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.

The next two dates for our Vocation Weekends, Come and See, are Labor Day Weekend, September 1-3, and the last weekend in October, 27-29. Click on “Becoming a Monk” for more information.

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

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

April Information Forum

The end of April was given a formal farewell through our monthly Information Forum. Little emerged on the liturgical front except to express satisfaction with having the sisters...READ MORE

Easter Sunday Mass

The end of April was given a formal farewell through our monthly Information Forum. Little emerged on the liturgical front except to express satisfaction with having the sisters...READ MORE

March: Lion or Lamb

Death of Br. Thomas: Br. Thomas (George) Imhoff died on the evening of March 23rd at the Stonehill Care Facility in Dubuque at the age of 94. He was transferred...READ MORE

A View of Life at New Melleray