Benedictine seminary college in Missouri educating priests and liberal arts students since 1886.
Conception Seminary College evolved from the College of New Engelberg, founded in 1886. Originally offering high school and junior college courses, it became exclusively a seminary in 1942, providing a 12-year program including preparatory high school, junior college, senior college, and theology. The theology school closed in 1972, after which the institution refocused as a liberal arts college with a pre-theology curriculum added in 1982. The college estimates it has educated approximately 75 percent of priests serving in the Kansas City–St. Joseph diocese.
Conception Abbey was established on December 8, 1873, by Swiss Benedictine monks from Engelberg Abbey as a refuge and to serve Irish and German settlers in northwest Missouri. The abbey was elevated to full abbey status in 1881. The monastery remains part of the Swiss-American Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation and is under the Diocese of Kansas City–Saint Joseph. The abbey administers the seminary college, The Printery House (a noted calligraphy and stationery publisher), and the Abbey Guest Center.
The Abbey Church of Conception, designed by Franciscan Adrian Wewer, was dedicated in 1891 and declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1941. The church underwent a two-decade, $9 million restoration completed in 1999. The monastery complex includes residential facilities for monks and students, dining areas, and a library that contained 3,000 volumes by 1880.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas studied to become a priest at the seminary in 1968 before pursuing law. The abbey has also operated The Printery House since the 1930s, renowned for its calligraphy and artistic stationery. The institution has founded or supported several other Benedictine communities, including St. Benedict Abbey in Wisconsin and Mount Michael Abbey in Nebraska.