helped him recognize the depth of Catholic spiritual resources, even as he weighed them against his Quaker commitments.

Setting and Architecture

Founded in 1093, the abbey stood beside a lake surrounded by tall trees and lush vegetation. The natural setting contributed to the sense of peace Steere experienced there. Its German Romanesque buildings, with their many towers, and a church with an apse at each end gave the monastery a distinctive architectural presence. For Steere, the surroundings were not merely picturesque: they formed the setting for a contemplative life organized around prayer, study, and community.

Worship and Study

Steere attended the daily Divine Offices, the monastery’s services, and heard the monks chant the psalms throughout the day. The repeated liturgy had a deepening effect on him, while the quiet atmosphere and contemplative spirit gave him room to study. The abbey’s richly stocked library brought him into contact with the Rule of St. Benedict and writings by Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, and Teresa of Avila. Walking its halls, praying in the church, meditating in the cloister garden, and talking with the monks, he encountered monastic practice as a lived context for spiritual growth, not only as a subject of academic reading.

Role in Steere’s Religious Discernment

The experience made the appeal of Roman Catholicism, especially its liturgy, devotional practices, discipline, and monastic setting, difficult for Steere to dismiss. It also confronted him with a consequential choice: whether Catholicism would provide the tradition through which to order and guide his life. The decision was not settled by the abbey alone. Steere was a professor at a Quaker college, and Quaker silent worship, pacifism, social justice, and mystical heritage also held deep importance for him. After wrestling with the uncertainty, he became a convinced Quaker in 1933, finding the faith of Rufus Jones compelling. Maria Laach Abbey therefore marks a significant encounter in his spiritual development: it disclosed the richness of a tradition he seriously considered, while clarifying the choice he ultimately made.