Ottilien is a congregation of religious houses within the Benedictine confederation, founded by Fr. Andrew Amrhein, a monk of Beuron Abbey in the year 1884. The aim of the Benedictine Missionaries of St. Ottilien is to combine the Benedictine way of life with activity in the mission field. Benedictines are contemplative and active. The Benedictine missionary tradition found a new impetus in Fr. An
dreas as is popularly known, who founded the Missionary Institute of St. Joseph in Reichenbach Bavaria, on the feast of the Epiphany, 1884. This establishment was the first of its kind in Germany and experienced great difficulties because of anti-clerical atitudes, which were prevalent at that time. in 1887, this growing community moved to Emming-St. Ottilien where it continued to prosper. in 1896, the new monastery became a priory, and later an Abbey in 1902 and an archAbbey in 1914. The work of the Benedictines of St. Ottilien Spread to Africa and Asia as early as 1887, when pope Leo XII entrusted the Benedictines with the Apostolic prefecture of South Zanzibar, in what was then German East Africa, presently Tanzania. The Missionary Monks undertook work in Kenya among the semi-nomadic people of the kerio valley, in Kenya in 1972. In 1978, they established a formation house in Nanyuki. In 1982, they built a house at Ruaraka Thika road, which later developed into a parish serving the christian faithful living in Mathare. In 1986, they moved to Limuru-Tigoni, where they built a major Monastery, and as the headquarters of the Benedictines in Kenya. The Benedictines are more hospitable and their famous slogan is "Prayer and Work" (Ora Et Labora). Monks from Europe and Africa pray and work together in the same Priory.
