he Abbey of Christ the King is a monastery of contemplative Benedictine monks established in order to preserve the traditional practices of the monastic life under the Holy Rule of St. Benedict and to maintain inviolate the traditional Catholic Faith, as taught and observed prior to Vatican Council II. The Abbey stands in resistance and opposition to the wave of Modernism that has invaded the Catholic Church, yet it is forever loyal to the traditional and orthodox teachings of that Roman and Apostolic Church. In all rites, ceremonies, and usages, the monastery shall adhere without exception to the established forms of holy tradition, cherishing the ancient and venerable as fitting for Divine worship, and shunning novel and strange forms as alien to Catholic tradition and unworthy of the expression of the Catholic Faith. Therefore, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass shall be offered by the priests of Christ the King Abbey, at all times and in all places, solely according to the form ordained by the Council of Trent and as codified in A.D. 1570 by Pope St. Pius V in the Bull, Quo Primum.

he monastery was founded by Reverend Father Leonard Giardina, O.S.B., a monk since 1942 and a priest since 1949. Due to the devastating effects of the modernist changes in the Roman Catholic Church, brought about by Vatican Council II and its spirit, he left his original monastery. He soon realized that it was imperative that the traditional Benedictine way of life be preserved and kept alive for the welfare of the holy Catholic Faith. On July 13, 1994, he received the Abbatial Blessing by His Excellency, Bishop Robert F. McKenna, O.P. Although the Abbatial Blessing confers on him the title and power of an abbot over a monastery, it does not make him a bishop with the power of ordaining to the Holy Priesthood.

bbot Leonard took the first steps to found the monastery in the year 1984. In April of 1985, land was purchased and shortly thereafter a temporary chapel, named after St. Francis of Assisi, was built. This chapel is no longer in use. Beside the chapel is a small house which was used as the first Novitiate. Like all great undertakings done for the love of God, it began small. Remembering his first days as a novice, Father Michael Sautner, O.S.B., can recall the very hard work and deprivations of those early days when there was so little. Father Michael is now the Abbey's Master of Ceremonies.

Construction of a new and permanent monastery was begun in April of 1989 and completed in the dawn of 1990. The monastery itself, where the monks live and sleep, is a building designed to accommodate 20 to 25 monks.

s soon as funds became available, construction of a proper monastic church was begun in October, 1992. In order to cut the cost of construction, the monks did as much of the work as possible themselves. Although the church was unfinished, the first Mass was offered to God in thanksgiving on the beautiful day of Christmas Eve, 1994. Finally, after three long years of hard work, the church was ready to be moved into. It was dedicated on April 23, 1995.

hrist the King Abbey is located in Cullman, Alabama, in the northern section of the state, amongst the lovely rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The Abbey’s one hundred and forty acres of land are situated in a quiet countryside, amid beautiful scenery and a peaceful atmosphere. Even though several private residences are located nearby, the Abbey enjoys the privacy that a contemplative life requires. Yet all exterior peace and beauty will not unite the soul to God. The monk must earnestly strive to dispose the cloister of his soul for the pure prayer of contemplation, where God is intimately known, not by an abstract theoretical knowledge, but by love.