Boniface Schnitzbauer, 96; Trappist Monk Wrote Book on Baking

Brother Boniface Schnitzbauer, 96, a Trappist monk who became a master baker for his monastery and wrote “Baking with Brother Boniface,” died Wednesday. He was 96.

Brother Boniface, who treated cooking and baking as if it were a sacrament, was the oldest monk at Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, about 30 minutes from Charleston, S.C. He died at the monastery where he had lived since 1952, the abbey said in a news release.

His cookbook was published in 1997 and is still a bestseller at the monastery.

His recipes are a part of life for the 30 Trappist Cistercian monks who get up in the middle of the night to begin a day of worship, prayer, meditation and work. They are vegetarians, and bread is an important part of their diet.

Brother Boniface, born William Schnitzbauer in Germany in 1908, had no baking experience when he came to Mepkin Abbey. He learned from an older monk.

Earlier, after immigrating to the United States, he had first worked as a barber in Manhattan.