Belmont Abbey is an American-Cassinese monastery of Benedictine monks and a minor basilica in the town of Belmont, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. The Abbey Basilica of Mary Help of Christians was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. History Father Jeremiah O'Connell O.S.B. was a missionary priest who had built St. Mary's College in Columbia, South Carolina, but it had been destroyed during the Civil War. In 1876 he bought the 500-acre former Caldwell farm and donated it to the Benedictines of Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in hopes they would establish an educational institution in North Carolina. Under the direction of Abbot Boniface Wimmer of St. Vincent, the Benedictines set about to establish a monastery and college. The monks constructed the buildings from red clay. In 1884, the monastery was designated by the Holy See as Mary Help of Christians Abbey and Father Leo Michael Haid was elected the first abbot, a position he held until his death in 1924. In July 1886, the first three novices professed vows and an alumnus of the college became a novice. That same year, Haid founded a seminary at Belmont. On February 4, 1888, he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of North Carolina and was consecrated bishop at the Baltimore Cathedral by Cardinal James Gibbons on July 1, 1888, becoming the first American abbot-bishop. In May 1891 the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was dedicated as a pilgrimage shrine by Abbot Haid. Katharine Drexel, a benefactor of the monastery and college, visited Belmont Abbey in 1904. Territorial abbey From 1910 through 1977, Belmont Abbey was a territorial abbey, exercising some functions of a diocese. It had responsibility for parishes in the North Carolina counties of Gaston, Catawba, Cleveland, Burke, Lincoln, McDowell, Polk, and Rutherford. In 1944, its territory, except for Gaston County, was given to the Diocese of Raleigh. In July 1960, Gaston County too was placed under the Diocese of Raleigh. In 1977, its status as a territorial abbey was suppressed under the Diocese of Charlotte. Abbey Basilica of Mary Help of Christians Construction began on the Abbey Church of Mary Help of Christians in 1892 and was completed in 1894. The Abbey Church was dedicated 11 April 11, 1894. The church is a large cruciform plan, Gothic Revival style brick church. It has a steep gable roof and the front facade features two towers