New Melleray: Cistercian Monks Receiving
All as Christ and Preferring Christ Above All

Welcome to New Melleray Abbey. We are delighted that you are visiting our monastery.

We will have a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and a 10:00 Mass on Christmas Day.

New Melleray is a community of Roman Catholic monks. We belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, commonly known as Trappists. Disciples of Jesus Christ, we join countless men and women who throughout fifteen hundred years have discovered the Rule of Saint Benedict to offer a challenging and effective way of living the Gospel. Our communal way of monastic life in the Cistercian tradition serves our desire to be wholly oriented to the experience of the living God.

Located southwest of Dubuque, Iowa, New Melleray was founded in 1849 by monks of our Order from Mount Melleray Abbey, Ireland. Like all monasteries, New Melleray Abbey is a school of charity. The monastery is a place where we learn to love God, to love ourselves, and to love each other. Together with its fertile farmland and rugged woodlands our monastery provides us with solitude and precious silence.

Through our guest house and other forms of monastic hospitality, we are happy to offer to our brothers and sisters who follow other paths, a place where they may find acceptance, peace, and prayer. Click on “Visit Us” for various ways to share in our way of life as a long-term guest living within the community.

With Trappist Caskets we support ourselves and supply employment to local men and women by making and selling simple wooden caskets and burial urns of exceptional quality.

Again, welcome to New Melleray’s home page. We invite you to explore our website to find out more about us. You might start by checking out one of these links.

What’s Happening at the Abbey

February News

With a bonus day for the month of February, we were able to schedule an Information Forum and catch up on local occurrences. Not everything merits the title of an event....READ MORE

Closing of the Year

The end of the year is an opportunity to review some of the events that closed out our year. We did venture into some significant efforts to reach out in vocational awareness....READ MORE

Schedule Changes

The end of the year is an opportunity to review some of the events that closed out our year. We did venture into some significant efforts to reach out in vocational awareness....READ MORE

October Information Forum

The community met on Thursday, October 26th, for our monthly Information Forum to exchange current news and events. We had hosted three sisters from Mississippi Abbey from October...READ MORE

September Song

It has been a long time since any news items have been posted so it might take a while to catch up on what has been happening. We will just move chronologically backwards in time,...READ MORE

A View of Life at New Melleray