It is not be the first time the monastery has had to revive itself. The American monks arrived in 2000, under a plan by their order, the local archbishop, residents and town officials to populate a priory that had been abandoned since 1810, when Napoleon suppressed monastic orders here.

Led by Father Folsom, who is the prior emeritus, the monks now number 15. They learned beer-making from experienced Trappist brewmasters in Belgium, and began to make Nursia in 2012. The beer’s name was chosen “specifically to help the townspeople, rather than naming it after St. Benedict,” Father Nivakoff said.

“We wanted people to identify the beer with the town,” and to help support it, he added.

Brother Augustine Wilmeth, who was born in South Carolina and serves as the brewmaster, said Nursia was “the only monastic beer in the world that is made exclusively by the monks.”

Other monastic brewing operations, he explained, have grown into million-dollar enterprises with many workers. In Norcia, the monks do everything themselves, producing around 10,000 bottles each month.