The group, headed by Neuchâtel Attorney General Pierre Aubert, has been calling on witnesses and victims to come forward since Monday.
At the end of February the Augustinian canons' abbey in the canton of Valais announced the establishment of the commission to independently investigate the allegations of abuse investigated by Swiss television.
In addition to Aubert, the commission consists of four historians from the University of Fribourg.
It will work on the basis of witness statements and archive material and is intended to clarify the allegations, which relate to cases in Switzerland and abroad from the 1960s onwards.
The aim is to shed light on institutional behaviour and will not comment on individual responsibility.
"The research looks at the mechanisms and conditions that made these abuses possible, as well as those that favoured their concealment or exposure," according to the commission's statement.
Its report is due to be published in mid-2025.
In addition to those affected by abuse, witnesses are also being sought who can provide information about the structures of the abbey and how the canons dealt with their environment.
Allegations against five canons who are still alive
The allegations were brought to light in November by a report on Swiss public television RTS.
A total of nine canons were accused, five of whom are still alive. Among the accused was the prior of the monastery Roland Jaquenoud, who left the abbey after after accusations against the abbot Jean César Scarcella in the meantime. Jaquenod resigned as prior as a result.
The following week, Pope Francis appointed the former superior of the Congregation of the Great St Bernard, Jean Michel Girard, as Apostolic Administrator of the abbey.
Girard had already announced to the press in December that he would external help with the reappraisal.
According to the abbey, no proceedings against any of its members are currently pending with the public prosecutor's office.
Saint-Maurice Abbey is a monastery of Augustinian canons in the Swiss canton of Valais. It is considered to be the oldest uninterrupted monastery in the West.
As a territorial abbey, the monastery and an area of almost 100 kilometres belonging to it are equivalent to a diocese.