Southern Star Abbey

Last updated

The Southern Star Abbey
Monastery information
Other namesKopua
Order The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance O.C.S.O.
Established1954
Mother houseMount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Waterford, Ireland
Dedicated toThe Blessed Virgin Mary
Site
LocationOn the boundary of Tararua and the Central Hawkes Bay Districts, New Zealand

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. [1]

Contents

History

Prescott land

In 1948 a farming couple at Kopua, Thomas and Rosalie Prescott, decided to give their farm of 360 hectares (890 acres) to the Catholic Church with the long-term idea of an agricultural college being established on it. Their only condition was that in some way a life-interest be reserved for Rosalie, and a home provided for their adopted intellectually handicapped son, John. It was a fine, productive property, ready made for monks who lived off land they cultivated, while they centered their contemplative lives on the full observance of the seven periods of formal liturgical prayer that punctuated each day. [2]

Finding monks

At that time, Kopua was within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Archbishop McKeefry approached the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky to establish a monastery, thinking that they might be interested because one of their monks Thomas Merton was the son of a New Zealander, Owen Merton. He also approached Koningshoeven Abbey in Berkel-Enschot, the Netherlands. Neither abbey expressed interest. But eventually Mount Melleray Abbey in County Waterford in Ireland agreed to the foundation. [2]

Foundation

On 9 June 1954, six monks from Mount Melleray arrived in Kopua. [3] The pioneers lived in the shearers' quarters on the property [1] while they built their first dwelling and began working part of the farm. In 1955 more monks arrived and the temporary monastery began to take shape. Wooden buildings were transferred from the former Pahiatua Polish camp to provide kitchen, dining room and library. These buildings, intended to be temporary, still serve their purpose today. [1] A Wellington lawyer, Thaddeus McCarthy, began drafting the complicated contract providing for the transfer of ownership of the Prescott farm to the Cistercians. [4] More monks gradually arrived from Ireland between 1958 and 1969. [1]

Threatened withdrawal

Even though he had approved of this arrangement while on a preliminary visit, back in Ireland the Mt Melleray abbot was having second thoughts and threatened to withdraw his men. He had come to think the initial transfer of land was inadequate; at least 120 hectares were necessary to sustain a self-sufficient community of 20 or more monks. "The ownership of a sufficient amount of land is the foundation rock of a Cistercian foundation. Take away our land and we cease to exist as Cistercians". Worried lest he lose the Trappists as he had lost the Carmelites who he had tried to establish in his archdiocese before, McKeefry consulted the Sydney Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Romolo Carboni, who intervened to smooth over the misunderstanding. It had been due to differing appreciations of land areas, land titles and New Zealand tax law relating to gifts; the deed of transfer was more than adequate security. [4]

Life of the community

From its inception the monastery attracted a great deal of Catholic interest and some vocations. By 15 September 1959 it was considered sufficiently stable for the connection with Mt Melleray to be ended, and the General Chapter of the Order raised Kopua to the status of an abbey. [1] The monastery was constituted as the Abbey of Our Lady of the Southern Star. On 9 April 1960 Fr. Joachim (later Joseph) Murphy was elected to the office of Abbot [1] and he was formally installed in a ceremony conducted by McKeefry in August 1960. Murphy continued as Abbot until 1986. During these years the changes in the Catholic Church made by the Vatican Council II made an impact. Renewal was required of the community. Monks were offered the opportunity for higher studies in Rome, Latin gradually gave way to English in the Liturgy and the emphasis placed on fraternal life in community led to significant changes in lifestyle. [1] During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Murphy and his team of priests quietly helped Bishop Owen Snedden (then McKeefry's assistant) with the painstaking work of criticising and commenting on draft English translations of various liturgical books as the church changed gear from the universal use of Latin. [5] Thomas Prescott died in 1962 and, in 1972, at the urgings of his widow so as to put into partial effect the couple's hope for the establishment of an agricultural college, a farm cadet scheme began. The family homestead accommodated up to six young men who received basic farm training from the monks before going on to an agricultural college. This institute closed in 1980. In 1979 a community of 30 celebrated its silver jubilee with the temporary buildings becoming permanent. [6] Rosalie Prescott continued to live with her son, John, on the property until her death on 17 July 2003, four days short of her 104th birthday, and John Prescott then joined the community. [1] From its foundation the monastery has provided for itself, carried out its charitable works and fulfilled its obligations of hospitality through the Guest House from mixed farming: dairying, beef, sheep, pigs and potatoes. Other subsidiary enterprises have been: cropping, the grafting of root stock for orchardists, growing carrots (for the Rabbit Board), strawberry plants and orchids. By the year 2000, dairying and beef production were the main farming activities. [1]

