Immensee Switzerland

The Mother House of the SMB at the Heart of Switzerland

Immensee is the mother house of the Bethlehem Mission Society — a place of memory, prayer and community life at the heart of Switzerland.

Our mission

Founded in 1896, Immensee remains the spiritual and administrative centre of the Society. Around the mission house, the "Im Bethlehem" project has created a unique intergenerational neighbourhood where SMB members, families, students and visitors live side by side, sharing daily life, prayer and common spaces. From here, the General Council serves the Society’s international mission across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Immensee is a small village in the canton of Schwyz, set on a hill between Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug. Two kilometres away rises the Hohle Gasse and the Tell Chapel of Küssnacht — one of the founding places of Swiss memory.

It is here, on this hill, that the Bethlehem Mission Society chose its motherhouse in 1896 — and it is from this hill that hundreds of Bethlehem missionaries have set out for Africa, Asia and the Americas, often never to return except in spirit.

Today Immensee is still the home of the Society: the place where its General Council resides, where its older confreres live a community life shaped to their age, and where the chapel and the cemetery keep alive the memory of a century of mission.

The Im Bethlehem Project

Around the mission house, a new neighbourhood has been built in recent years: «Im Bethlehem» — an intergenerational housing project where SMB members, lay tenants, families, students and visitors share the same site, the same chapel, the same garden and the same bistro.

What is unique about Immensee today is that the around 20 members of the SMB community do not live apart from this neighbourhood — they live within it. The community is organised internally in three small Living Groups, adapted to age and health, but these groups are spread among the buildings of «Im Bethlehem», alongside lay families and other residents. There is no closed monastery and no separated wing: the SMB presence is woven into the everyday life of the neighbourhood.

This is the specificity of «Im Bethlehem», and of our community here: a living presence in the midst of the wider community. The rhythm of common life is adapted to age and capacities.

Seat of the General Council

The General Council of the Society — the Superior General and his counsellors — has its seat at Immensee. From here it serves the whole international Society: the local community here at Immensee, the community of Torry in Fribourg, and the SMB confreres serving in apostolic fields in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The SMB General Council

Leadership Team

Day-to-day life in the Immensee residence is shaped by a leadership team of four:

the Vicar General — ordinary superior of the Immensee community members and link to the General Council,
the Rector of the Church — for liturgy, retreats and spiritual life,
the Director of the Infopoint — for personal welfare, accommodation of guests and daily communications,
the Operations Manager — for rooms, buildings, the library and the art collection.

Together they ensure that the community life of Immensee keeps its rhythm.

A Living Chapel and a Living Memory

The chapel of the Bethlehem mission house is open to all. Daily Mass is celebrated in community, and the Sunday Mass welcomes parishioners, residents of «Im Bethlehem», friends of the Society and pilgrims. The chapel is also the place where vows are renewed, where General Chapters open and close, and where the Society gives thanks each year for those of its members who have gone home to God.

Through the year, Immensee also hosts cultural events — exhibitions, concerts, lectures, meetings between cultures and religions. The Society's art collection and library, carried back from the mission countries over a century, are available for study and guided visits on request.

The historical SMB farm continues to operate — a discreet reminder that contemplative life, manual work and care for the land have always belonged together at Immensee.

More about Immensee

For news, events and the full agenda of life at the Immensee mother house, please visit Im Bethlehem.ch There you will find the latest news from our community in Immensee, the schedule of Masses and public events.

The SMB History