The followers of Saint Benedict — Benedictine Mary, Queen of the Apostles — contribute to the building of civilization with the help of bitcoin. Catholic nuns who have formed a monastic order, following the Rule of St. Benedict, buy, receive and store bitcoin in cold storage on behalf of their monastery.
They survive by self-sufficiency and financial support from all over the world, as the nuns of this order are represented in Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania. This is what makes bitcoin the perfect money for them.
The chaplain of the monastery, Father Matthew Bartulika, provided the sisters with hardware wallets and taught them how to send and receive funds in order to embark on the path to financial independence. His mission is to convert local Catholic parishes to the Bitcoin standard. At the moment, the Benedictines of Mary were the most ready for this transition.
There are some parallels between the spirit of bitcoin and the lifestyle of these nuns. Sisters do their job, dedicating their lives to a long-term, even eternal, perspective. The uplifting chants and hymns written by these nuns are even awarded.
Following the motto of St. Benedict "ora et Labora", which means "pray and work" in Latin, they demonstrate the principle of low time preference by praying eight times a day, growing their own products and keeping cattle and chickens.
Every visitor to the old monastery can see a completely new, awe-inspiring church towering over the territory. It is a beautiful building from an architectural point of view with hand-painted frescoes, Italian marble, vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows.
All this was made possible thanks to generous donations in bitcoins made in 2017, which allowed the Benedictines to build a church for centuries without having to take on a credit burden. Mother Cecilia described her first acquaintance with bitcoin, which took place in 2017:
“They [Bitcoin benefactors] knew that we needed to build a Church, and imagine, it helped us! I mean, it's just some kind of blessing. Without this, we probably would still be paying off the loan for this beautiful building.”
While churches and monasteries play the role of a refuge in the conditions of cultural decline, their financial condition is subject to artificially created inflation and the actions of the traditional financial system. The concept of bitcoin ensures that, thanks to BTC, these kind of spiritual citadels can be immune to financial censorship and can simultaneously interact with the global monetary network.