Current status

The monastery has a lay community for persons able to commit for a time to lead a community life that overlaps with the monastery. The members of the lay community are called "Companions of the Abbey". They are Christians, married or single, who reside at the abbey and live out the monastery's spirituality as fully as possible whilst remaining members of the laity. This vocation is normally temporary with a minimum period of three months. [7]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Southern Star Abbey Homepage: Cistercian Monastic Life
  2. 1 2 O'Meeghan 2003, p. 256.
  3. ↑ Southern Star Abbey. The Cistercians: Their Life and Ideals. Complete Account of the Trappist-Cistercians. Kopua: Southern Star Abbey, 1960. – Abstract: pp 25–28 have brief account of their coming to Kopua in the Hawke's Bay in 1954
  4. 1 2 O'Meeghan 2003, p. 257.
  5. ↑ Matthews, Richard (1995) James K. Baxter and Kopua, Journal of New Zealand Literature: JNZL, No. 13, pp. 257–265
  6. ↑ O'Meeghan 2003, p. 258.
  7. ↑ Hawkes Bay Today Abbey set for stellar revamp 29 December 2007

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 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.

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

Orval Abbey is a Cistercian monastery founded in 1132 in the Gaume region of Belgium, located in Villers-devant-Orval, part of Florenville, Wallonia in the province of Luxembourg. The abbey is well known for its history and spiritual life but also for its local production of the Trappist beer Orval and a specific cheese.

<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 abbot 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">Mellifont Abbey</span> First Cistercian abbey built in Ireland

Mellifont Abbey, was a Cistercian abbey located close to Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland. It was the first abbey of the order to be built in Ireland. In 1152, it hosted the Synod of Kells-Mellifont. After its dissolution in 1539, the abbey became a private manor house. This saw the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603 and served as William of Orange's headquarters in 1690 during the Battle of the Boyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monastery of the Holy Spirit</span> Trappist monastery in Conyers, Georgia

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit, officially the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit, is a Trappist monastery located near Conyers, Georgia, in the United States. It is part of the Roman Catholic church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clement Smyth</span> Irish-born bishop

Timothy Clement Smyth was an Irish born 19th century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Dubuque following the death of Mathias Loras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount St Bernard Abbey</span> Monastery

Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery belonging to the Trappist Order, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea</span>

Mount St. Joseph Abbey is an abbey of the Trappist branch of the Cistercians located in County Offaly, near Roscrea, County Tipperary in Ireland.

<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">Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey</span> Trappistine monastery in Dubuque, Iowa

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.

Peter Thomas Bertram Cardinal McKeefry was the third Archbishop of Wellington (1954–73) and Metropolitan of New Zealand and its first Cardinal.

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.

The Monastery of Our Lady of Jordan was a Strict Observance Cistercian (Trappist) monastery in the community of Jordan in Linn County, Oregon, United States, founded in 1904 and lasting for about six years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melleray Abbey</span> Abbey in La Meilleraye-de-Bretagne, France

Melleray Abbey 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.

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

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.

Owen Noel Snedden, was Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Wellington, New Zealand. He was the first Auckland-born priest to be consecrated a Roman Catholic bishop.

<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.

<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">Igny Abbey</span> Abbey in Marne, France

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.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.