The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests. Today the terms "Order of St Benedict" and "Benedictine Order" are also used frequently to refer to the total of the independent Benedictine abbeys, thereby giving the wrong impression of a "generalate" or "motherhouse" with jurisdiction over dependent communities. The Benedictine Confederation, which was established in 1883 by Pope Leo XIII in his brief Summum semper, is the international governing body of the order, headed by the Abbot Primate.
Order of St. Benedict 1632[]
After the appearance of Grantville, the Order of St. Benedict learned that their order would be eventually reduced to a few thousand members after Dean Bernard acquired the book Western Civilization. Seeing the town as a sign from God, the Order tasked one Brother Johann, a native of Thuringia where Grantville was settled, with learning about the town.