Weston Priory was founded by Abbot Leo A. Rudloff of
Dormition Abbey in
Jerusalem in 1953. He had the intention that some of those trained in Vermont would later assist the community at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. Abbot Leo also expressed the hope that the priory would become a community in its own right in the movement of monastic renewal. Today, the community is an independent or conventual priory. At the beginning, Abbot Leo considered locating the priory in Pennsylvania or a few other places, but the presence of other religious houses in those places required that he look elsewhere. With the help of Benedictine oblates Leon and Dorothea Smith, he located a suitable site in the Green Mountains of Vermont. In a small book titled
The Silent Life, published in 1957 Thomas Merton refers to Weston Priory as a new Benedictine foundation of "the Primitive Observance". The priory was in fact one of several North American monasteries in the renewal movement that preceded Vatican Council II.
Thomas Merton considered Weston to be one of only a handful that was dedicated to Benedictine renewal, including the rediscovery of "choir monks," educated monks who prayed the full
Liturgy of the Hours, yet not being priests. The priory was, in the 1980s, one of several hundred churches and religious organizations that pledged to provide for refugees seeking homes in the United States.
Music and artwork In the 1960s, the brothers of Weston Priory began writing their own music for liturgical use. Their music has become well known throughout the world. The monks maintain gardens, livestock, and a book store with items produced by the brothers. Several pieces of the pottery produced at the monastery are held by museums, such as the
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. ==Notable members==