New Melleray: Cistercian Monks Receiving
All as Christ and Preferring Christ Above All
Our telephone service has been interrupted for nearly two weeks. But you may contact us by email: guesthouse@newmelleray.org
Welcome to New Melleray Abbey. We are delighted that you are visiting our monastery.
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
Monthly Activity
Simmering in Summer
Activities in July seemed to heat up in all senses of the words. We were not spared the spikes in temperatures and humidity that afflicted most of the country. The exchanges...READ MORE
The wind blows where it will (John 3:8)
June brought us entertainment on the weather front. At least two major storms ripped through the area, detaching large limbs and branches from their trees. On the 7th, we experienced...READ MORE
May Days
The beautiful spring weather provided the impetus to organize another Walk in the Woods, when some of the monks and nuns of Mississippi Abbey join for a hike on either of our wooded...READ MORE
Springing Forth
The Paschal season is in full flower, with alleluias lifting up the ends of our songs and prayers. Although our Easter Vigil service began at 4 a.m., there was a large gathering...READ MORE
Time Marches On
The flow of events has been fairly smooth, with few ripples asking for attention. The community did enter a week of retreat the first week of March. Our Constitutions...READ MORE
