The Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity was a Trappist [1] Cistercian [2] monastery in Huntsville, Utah, United States. They were Catholic contemplative monks of an enclosed religious order known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO).
The abbey was founded in 1947 as a daughter house of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky at the invitation of Bishop Hunt of Salt Lake City. [3] The monks briefly used temporary World War II barracks which had been left on the location, and soon moved to Quonset huts. Plans to replace the deteriorating huts [4] were placed on hold in 2007. [5]
The monks had a special relationship with the Missionaries of Charity. In 1972, Mother Teresa visited Huntsville Abbey for a retreat with the monks, at the invitation of Brother Nicholas Prinster, one of the monks who had spent some time with her. [6] He died in 2018. [7]
The monks of Utah were involved with the founding of a Trappistine monastery of nuns in Arizona. Over the years, many of the priests from Utah were sent to be the chaplain for Santa Rita Abbey. [8] National Geographic produced a short video about the Trappist Monks of Holy Trinity Abbey. [9]
One of the notable monks at the abbey was former Abbot Casimir Bernas OCSO, who wrote almost 400 reviews of biblical and theological journals and textbooks. [10] A former monk, Walter M. Miller Jr., wrote an fictional book based on the monastery in Utah, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Utah author Richard Crangle wrote another fictional work loosely based on the monks of the monastery, titled Temptations Behind Stained Glass: A Canticle of Desires and Redemptions. [11] A former Utah Trappist monk priest, George Fowler, wrote Dance of a fallen monk: a journey to spiritual enlightenment about his 20 years at the monastery, before he eventually left the Catholic Church to marry a former nun. [12]
Father Charles Cummings, OCSO was an editor of Cistercian Studies Quarterly. He was also the author of monastic books, including Spirituality and the desert experience; [13] Eco-spirituality : toward a reverent life; [14] Songs of freedom: the psalter as a school of prayer; [15] and two editions of Monastic Practices. [16]
The monks supported themselves by farming and beekeeping on the abbey's 1,840 acres of land. Among other goods, they sold bread, multigrain cereal, creamed honey, and handmade clocks in the gift shop. [17]
The abbey had 32 monks when it was founded, and at one point it held 84 monks and novices. [18] As the number of monks at the abbey dwindled and the average age among those remaining increased, its industries were gradually discontinued. The decision was made to sell and close down the abbey. [19]
On August 27, 2017, the abbey celebrated its final mass and was closed afterward. [20] Two monks transferred their vow of stability to Genesee Abbey, another Trappist abbey in New York. [21] One monk, Father Charles Cummings, OCSO became the chaplain at Our Lady of Angels monastery for the Trappist nuns in Crozet, Virginia. [22] He died in 2020 while transferring his vow of stability to the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA. [23] The remaining monks moved to a nursing home in Salt Lake City. [24] The influence of the monks on their neighbors in the valley was documented in a commentary printed in the Ogden, Utah newspaper. [25]
In 2018, a documentary film, book and poster by John Slattery, cinematographer and director, titled PRESENT TIME: Journal of a Country Monastery, were crowdfunded to document the 70-year history of the abbey. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
Brother David McManus, OCSO was the last librarian for the monks. He died in 2019. [31]
Father David Altman and Father Patrick Boyle were interviewed by the local diocesan newspaper as they reviewed the finished limited edition of the book that has been released in advance of the DVD Present Time. [32] Father David Altman was again interviewed by the Intermountain Catholic about the "stay-at-home-order" due to the COVID-19 pandemic being similar to having the entire world to adjust to certain monastic ways. [33]
The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard himself, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of the "cuculla" or cowl worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastics that branched off from the Cistercians. They follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and have communities of both monks and nuns that are known as Trappists and Trappistines, respectively. They are named after La Trappe Abbey, the monastery from which the movement and religious order originated. The movement first began with the reforms that Abbot Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé introduced in 1664, later leading to the creation of Trappist congregations, and eventually the formal constitution as a separate religious order in 1892.
Mariawald Abbey was a monastery of the Trappists, located above the village of Heimbach, in the district of Düren in the Eifel, in the forests around Kermeter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In September 2018, the last remaining monks left Mariawald Abbey and the monastery is currently up for sale.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is a Catholic monastery in the United States near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County. The abbey is part of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, better known as the Trappists. Founded on December 21, 1848, and raised to an abbey in 1851, Gethsemani is considered to be the motherhouse of all Trappist and Trappistine monasteries in the United States. Gethsemani is the oldest Trappist monastery in the country that is still operating.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City is a Latin diocese of the Roman Catholic Church for the State of Utah in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese, formerly of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco and, since May 30, 2023, of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas.
Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic, Trappist monastery near Coalville, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1835 in the parish of Whitwick and now in that of Charley. The abbey was the first permanent monastery to be founded in England since the Reformation and is the sole Trappist house in England. The monks brew the only Trappist beer in Britain.
The Abbey of Our Lady of the Mississippi is located near Dubuque, Iowa. The nuns there are members of the branch of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, commonly referred to as Trappistines. They are a part of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.
Nunraw Abbey or Sancta Maria Abbey, Nunraw is a working Trappist monastery. It was the first Cistercian house to be founded in Scotland since the Scottish Reformation. Founded in 1946 by monks from Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, Ireland, and consecrated as an Abbey in 1948, it nestles at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills on the southern edge of East Lothian. The estate of the abbey is technically called White Castle after an early hill-fort on the land.
Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Abbey is a Trappist/Cistercian monastery located in Nouvelle-Arcadie, New Brunswick, Canada.
Klaarland Priory or the Priory of Our Lady of Klaarland is a Trappistine monastery in Lozen in Bocholt in the province of Limburg, Belgium.
Kurisumala Ashram is a Trappist monastery of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in the Sahya Mountains in Vagamon, Kerala, India.
Soleilmont Abbey is an abbey of Trappistine nuns situated in the forest and commune of Fleurus, at Gilly near Charleroi, Belgium, founded, according to tradition, in the 11th century, which became Cistercian in 1237. The nuns were expelled as a consequence of the French Revolution in 1796, but soon re-established themselves in 1802. The community became Bernardine in 1837, and Trappist in 1919.
Saint Mary's Abbey, Glencairn is a monastic community of nuns located in Glencairn, County Waterford, in Ireland. The community belongs to the Trappist branch of the Cistercian order, thus the nuns are also referred to as Trappistines. The original community of this monastic tradition had been welcomed to Ireland by St. Malachy in 1142. The monastery was founded in 1932 by nuns of Holy Cross Abbey—located at that time in Stapehill, Dorset, England—which itself had been founded in 1802 by a small group of refugee nuns from France, led by a nun who had been imprisoned in the Bastille during the French Revolution, and narrowly escaped being sent to the guillotine. The land for the St Marys Abbey, had been bought for them by the Cistercian Mount Melleray Abbey. The monks from Mount Melleray used to operate the farm.
The Abbey of Our Lady of the Redwoods is a monastic community of the Trappistine branch of Cistercian nuns located in Whitethorn, California, within the Diocese of Santa Rosa.
The Santa Rita Abbey is a monastic community of the Trappistine branch of Cistercian nuns located in Sonoita, Arizona, within the Diocese of Tucson.
Fransiskus "Frans" Harjawiyata O.C.S.O. was an Indonesian Roman Catholic monastic abbot and member of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, who are more commonly known as the Trappists. Harjawiyata, who was the first Indonesian-born Trappist abbot in the country's history, headed the St. Mary's of Rawaseneng Monastery in Temanggung Regency, Central Java province, from 1978 to 2006. Harjawiyata is credited with helping to develop Christianity in Indonesia by translating Catholic scriptures and chants into Indonesian. He translated the Breviary from Latin into Indonesian, authored several books on spirituality, and composed several Indonesian-language Gregorian chants. His chants are still performed in Catholic churches throughout Indonesia today.
Rawaseneng Monastery is a monastery complex of the Catholic Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), popularly known as the Trappists, located in Temanggung Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The monastery was officially established on 1 April 1953 as a daughter house of Koningshoeven Abbey in Tilburg, Netherlands. Apart from being a residence for the monks, there are also a church, prayer garden, retreat houses, coffee plantations, dairy farms along with the processing industries within the monastery complex. Ronald Bell, a pilgrim from the United States, shares his impression about this place, "You will get all the stages, praying, meditating, contemplating sacred readings, and working. All of those constitute an inseparable part of the experience." Not far from the monastery complex, it lies the Church of Santa Maria dan Yoseph as the center of the Rawaseneng Parish, just ahead of the Kindergarten and Elementary School of Fatima Rawaseneng which are managed by the Dominican nuns.
Erik Varden, O.C.S.O. is a Norwegian Catholic Bishop who is also known as a spiritual writer and a Trappist monk. He was appointed bishop-prelate of the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim on the 1 October 2019, and he took up this position on the 3 October 2020, after a sabbatical period.
Raymond Joseph David Stanislaus Flanagan was a Catholic priest and Trappist monk.
