Assumption Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Our Lady of the Assumption, is a community of monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, popularly known as Trappists. The Abbey, is located in Douglas County, seventy-five miles southeast of Springfield, Missouri.
The monks first came to Ava, Missouri from New Melleray Abbey in Iowa in 1950 to establish the monastic life there. They run a successful business selling fruitcakes. [1] After the number of monks continued to decrease for decades, the Trappist monks gave their monastery to a group of Cistercians from Vietnam in 2019. [2] [3]
Sequestered in the Missouri Ozarks, these monks make 30,000 fruitcakes a year. Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri, sells its fruitcakes all over the world, including in the famous Williams-Sonoma holiday catalog.