The first initiative for the establishment of a Benedictine priory in Maribor dates back to 1922. It arose as a solution for the property situated in the territory of present-day Slovenia, which at that time belonged to the dependent priory of St. Paul’s Abbey in the Lavant Valley, whose seat was located at Vetrinjski dvor, Vetrinjska Street 17, in Maribor.
The efforts of the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to expropriate large landowners and distribute their estates among small farmers or nationalize them posed a danger that St. Paul’s Abbey itself might share the same fate. As a defense against this threat, the establishment of an autonomous priory, independent of St. Paul’s Abbey, was envisaged. The final separation was carried out in view of the danger of expropriation of St. Paul’s Abbey during the time of the German Reich.
Thus, on October 31, 1938, St. Paul’s Abbey founded an autonomous, independent Benedictine Priory of Maribor. The entire property of St. Paul’s Abbey located within the territory of Slovenia was transferred, as patrimony, to the new Priory of Maribor.
St. Paul’s Abbey in Admont also possessed extensive property in Slovenia, which, after the suppression of the Abbey by the German Reich, was in danger of being nationalized by the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia. For this reason, with the authorization of the Bishop of Maribor at that time, all of this property was rapidly transferred to the Priory of Maribor.
When Slovenia too came under the occupation of the German Reich, the Priory was suppressed by the Nazis, its property confiscated, and transferred into the ownership of the German Reich. After the end of the Second World War, the property was once again restored to the Priory of Maribor. However, two years later, following the introduction of agrarian reform in the then Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, the property was again confiscated by the communist authorities and gradually nationalized.
In this brief period, from 1945 to 1947, during which the Priory was revived, the Benedictine Priory of Maribor, by decree of the Congregation for Religious in the Vatican, was separated from the Austrian Benedictine Congregation (to which it had never been officially affiliated) and incorporated into the newly established Slavic Benedictine Congregation of St. Adalbert. Father Martin Kirigin, OSB, a native of Croatia, was appointed Prior Administrator.
Because the entire property and the monastic house had been confiscated by the then Yugoslav authorities, no monastic residence was available. For this reason, in 1948 the seat of the Priory of Maribor was transferred to an abbey in Croatia, where a vacant monastic house of the Olivetans—who had returned to Italy—was available.
In 1962, the small community was presented with the opportunity to settle in the old abbey on the island of Pašman, on the Croatian Adriatic. This new foundation, today the Priory of Saints Cosmas and Damian at Ćokovac, has continued to administer the property of the Priory of Maribor. In Maribor itself, Fr. Bernhard Toman, OSB (+1987), remained in residence, and he was later joined by Fr. Modest Merkač, OSB, as a new member of the Priory of Maribor.
In the years 2008–2009, the former monastic estate in Limbuš, near Maribor, was restored as a monastic building and, on July 5, 2009, solemnly opened and blessed by Archbishop Franc Kramberger of Maribor. On September 12, 2009, three Benedictine monks began living together in the new monastic house, following the appointment on May 1, 2009, of Abbot Emeritus Edmund Wagenhofer (Archabbey of St. Peter, Salzburg, Austria) by the Abbot Primate in Rome as Prior Administrator of the newly revived Benedictine Priory of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Maribor.
As the third member of the chapter and as Novice Master, Fr. Timotej Jurič, OSB, a native of the parish of Hoče and monk of Göttweig Abbey in Lower Austria, was sent on September 1, 2009, for a three-year term of service to assist the community. (Since September 1, 2010, Fr. Timotej has resided once again at Göttweig Abbey—since at that time there was no immediate need for a Novice Master in the Priory—and has exercised pastoral ministry in one of the local parishes there. His three-year membership in the Chapter of the Priory came to an end in August 2012.)
The old portal of the house is adorned with an ancient chronogram, which states that in the year 1846 this house came to life again, after having fallen into ruin. This motto may likewise be applied to the year 2009, when the house was not only fully restored but also enlivened with new monastic life.
V letih 2008 - 2009 je bil nekdanji Meniški marof v Limbušu pri Mariboru kot samostansko poslopje obnovljen in 5. Julija 2009 svečano odprt in blagoslovjen s strani mariborskega nadškofa Franca Krambergerja. 12. Septembra 2009 se je začelo skupno bivanje treh benediktinskih menihov v novi samostanski hiši, po tem, ko je bil 1. Maja 2009 Nadopat em. Edmund Wagenhofer (Nadopatija St. Peter, Salzburg, Avstrija) s strani Opata Primasa iz Rima imenovan za Priorja administratorja na novo oživljenega Benediktinskega priorata Sv. Cirila in Metoda Maribor. Kot tretji član kapitlja in kot Magister novincev je bil s 1. Septembrom 2009, za dobo treh let, poslan v pomoč s strani Opatije Göttweig, Spodnja Avstrija, rojak, P. Timotej Jurič OSB, doma iz Nadžupnije Hoče. (P. Timotej stanuje od 1. Septembra 2010 spet v Opatiji Göttweig (ker v Prioratu začasno ni potrebe po Magistru novincev) in opravlja pastoralno službo v enih od tamkajšnih župnij. Z mesecem Augustom 2012 se je končalo njegovo trienalno članstvo v Kapitlju Priorata.) Star portal hiše krasi stari Cronogram, kateri pravi, daj je v letu 1846 ta hiša ponovno zaživela, po tem, ko je bila predana propadu. To geslo lahko uporabimo tudi danes, za leto 2009, ko hiša ni bila samo popolnoma obnovljena, ampak je tudi zaživela z novim življenjem.
