Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey

Last updated
Abbey of Our Lady of the Mississippi
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey.jpg
A view of the abbey church from a quiet resting area just outside
Monastery information
Order Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance
Established18 October 1964
Mother house Mount Saint Mary's Abbey
Wrentham, Massachusetts
Dedicated to Our Lady
Diocese Archdiocese of Dubuque
AbbotMother Rebecca Stramoski, O.C.S.O., Abbess
Site
Location Dubuque, Iowa
United States of America
Coordinates 42°24′58″N90°35′42″W / 42.416°N 90.595°W / 42.416; -90.595

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.

Contents

History

In 1960, the Trappistine nuns of Mount Saint Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts had decided that they had exceeded the capacity of their monastery, due to the great number of religious vocations of that era. They therefore decided it was time to make a new foundation.

The original site was to be in Argentina, where there was already a new monastery founded by the monks of the Trappist abbey near to Wrentham. That site did not work out, however, so the abbess, Mother Angela, O.C.S.O., asked the Trappists abbots of the United States for possible sites. The abbot of New Melleray Abbey offered to assume responsibility for such a foundation.

After a period of searching for a suitable location, and the generous donation of a benefactor, in July 1964 the "Hickory Hill" estate, south of Dubuque, became available and was recommended as a suitable site. The abbey was founded in 1964 when the first thirteen nuns left in to settle on the present site of the abbey, under the leadership of Mother Columba Guare, O.C.S.O. The nuns began making candy soon after, as a source of income, but they also attempted to support the monastery through farming, growing Christmas trees, and raising livestock. [1]

The monastery was declared an autonomous community and raised to the status of abbey on 3 May 1968. Two years later, on 7 May, Mother Columba was elected as the first abbess of the community. She continued to lead the community until 1982. She was succeeded by Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, who served as abbess until 2006 when Mother Nettie Louise Gamble, O.C.S.O. was elected. [2] Mother Rebecca Stramoski was elected abbess in 2012 and was re-elected in 2018 for a second six year term.

Today

Currently the abbey is home to about 20 nuns, who, as required by the Rule of St Benedict, spend their days in a balance between choral and private prayer, lectio divina (meditative reading of Scripture and other spiritual books) and manual labor. The Abbey supports itself primarily with candy making, but also farms the land it owns on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. Visitors are welcome to make a retreat and stay in any of several guesthouses on the property but these are often booked months in advance.

The nuns have a daily routine that involves spending a large part of their day in prayer, work, and contemplation. Each day begins with the Office of Vigil at 3:45 a.m.. Compline, the last prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, is at 7:15 p.m. The Abbey is well known for candy, Trappistine Creamy Caramels. From September through December the Sisters make over a ton of caramels each week and ship them worldwide. The nuns operate an onsite gift shop stocked with candy from their factory as well as various religious gifts.

Expansion

In 1999, the nuns of the abbey decided to begin a daughter foundation, Tautra Abbey, in Tautra, Norway, and five nuns of Mississippi Abbey and two Norwegian nuns from other monasteries arrived there. In March 2006, Tautra Mariakloster became an autonomous priory.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trappists</span> Roman Catholic religious order

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Melleray Abbey</span> Trappist monastery near Dubuque, Iowa

New Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery located near Dubuque, Iowa. The abbey is located about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque and is in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Currently the Abbey is home to about 16 monks. Several of the monks work in their business, Trappist Caskets, and some of their food comes from the garden behind the Abbey. The superior of the monastery is Dom Brendan Freeman, who was appointed by Father Immediate McCarthy in December 2021 after consulting the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani</span> American Trappist Monastery

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portglenone Abbey</span> Cistercian monastery in County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey, also known as Portglenone Abbey, is a Cistercian monastery in Portglenone, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, founded in 1948 by the Cistercian community of Mount Melleray Abbey in County Waterford. The monks bought Portglenone House, a country mansion built c. 1810 by the Church of Ireland Bishop Dr. Alexander who demolished the local castle. History records that Sir Roger Casement often stayed in the house in the early years of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tautra Abbey</span>

Tautra Abbey was a monastery of Cistercian monks founded in the 13th century on the island of Tautra in the Trondheimsfjord in Norway. The island is part of the municipality of Frosta in Trøndelag county, Norway. Tautra Abbey was dissolved during the Reformation in Scandinavia when its lands were passed to the Crown, but the sizeable ruins of the church are still to be seen. The ruins of the former abbey are relatively well preserved and are a favorite tourist destination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cistercian nuns</span> Female members of the Cistercian Order

Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order of the Catholic Church.

Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Abbey is a Trappist/Cistercian monastery located in Nouvelle-Arcadie, New Brunswick, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaarland Priory</span>

Klaarland Priory or the Priory of Our Lady of Klaarland is a Trappistine monastery in Lozen in Bocholt in the province of Limburg, Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brecht Abbey</span> Trappist abbey in Belgium

Brecht Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth, is an abbey of Trappistine nuns located in Brecht, in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp. Life in the abbey is characterized by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soleilmont Abbey</span> Church building in Gilly, Belgium

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.

The Our Lady of the Angels Monastery is a 507 acres (205 ha) Trappistine monastery near Crozet, Virginia, which sits in a small valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Route 64. They are cloistered from the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Saint Mary's Abbey</span> Trappistine monastery in Wrentham, Massachusetts

Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey is a monastic community of some fifty Trappistine nuns in Wrentham, Massachusetts. The more complete, formal name of the Order is the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, whose founding at Cîteaux, France dates back to 1098. This community follows the reforms of the Cistercian Order as established by the 17th-century Abbot Armand de Rancé at the Abbey of La Grande Trappe.

The Southern Star Abbey, is a Cistercian monastery located in a remote, rural area of the North Island, New Zealand in the Diocese of Palmerston North. The monastery supports itself by operating a dairy farm. It is located at Kopua, between Takapau and Norsewood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Abbey, Glencairn</span> Monastic Community of nuns in Ireland

Saint Mary's Abbey, sometimes known as Glencairn Abbey, is a monastic community of nuns located in the townland of 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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity</span> Historic Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah

The Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity was a Trappist Cistercian 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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas</span> Trappist monastery in Tibhirine, Algeria

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.

The Santa Rita Abbey is a monastic community of the Trappistine branch of Cistercian nuns located in Sonoita, Arizona, within the Diocese of Tucson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rawaseneng Monastery</span>

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.

Bunda Pemersatu Monastery is a Trappistine monastery located in Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The monastery was officially established on the Palm Sunday in 12 April 1987 as a daughter house of Rawaseneng Monastery in Temanggung Regency. Its architecture was one of the works of Fr. Y. B. Mangunwijaya, and in 1993 was awarded the National IAI Award from the Indonesian Institute of Architects (IAI).

References

  1. Website of the Abbey "Our Origins"
  2. International website of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance