Mellifont Abbey
Welcome to our website. We are a community of monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, sometimes called Trappists. The first Mellifont Abbey was founded in 1142 by St. Malachy, bishop of Armagh and St. Bernard of Clairvaux and flourished until its closure in 1539. With the return of monks to New Mellifont in 1938 monastic life was once again established in the area. Today our monastery is situated in the village of Collon between Slane and Ardee on the main N2 to Derry road, not far from the ruins of the original monastery now known as Old Mellifont. We lie in the centre of a large estate of gentle, rolling hills, wood and farmland. We boast a small river and lake. It is a beautiful site, a place apart, offering peace and solitude to all who come. Here we monks make our home and welcome our guests.
Today our monastery is situated in the village of Collon between Slane and Ardee on the main N2 to Derry road, not far from the ruins of the original monastery now known as Old Mellifont. We lie in the centre of a large estate of gentle, rolling hills, wood and farmland. We boast a small river and lake. It is a beautiful site, a place apart, offering peace and solitude to all who come. Here we monks make our home and welcome our guests.
Monastic life has existed in the Church since the early years of Christianity. It is a life characterised by prayer, solitude and joyful penitence. Cistercian monks and nuns are men and women who dedicate themselves to the worship of God in a hidden life within the monastery under the Rule of St. Benedict. They lead a monastic way of life in community. In this way of life they render to the divine majesty a service that is at once humble and noble.
The Cistercians Mellifont Abbey belongs to the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. It is the only Order in the Church where men and women form one united Order, electing one Abbot General and one General Council. The Order was established in France in 1098 by a group of Benedictine monks who desired to live St. Benedict’s Rule as literally as possible. The Cistercian way of life is based on community living. Cistercian monks seek God and follow Christ under a rule and an abbot in a stable community of brotherly love. It is a life of sharing, caring and service where all strive to be of one heart and mind. By supporting one another and sharing one another’s burdens they fulfil the law of Christ, participating in his sufferings in the hope of entering the kingdom of heaven.
St. Benedict calls the monastery a “school of the Lord’s service.” It is the place where Christ is formed in the hearts of the brothers through the liturgy, the abbot’s teaching and the fraternal way of life. Through careful and diligent listening to God’s Word monks are trained in a discipline of heart and action to be more and more responsive to the Holy Spirit. A most important goal of the monk is to attain to purity of heart and a continual mindfulness of God’s presence.