All were dissolved as a consequence of the French Revolution in 1798, but were restored by Napoleonic decree in 1803, with the exception of the Abbey of St. Gall, where the Prince-Abbot refused to make the necessary political concessions.

The anti-monastic policies of the Swiss cantons, however, later brought about the dissolution of monasteries in Pfäfers (1838), Muri (1841), Fischingen (1848) and Rheinau (1863).

The outlook for Swiss Roman Catholics during the Kulturkampf was so bleak that the ancient Abbeys of Einsiedeln and Engelberg began a program of establishing new monasteries in the United States, so that the remaining Swiss monasteries would have a refuge if they were all exiled.

Accordingly, Pope Leo XIII authorized the creation of this congregation on April 5, 1881, under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[2] The Congregation, as of 2019, is composed of abbeys and priories throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Guatemala.