About New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa:
In the late 1840s, Ireland was ravaged by the potato famine. Monks from Mount Melleray in Ireland sailed to North America in search of monastic sites. They settled on six hundred acres of flowing prairies and timberland on the Iowa frontier east of Dubuque offered by Mathias Loras, the first bishop of the diocese. On September 18, 1849, sixteen others left Ireland and in November sailed up the Mississippi from New Orleans. Six of those founders succumbed to the cholera plague on the journey. The ten remaining monks finally arrived at Dubuque as winter was settling in.
The harsh conditions resulted in the departures of novices and postulants, as well as some professed monks. For those who stayed, their love of God and their firm desire to establish a monastery in America left them undaunted. They immediately established good relations with their neighbors and two of the first monks of New Melleray, Clement Smyth and James O’Gorman, were appointed bishops in Iowa and Nebraska.
They faced enormous hurdles even within the Monastery
The bitter cold of the winter of 1860 scared away a superior. A decade later a brother’s cattle speculation resulted in a debt of $230,000.00. That would be over four million dollars today. An aging community and a lack of vocations in the early 1900s caused the Order’s abbot general to say that “a miracle from God” was required to keep New Melleray from folding. But the monks continued to farm their land and to build their monastery with limestone they quarried and dressed themselves and gradually young American men began to join the abbey, attracted by the authenticity of the life here. By the eve of World War I the population numbered over fifty monks and in 1950 we were in a position to make a foundation of our own, Assumption Abbey at Ava, Missouri.
Now in the twenty-first century, the Irish heritage of friendliness and openness is still alive at New Melleray. They continue through both a return to the sources and a discerning reading of the signs of the times to find ways to integrate the renewal stimulated by the Second Vatican Council with sound monastic tradition.
Everyone is welcome at New Melleray Abbey. Their church and gift shop are open from 6:00 am until 8:00 pm daily (check their website below for any changes). Daily Mass is at 8:00 a.m. and Sunday Mass is at 9:00 a.m.
Their Christmas Midnight Mass is at midnight. The Mass and all of their Offices are open to the public. Please join us!
They do accept offerings for masses to be said by their priests. The Dubuque Archdiocese has set these at $5.00 per mass. Please send your intentions to the attention of the Mass Secretary at the address below.
They invite everyone to join them as well for Eucharistic Adoration every Sunday at 5:00 p.m. followed by Vespers and Benediction at 5:30 p.m.
They offer private retreats for both men and women throughout the year in their Guesthouse.
Traveling to New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa:
Peosta is roughly 12 miles west of Dubuque, the nearest major city and nearest airport.
Address:
6632 Melleray Circle
Peosta, Iowa 52068
Phone: +1 563-588-2319
Click here for the official website of New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa.