Collegeville Institute Our physical address is 2475 Ecumenical Drive, Collegeville, MN 56321. For maps and directions, view our Contact page » “The beauty of the place was healing for me… [The Collegeville Institute] is a habitat for the intellectual and spiritual quests becoming one.” — short-term resident scholar The Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research is comprised of a cluster of ten apartments, walled with windows opening to Stumpf Lake. The Collegeville Institute, located on Saint John’s Abbey grounds and just a short walk from the Abbey and University, is surrounded by 2450 acres of woods and lakes, a wildlife refuge, a bird sanctuary, and a wetlands restoration area. A defining feature of the Collegeville Institute is its “sense of place,” a holistic ethos and atmosphere inherited from Saint John’s Abbey. When the monastic community set about to build the Institute—envisioned by founder, Fr. Kilian McDonnell, and made possible by Patrick Butler—they located it on the shores of Stumpf Lake. The cry of loons was considered a fitting, even necessary, backdrop to the work to be done. World-renowned architect, Marcel Breuer, who designed numerous buildings at Saint John’s Abbey and University, was also charged to craft this “sense of place,” so central to the forming mission and vision of the Institute, into the design of the apartments and meeting space of the Collegeville Institute. Today, the Abbey bells echo in the distance, ancient oak trees pass the test of time and the Minnesota climate, and deer, wild turkey and sunbathing turtles make themselves at home on the Institute’s grounds. In this environment, one quickly understands why these grounds—why this place—has fostered healing, creativity, community and the renewal of bodies, minds, and spirits alike.
