After years of planning, the priests of St. Michael’s Abbey are ready to have their new home built.

The 40 acres of their future campus have been prepped and ready in Silverado Canyon for more than two years, and recently a nearly $120 million fundraising campaign was completed to start the vertical construction.

Construction on the abbey is expected to take about two years.

The design of the new St. Michael’s Abbey is inspired by an abbey in the south of France. (Courtesy of St. Michael’s Abbey)

With the completion of a $120 million fundraising campaign St. Micheal’s Abbey can start construction on its new campus in Silverado Canyon. (Courtesy of St. Michael’s Abbey)

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The new St. Michael’s Abbey is designed by French architect Jean-Louis Pagès. (Courtesy of St. Michael’s Abbey)



More than 50 Norbertine Order priests and 34 seminarians make the tight quarters of the St. Michael’s Abbey in Trabuco Canyon home. There is also the St. Michael’s Preparatory School.

The Norbertine Fathers have said the property isn’t structurally sound enough to support a larger campus for their growing community.

They purchased a 320-acre former ranch about 7 miles north on Silverado Canyon Road to relocate the abbey. Most of the property will remain undeveloped, said Casey Cook, spokeswoman for St. Michael’s Abbey.

A monastery will be built along with an abbey church, convent, an administration building and a cemetery with a chapel. Later, a larger facility with dorms for the prep school will be added.

The project’s architect, Jean-Louis Pagès, was chosen more than a decade ago after the design of an abbey caught the eye of St. Michael’s leaders while touring southern France. Pagès was the architect.

The traditional Romanesque-inspired abbey will feature rounded arches, high ceilings inside and a more than 100-foot-tall bell tower.

The abbey was founded in 1961 by seven Hungarian priests who fled communist oppression.

The Norbertine Fathers have grown to serve the dioceses of Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino and Fresno. They have ministries that go out to hospitals, prisons and convents and hold summer camps and retreats.