1810, when Napoleon clamped down on monastic orders. In time, the number of Benedictines rose to 20, all American save for one Canadian.

The Benedictine monastic order insists on a simple, spiritual life of discipline, prayer and chanting, but a life that is also industrious. The Rule of St. Benedict, a book of precepts that dictates the orders and principles of monastic life, does not contemplate a holy existence for lay-a-bouts. Chapter 48 states "for then are they monks in truth, if they live by the work of their hands."

But what work? One of the monks had some experience in brewing and was sent to Belgium to learn the art of Trappist beer making. Donations rolled in and the brewery was built in 2012.

Almost all the monks are involvedin some way. Texan monk Fr. Martin Bernhard is the monks' cellarer – he is in charge of food and clothes provisioning – and manages the brewery. After a slow start, beer production of two varieties of the barley malt-based Nursia beer – the light Bionda and the dark Extra – ramped up to 12,000 bottles a month.

Mario Jacozzilli, owner of a butcher shop in Norcia. Chris Warde-Jones

Fr. Bernhard found distributors in Italy and the United States, but was unable to crack the LCBO, in Ontario. "The brewery was really helping us rely less on donations," he said. "Before the earthquake hit, it was really starting to take off."

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In Norcia, the beer, which costs €7.50 for the big, wine-sized bottle and €4 for the small