Weston Priory is a community of Benedictine monks who reside in Weston, Vermont, founded in 1953. The Priory is within the confines of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which encompasses the entirety of Vermont. They are particularly known for the songs they have contributed to Roman Catholic worship over the past 50 years, their connection to Latin America, and the crafts produced at the monastery. History and mission Weston Priory was founded by Abbot Leo A. Rudloff of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem in 1953. He had the intention that some of those trained in Vermont would later assist the Community at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. Abbot Leo also expressed the hope that the Priory would become a Community in its own right in the movement of monastic renewal. Today, the community is an Independent or Conventual Priory. At the beginning, Abbot Leo considered locating the Priory in Pennsylvania or a few other places, but the presence of other religious houses in those places required that he look elsewhere. With the help of Benedictine Oblates Leon and Dorothea Smith, he located a suitable site in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The original building was an old abandoned farmhouse with an attached barn, a few miles from the village of Weston. The attached barn had been partially burned and was renovated to become the chapel. Abbot Leo engaged Architects and Builders, a Weston group to renovate the barn-chapel. The main house became the monastery kitchen, dining room, library, and tiny gift shop on the ground floor. Four small separate rooms and the Prior's room occupied the second floor. A dilapidated chicken house behind the main house was renovated to become classroom, recreation room and dormitory for novices. This latter building was heated by a small wood stove and fireplace and had indoor plumbing. In a small book titled The Silent Life, published in 1957 Thomas Merton refers to Weston Priory as a new Benedictine foundation of "the Primitive Observance". The priory was in fact one of several North American monasteries in the renewal movement that preceded Vatican Council II. Thomas Merton considered the community to be one of only a handful that was dedicated to Benedictine renewal, including the rediscovery of "choir monks," educated monks who prayed the full Liturgy of the Hours, yet not being priests. Founded on the Bible and the Benedictine Rule, the Weston community became increasingly dedicated