The Founding of Regina Laudis Abbey: A Story Made for Hollywood

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

Education, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, History

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Mother Benedict Duss hid from the Nazis in her French Benedictine monastery during World War II. After General Patton's Third Army liberated her abbey she pledged to return to the United States to establish a Benedictine monastery to pray for and bless her homeland. Through the assistance of two future popes — both of whom would eventually be canonized — and a number of other providential happenstances, the Abbey of Regina Laudis was finally established in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The story of the founding eventually became the basis for the acclaimed movie Come To The Stable, which was nominated for eight Oscars, including for the screenplay written by Clare Booth Luce. Regina Laudis has been the home of Mother Dolores Hart since she left a budding Hollywood acting career in the 1960s, and it was the place where the actress Patricia Neal found solace and healing after her tumultuous life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic history brought to you by the support of listeners like you.
0:11.5	If you like our podcast, please become a supporter. Also, be sure to rate us and give us a review
0:17.8	wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Noelle Heister Crow.
0:21.4	And I'm Tom Crow.
0:22.7	Today we're talking about Mother Benedict Duss and how she founded the Regina Laudis Abbey in Connecticut.
0:29.6	Yes, but it's a lot more exciting than that.
0:32.2	And that was pretty exciting all by itself, wasn't it?
0:34.2	Absolutely.
0:35.3	Sure.
0:36.4	But no, this episode is about how the liberation of a French town during World War II
0:41.6	by General George Patton's army led to Benedict and nuns to found a monastery in the United
0:47.5	States and how she was aided by two future sainted popes and how Claire Booth Luce came to turn the whole epic tale into a delightful
0:57.1	film which garnered eight Oscar nominations. Well, when you put it like that, as with so many of our
1:04.2	stories, there is a lot going on here. Yes, God is never doing just one thing at a time. This one
1:10.6	begins well before World War
1:12.3	II. Vera Duss was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1910. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania
1:18.9	while her mother was originally from Switzerland. When she was still young, her mother took her to
1:24.1	Europe, where she grew up in France. She went to school and eventually to the Sorbonne
1:28.6	where she studied to be a surgeon. And she was a capable student and driven to succeed. But in 1936,
1:35.6	the day after graduating, she shocked her family and associates by entering the Benedictine Abbey at Juar,
1:43.1	northeast of Paris.
1:44.5	She was given the name Mother Benedict.
	...

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