About the CIB
In November 2001, at the meeting taking place at Nairobi, Kenya, after a consultation process with all the monasteries of Benedictine Women around the world, it was decided to use the name COMMUNIO INTERNATIONALIS BENEDICTINARUM (CIB) to designate all communities of Benedictine women recognised by the Abbot Primate as such and enlisted in the Catalogus Monasteriorum O.S.B. This was the culmination of a development taking place since the Second Vatican Council—as well as the beginning of a new era for Benedictine Women.
History of the CIB (Background and early development)
Background: The Benedictine Confederation
Between 1886 and 1893 Pope Leo XIII took steps towards the setting up of the Benedictine Confederation, the structure for networking between the congregations of Benedictine men existing at that time, with the Abbot Primate as a unifying figure at the head of the community at S. Anselmo in Rome.
There was no parallel foundation for Benedictine women. Gradually women’s monasteries and congregations were admitted by association into the Benedictine Confederation, but without full membership, and without a regular structure for international contact.
First steps towards networking after Vatican II (1968–1988)
- 1968 — The Synod of Abbot Presidents voted that the Abbot Primate should form a Commission for nuns and sisters (divided into two sections), with equal numbers of men and women.
- 1972 — It was decided to invite the Commission of Nuns and several Prioresses General of the Benedictine Sisters to the Congress of Abbots as observers.
- 1980 — The Confederation organised a Centenary Symposium for the 1500th anniversary of the birth of St. Benedict; 55 abbesses/prioresses were invited to Rome as representatives of the women.
- 1984 — The two commissions met together for the first time to discuss possibilities of a joint meeting of nuns and sisters.
- 1987 — A first Symposium organised by the sisters in Rome broke new ground for cooperation between nuns and sisters.
- 1988 — The two Commissions merged, with membership delegated to women representing 18 (later 19) regions worldwide, plus other representatives; an Executive Committee drafted the first statutes.
For 1987 to the present, see the Meetings section and Meeting pages.