Mount Melleray Abbey Co Waterford Ireland

Mount Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Waterford. The Cistercian order itself dates back to the 12th century and the Trappists to the mid-17th century.the suppression of monasteries in France after the French Revolution, some dispossessed Trappist monks had arrived in England in 1794 and established a monastic community in Lulworth, Dorset. The monks returned to France in 1817 to re-establish the ancient Melleray Abbey in Brittany, following the restoration of the Bourbons. Within ten years, the restored monastery had two hundred members, of whom up to seventy were Irish. During the July Revolution of 1830, the monks were again persecuted and Waterford-born Father Vincent Ryan was sent by Dom Antoine, Abbot of Melleray. to found an abbey in Ireland.
Father Vincent initially rented a property in Rathmore, Co. Kerry. Sixty-four Cisterican monks landed at Cobh from France on 1 December 1831. The land in Rathmore proved unsuitable for housing the monastery and Fr Vincent looked to Co. Waterford, where Sir Richard Keane of Cappoquin had offered a tract of 600 acres of barren mountain land.
The monastery was founded on 30 May 1832 at Scrahan, Cappoquin. In the work of reclaiming the soil, the brethren were assisted by the local people. A number of "work pilgrimages" were undertaken by members of nearby parishes, the first by the parish of Modeligo.
On the feast of St Bernard, 1833, the foundation stone of the new monastery was blessed by Dr. William Abraham, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It was called Mount Melleray in memory of the motherhouse. In 1835 the monastery was created an abbey, and Father Vincent, unanimously elected, received the abbatial blessing from Bishop Abraham, this being the first abbatial blessing in Ireland since the Protestant Reformation. It was from Mount Melleray that a small colony of monks was dispatched to found the English Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in 1835. Abbot Vincent vigorously undertook the work of completing the abbey, but died 9 December 1845.
His successor, Dom M. Joseph Ryan, resigned after two years. To Dom Bruno Fitzpatrick, who succeeded as abbot in September 1848, it remained to consolidate. He devoted his energy to missionary work (see below). Building resumed in the late 1920s when Dom Marius O'Phelan bought the great cut limestone blocks from Mitchelstown Castle (28 miles west), which had been burnt by the local IRA on 12 August 1922. In 1925, the owners of Mitchelstown castle dismantled the ruins and the stones were transported from Mitchelstown by steam lorry, two consignments a day for at least five years. As the Abbey was being laid out, Dom Marius died and his successor, Dom Celsus O'Connell, continued to the monumental task. He opted for a more prominent site directly over the mortal remains of 180 of his fellow Cistercians. The monks ended up with far more stones than they needed and these were eventually stacked in fields around the monastery. n 1849, Dom Bruno Fitzpatrick, who had become abbot the previous year founded New Melleray Abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A., and, in 1878, Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. He also founded the Ecclesiastical Seminary of Mount Melleray. Originating in a small school formed by Abbot Vincent in 1843, it was developed by Abbot Bruno and his successors. A special thanks to Tomas o Sullivan {Tomas - Aerials } for showing me around.
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