Conception Abbey, located in Conception, Missouri, is a monastery of the Swiss-American Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation. The monastery, founded by the Swiss monastery, Engelberg Abbey in 1873 in northwest Missouri's Nodaway County. It was raised to a conventual priory in 1876 and elevated to an abbey in 1881. The Abbey church, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated in 1891. At present, the community numbers around sixty monks who celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharist daily and who staff and administer Conception Seminary College, the Printery House, and the Abbey Guest Center. Monks also serve as parish priests and hospital chaplains in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.
