Ave Maria Grotto @ St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama

The Ave Maria Grotto is located on the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey, the only Benedictine monastery of men in the State of Alabama. The Abbey was founded in 1891. The Grotto consists of a landscaped hillside of 125 small stone and cement structures, the handiwork of the creative genius, Brother Joseph Zoetl, O.S.B., a monk of the Abbey for almost 70 years.Show more

A pleasant two-block pathway winds beside these miniature buildings, passing in front of a large cavern-like grotto (Italian word for cave) on the lower level of the hillside. Opened in 1934 on the site of a former stone quarry used by the Abbey, the Grotto was a continuation of the work of Brother Joseph, who built his first replicas in about 1912 and his last, the miniature of the beautiful Lourdes Basilica Church, in 1958. It was constructed when he was 80 years old.

Brother Joseph Zoetl was born in 1878 in the town of Landshut, Bavaria. In 1892 he came to the newly founded St. Bernard Abbey where his monastic life was spent in prayer and in laboring in the Abbey power house. When not busy shoveling coal into the furnaces, Brother took time to construct some miniature buildings using stone, concrete, and unwanted donated materials, e.g., broken plates, costume jewelry, ceramic tile, beads, marbles, seashells, etc.

Originally Brother Joseph placed his creations in the gardens near the monastery, but due to the large number of visitors coming to see them, they were moved to the present site in 1934.

Brother Joseph, who died in 1961, is buried in the Abbey Cemetery, final resting place of the monks of the Abbey. The cemetery is one hundred yards north of the Grotto Gift Shop, and the path leading to it is across the Grotto parking lot. Visitors are welcome to visit Brother’s grave.