Melleray Abbey (French : Abbaye de Notre-Dame-de-Melleray) was a Cistercian monastery, founded about the year 1134. It was situated in La Meilleraye-de-Bretagne in the vicinity of Châteaubriant in Brittany, in the present Loire-Atlantique, France, and in the Diocese of Nantes. Between 1817 and 2016 it was a house of Trappist monks. Since 2016 it has been used by the Chemin Neuf Community.
Foulques, abbot of Pontrond in Anjou, which was founded from Louroux Abbey (itself a daughter foundation of Cîteaux), sent monks for the foundation of a monastery in Brittany. They chose a solitary location near Old Melleray, shown them by Rivallon, pastor of Auverné, which Alain de Moisdon, proprietor of the place, donated to them. According to legend, two of the founding brothers, spending the night in the forest, found in the hollow trunk of the tree under which they slept, a honeycomb, which supplied them with the food they desperately needed. This hollow tree marked the spot of the site of their new monastery, Meilleraie, which means honeycomb, and which in the long course of time has become Melleray. [1]
Guitern, the first abbot, erected the original monastery in 1145, but the church was not completed until 1183, under Geffroy, the fourth abbot. [2]
A small monastery built for about twelve monks, Melleray remained regular in observance until during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when relaxation prevailed. Etienne de Brezé (1544) was the first commendatory abbot, and from his time the monastery declined, until toward the end of the seventeenth century when, through the efforts of Jouard, vicar-general of the order, the Rule of St. Benedict was re-introduced, and the monastic buildings restored. In 1791 it was suppressed, and the few remaining religious were dispersed. [2]
This, however, was not the end of Melleray. The Trappists, expelled from France, took refuge at Valsainte in Switzerland; from there Augustine de Lestrange established them in various parts of the world. [3] Through the generosity of Thomas Weld, a wealthy English Catholic and the father of Cardinal Weld, they settled (1795) at Lulworth, Dorset, England, where they established a priory, St. Susan's. This was soon created an abbey, and Antoine de Beauregard was elected the first abbot (1813). In 1817, with changed conditions and the restoration of the Bourbons, the monks of Lulworth returned to France, and settled at Melleray. [2]
Although much of the soil of their property was stony and sterile they applied to it the skill learned from the improved methods of English farming, introducing new types of plows and the first threshing machine ever used in Brittany. [1] The restored abbey flourished, increasing from fifty-seven to one hundred and ninety-two members in twelve years. During the Revolution of 1830 they were again persecuted, especially those of foreign birth, of whom they had a great number. To make homes for these they founded Mount Melleray Abbey (1833) in Ireland and Mount Saint Bernard Abbey (1835) in England. Abbot Antoine de Beauregard (d. 1839) was succeeded first by Abbot Maxime, then by a second Abbot Antoine, and then by Abbot Eugene Vachette.
Under Antoine II several monasteries were established, among them Gethsemani Abbey (1848) in the United States. [4] Abbot Eugène, elected in 1875, was for many years the vicar-general of the Congregation of La Grande Trappe, and was instrumental in effecting the reunion into a single order of the three congregations into which the Trappists were then - 1892 - divided).
In 2015, the Trappist monks announced that they would leave the abbey in 2016, and give charge of it to the Chemin Neuf Community. [5] [6]
Cîteaux Abbey is a Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. It is notable for being the original house of the Order of Cistercians. Today, it belongs to the Trappists.
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.
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.
Val-Dieu Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Wallonia in the Berwinne valley near Aubel in the Pays de Herve.
Sept-Fons Abbey, Notre-Dame de Sept-Fons or Notre-Dame de Saint-Lieu Sept-Fons is a Trappist monastery at Diou in Bourbonnais in the diocese of Moulins in France. Around ninety monks currently live in the monastery, many of whom are novices sent from monasteries around the world.
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.
Westmalle Abbey, otherwise the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle, is a monastery of the Cistercians of Strict Observance in Westmalle in the Belgian province of Antwerp.
La Trappe Abbey, also known as La Grande Trappe, is a monastery in Soligny-la-Trappe, Orne, France. It is known for being the house of origin of the Trappists, to whom it gave its name.
Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in northern France (Île-de-France), situated in Cernay-la-Ville, in the Diocese of Versailles, Yvelines.
The Trappist Abbey of Rochefort or Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, which belongs to the Cistercians of Strict Observance, is located in Rochefort in the province of Namur. The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and its brewery, which is one of few Trappist beer breweries in the world. Life in the abbey is characterised by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life. The motto of the abbey is Curvata Resurgo.
Augustin de Lestrange was a French Trappist abbot, an exile from France after the French Revolution.
Mount Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford.
Lulworth Abbey was a Trappist monastery at East Lulworth in Dorset, England, established as a priory in 1796 by Thomas Weld for refugee French Trappist monks moving on from temporary shelter in the abandoned La Valsainte Charterhouse in Switzerland. The monastery at Lulworth was raised to the status of an abbey in 1813 by Pope Pius VII. In 1817 it was abandoned, as the monks were able to return to France, to the newly-re-established Melleray Abbey near Nantes.
Redon Abbey, or Abbey of Saint-Sauveur, Redon, in Redon in the present Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France, is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 832 by Saint Conwoïon, at the point where the Oust flows into the Vilaine, on the border between Neustria and Brittany.
Igny Abbey or Val d'Igny Abbey is a Cistercian abbey located in Arcis-le-Ponsart, Marne, France. It was founded in 1128 for Cistercian monks, dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution, re-established in 1876 for Trappist monks, destroyed in 1918, reopened in 1929 for Trappist nuns and modernised in 2008–12 to accommodate three or four pre-existing communities.
Guerric of Igny was a Cistercian abbot. Little is known about his early life. He may have been educated at Tournai's cathedral school, perhaps under Benedictine monk, Odo of Cambrai. Guerric appears to have lived a life of prayer and study near the Tournai Cathedral. His monastic formation was directly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, who praises him in several letters. In 1138, he became abbot of Igny Abbey, in the diocese of Rheims, a house dependent on Clairvaux. Here Guerric ruled as abbot until his death on 19 August 1157. It was here that he composed the 54 liturgical sermons that constitute his surviving works.
Port-du-Salut Abbey, also the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Port du Salut is a Trappist monastery located in Entrammes, Mayenne, France. The main monastery building dates from around the 13th century.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas is a Catholic monastery of Trappists, inaugurated on March 7, 1938, in Tibhirine, close to Médéa, in Algeria.
Villeneuve Abbey, dedicated to Our Lady, was a Cistercian monastery at the present-day Les Sorinières, near Nantes in Pays de la Loire, France, founded in 1201 and dissolved in 1790, during the French Revolution.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Melleray". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites: 
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