The Abbot Primate of the Order of St. Benedict serves as the elected representative of the Benedictine Confederation of monasteries in the Catholic Church.
Through Pope Leo's assistance, land was secured in Rome and a new complex known as "Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino" was built for this new college.
It was in the papal brief on 9 December 1892 that he called for all Benedictine abbots to gather in Rome for "the laying of the foundation stone of Sant'Anselmo" that was to occur on 19 April 1893.
The subsequent meetings of these abbots and their representatives after that gathering centered on how to care for the new institution and whether to elect a "Repraesentans" of the Benedictine Order for a 12 year term who would also oversee the new Sant'Anselmo.
This was in keeping with the previous formation of national congregations of Benedictine monasteries that had been formed since the 13th century as a means of support for each other.
Next, he would serve as the "Grand Chancellor" of the newly reestablished College of Sant'Anselmo where he would govern the work on behalf of the Benedictine Confederation.
It seems clear to most historians that Pope Leo XIII at least initially envisioned establishing a superior for the Benedictines to function like those of other religious orders such as the Jesuits, Franciscans, or Dominicans.
As one historian noted, "Pope XIII acquiesced in the abbots' thwarting his original intentions to organize a more central authority for the 'Black Monks'.
[8]Today, the Benedictine Confederation is governed by its own Vatican approved constitution known as a "Lex Propria" that has been updated at various times and it, too, would outline the rights and function of the Abbot Primate.
This lex propria is grounded in the founding documents of "Summum Semper" and "Inaestimabilis" but allows for the flexibility of emendations and provisions proposed by the Congress of Abbots and approved by the Vatican.
Today the residential college houses an average of one hundred Benedictine monks from about forty countries, as well as other religious, diocesan priests, and lay people.
A large section on the east and west ends near the apse includes the traditional stalls for the monastic choir.
Since 1962, the church has also been the starting point of the penitential procession presided over by the Pope on Ash Wednesday, and which ends at the basilica of Santa Sabina where the first stationary mass of Lent is celebrated.