Spirituality: The Monks of New Melleray. Here is another point of view by several priests who have visited this extremely beautiful facility that is peaceful and encourages devotional studies.
The evocative center of New Melleray Abbey is the monastery church which was renovated in 1973 and consecrated in 1976. Austere and expressive of the gravity and simplicity of the Trappist way of life, the chapel displays in stone, glass and wood the poverty of spirit that the monks accept as expressing their commitment to “prefer nothing whatsoever to Christ.” Compline in the monastery church is glorious. The space is enveloped in total darkness as the monks greet the close of the day with melodious song and chant. At the conclusion, with the singing of the Salve Regina, a lone icon of the Theotokos is illuminated- a sign to all present that in the gathering dark of a world awaiting its redemption, the Lord has come, is here, and most assuredly will come again. I thought after the experience of compline that if this was the last sight I would ever see, I would pass from this world to the next with confidence in the power of Christ to forgive and to save."
"In 1791 (following the precedents set by the tyrannical regime of the English king, Henry VIII) the revolutionary government of Paris ordered that the great Cistercian abbeys of France were to be violently suppressed and their properties seized. The nation state could tolerate no other cultural ethos other than its own and so the monasteries, which offered a clear and decisive alternative to state control and power, had to be abolished. Besides, they needed the money. This agenda all came crashing down with the downfall of Napoleon and in 1817 Melleray Abbey was established in Brittany. The ethos that gave rise to the suppression of the monasteries in 1791 resurged in 1830; the French monks of Melleray Abbey were arrested and a contingent of Irish and English monks living there were deported. These refugees established Mount Melleray Abbey in Ireland in 1832. It was monks from this monastery who founded New Melleray Abbey in 1849."
"The monks of New Melleray Abbey support their apostolic life through agricultural work and by making caskets (memento mori!). Examples of the their elegant craftsmanship (trappistcaskets.com) are displayed in a small gift shop. I asked Father Barron if the monks would mind if I laid in one to test it for size and comfort. He answered with a glance and directed my attention to the book display.
Spirituality: The Monks of New Melleray. For those who seek this experience, this Abbey is certainly a desirable place to do so.
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