As of 2018, it is currently the only Cistercian monastery left in North America, alongside the Canadian Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth [fr] in Rougemont, Quebec.

In Eastern Europe, however, under the patronage of the Habsburg dynasty they were allowed to continue to operate, but only if they provided education, in a policy known as Josephinism.

After coming into power in Hungary following World War II, in 1950 the Communist authorities disbanded the Cistercian Abbey of Zirc, founded in 1182,[1] seizing control of its land, schools, and parishes.

The community continued to develop and was quickly raised to the status of an abbey, with Nagy being elected the first abbot and installed on January 4, 1964.

Today the monks work at both their own secondary school and at the University of Dallas, serving at both institutions as teachers and priests.