Monks and Businessmen in Catalonia: The Benedictines of Montserrat (1900–1936)

Abstract

This article studies the strategy developed by the Benedictine Community at the Monastery of Montserrat to conceal their patrimony through the constitution of a public limited company. The singularity of this case lies in the opacity that the Benedictines created regarding their properties in the eyes of the government and in the fact that the public limited company was, rather than just a simple mechanism to conceal the Community's assets, a real tool for business management. This instrumental character included a strategy for the enlargement of the patrimony, a line of improvement in the use of rented estates and services, and the execution of the Community's decisions concerning its assets. The business analysis of Larsa is focused on the development of the firm compared to that of its geographical environment, Catalonia, so as to show the similarities and differences between the Benedictine public limited company, managed by members of a religious order, and those run by laymen. Larsa's strategy was based, as that of similar firms, on organic growth and a low level of indebtedness, although a break occurred in that strategy as the result of an exogenous shock (the October 1934 Revolution) that forced the company to modify its objectives from longevity and solvency to profit maximization, dividend distribution, and even business decapitalization.

What can the corporate world learn from the cellarer?

“…Similar to other (Benedictine) abbeys (Prieto et al, 2006;Fernández Roca, 2010) and religious organisations in general (Nwankwo et al, 2012), the case study abbey is heavily intertwined in the local economy and society. It runs several enterprises such as a forestry and a fishery.…”

“…From a managerial point of view, Benedictine abbeys are interesting organisations because a large number of them have managed to survive for centuries, withstanding wars, revolutions, and other periods of radical change (Rost et al, 2010;Inauen et al, 2010b;Feldbauer-Durstmüller et al, 2012). In addition, Benedictine abbeys have also traditionally been strongly integrated into local economies by serving as landowners or as employers (Tredget, 2002;Fernández Roca, 2010). Similar to the reasons why profit-oriented firms install professional CFOs in order to safeguard the financial well-being of firms (Lutz and Schraml, 2012), the question arises of whether the cellarer also plays an equally important role in the long-term development of Benedictine abbeys.…”

Towards a definition of performance for religious organizations and beyond

“…However, compared with other Austrian Benedictine abbeys, it can be regarded as rather small, with a convent of approximately 20 monks and employing approximately 30 secular employees at the time of our study. Similar to other Benedictine abbeys (Prieto et al, 2006;Fernández Roca, 2010), the case study abbey is heavily intertwined in the local economy and society. Among other activities, it runs two schools, a forestry, and a fishery.…”

The state relationship with religion: Defined through disciplinary procedures of accounting and regulation

“… 5. While in Spain in 1767 the enlightened government expelled the Jesuits, generally they had difficulties with delineating the state sphere from that of the religious (Alvarez-Dardet Espejo et al, 2006). Therefore, secular government occurred definitively later in Spain, but ‘between 1833 and 1936 [there] was a constant pendulum-like motion between pro-clerical and anticlerical governments’ (Fernández Roca, 2010: 243). …”