USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of the Trappist abbey of New Melleray in Dubuque County, Iowa > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
25
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
the government frigate La Revanche. This ship had been assigned for their use by the French King.
The question had arisen as to where this company of Trap- pists should find a home, for in France there had survived the storm of the Revolution only the monasteries of the Grande Chartreuse and of Melleray. Arrangements were finally made by which the Abbot came into possession of the latter. Its lands had been sold, like those of other monaste- ries, and were in the hands of different owners, but at last through purchase and through gift the most of the monastic lands, and the Abbey, were repurchased and the religious were solemnly installed in Melleray on the 7th of August, ISI7.
MELLERAY.
The story of the founding of Melleray Abbey is as follows: In the twelfth century monks of Pontrond, a monastery of the order of Citeaux in Anjou, were sent in seach of a fitting site for a new monastery. They approached the village of Moisdon in Brittany and were so coldly received by the peas- ants that they were forced to take refuge in a forest. Here they selected a hollow tree for their resting place for the night, and within it they found a honeycomb which supplied them with them the food which the inhospitable peasants had refused. From this circumstance the name of the Abbey is said to be derived-Mellis alvearium, Mellearium, Melleray.1 Whether this derivation be correct or not, and it seems likely enough, the monastery was founded in 1142 by Alvin Sieg- neur de Moisdon. Of the ancient buildings nothing remains to-day but the gate of entrance and a part of the church con- secrated in 1IS3. Reconstructions and renovations succeeded each other at different intervals, and the main buildings date from the last century. The traditions of ecclesiastical archi- tecture had by that time declined, and the more ancient halls
1 Benoist, Felix. Notice sur l' Abbaye de N .- D. de La Trappe de Melleray, p. 14. (Nantes, ISS4.)
26
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
were cast down and in place of them were erected new build- ings which in their general appearance resembled chateaux rather than monastic habitations This stream of innovation was then in full flood in France, and betokened a decay not only of the true monastic rules of architecture, but also of the institution itself. Melleray therefore only followed the cur- rent, and displays in its architecture but few of the antique characteristics of the twelfth century. In 1791 it fell like other religious establishments beneath the wrath of the Con- stituent Assembly and was sold with all its dependencies as national property to many different purchasers.
To this monastery, reacquired as has been said by strenu- ous efforts, Dom Antonie, the Abbot of Lullworth, led his community. The revival of Trappist discipline in France was not lightly regarded by the Bretons or the world, and from Nantes to Melleray the monks were attended by throngs of peasants, and by the more important personages of the neighborhood. The community possessed again an Abbey, but an Abbey which had fallen into ruin and farms which had lain for years partly neglected. Besides all this, Melleray is situated in one of the poorest cantons of the department of the Loire-Inférieure. The property comprised about four hundred acres. This was divided into four farms. Three of them were let, and the fourth, around the Abbey, was reserved for the personal manual labor of the community. 1
It was the cultivation of these lands by the monks which rendered the name of the Abbot, Dom Antoine,? and of Mel- leray, so celebrated in France, for the English system of agriculture was introduced, English agricultural instruments, unknown in France, were brought to the lands of the Abbey, and the farmers of Brittany soon improved their methods and introduced the new and improved system. More than this, a market garden was established and vegetables were sold in
1 Benoist, Felix. Notice sur l' Abbaye de N. D. de La Trappe de Melleray, P. 35.
" For the life of Dom Antoine, otherwise Anne-Nicolas-Charles Saulnier de Beauregard, Doctor of Theology of the Sorbonne, see Ibid, p. 2S, et seq.
. 4.
27
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
Chateaubriant and the environs of the monastery, while an agricultural school was also established there, into which were received many pupils. The agricultural and horticultural school spread the fame of the Abbot through France, and ameliorated by its advanced methods the condition of the farmers of the neighboring departments. Until 1830 the community of Melleray lived on in temporal and spiritual prosperity and with numbers reaching at certain times, as many as two hundred. But in that year of revolution the Abbey met with a severe stroke of ill-fortune-one which led eventually to the establishment of the Abbey of New Mel- leray in Dubuque County, Iowa. The Abbot had long been known as a friend of the Bourbons. In 1820 he had pro- nounced at Nantes the funeral sermon of the Duke de Berri, who fell beneath the stroke of the assassin. In 1829 the Duchess de Berri had visited the abbey, and had been re- ceived with the honor befitting her rank, and then accorded to royal princesses by the customs of the Trappists. These causes were reinforced by the reception into the community of many Irish and English monks and by the envy for the agricultural prosperity of Melleray which was felt by the sur- rounding country. Hence when Charles X. was driven from his throne, and the citizen-King, Louis Phillippe, entered the Tuilleries, it was not wonderful that private hatred, and public suspicion should be directed against the Trappists of Melleray. They were accused of plotting against the new monarchy, of harboring Irishmen and Englishmen who were sturdy legiti- mists, and of rebelling against the new régime. This general policy against the monastic establishment of Melleray took definite shape in 1831. On the 5th of August of that year the prefect of Nantes obtained an order of arrest in accord- ance with which the community of Melleray was to be sup- pressed and dissolved. This order not having been obeyed, a detachment of soldiers in number about six hundred sur- rounded the Abbey on the 28th of September. Sentinels were placed at all places of egress, and the authorities assem- bled in the Abbot's room and declared that in virtue of an
-
28
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
ordinance of Napoleon the establishment of Melleray was unconstitutional.1 The authorities, therefore, proclaimed that they were armed with power to dissolve the brotherhood and give passports to all its members. The true causes for this action may be found among those stated above, and the sub- prefect of Chateaubriant made himself the following state- ment: "One of the chief reasons which has compelled us to have recourse to these unpleasant measures, is the clamor now prevalent among good citizens and respectable members of families, that almost all the people of the neighborhood prefer the Abbey mill to their mills; that the vegetables of Melleray are bought in preference, and at a cheaper rate than from the ordinary green-grocers, and that the leather of the monastery is in great request."2 There can be no doubt that the legitimist sympathies of the Abbot (which were not un- natural when the reactionary policy of Charles X. as regards ecclesiastical orders, and the admission into fuller freedom of the monastic orders is taken into consideration ) were of pow- erful weight in determining this action of the authorities. Louis Phillippe was not yet secure upon his throne-centres of rebellion against his government were to be found in many parts of France; under the new constitution the old religion had been freed from the iron hand which had restored under Charles X. the special immunities which under the Republic had been denied it -the monasteries were not unlikely to be centres of quiet but effectual protest against the dethronement of a King who was emphatically a lover of monks. Hence when the extreme loyalty of the Abbot to the elder branch of Bourbon had been displayed by his funeral sermon over the Duke of Berri, and by his royal reception of the Duchess, even slight signs of dissatisfaction with the new reign would be magnified by the new prefects into serious offenses, and in fact into treason. Advantage was taken of the old edicts about religious houses-edicts which had been superseded
1 Benoist, Felix. Notice sur l' Abbaye de N .- D. de La Trappe de Melleray, P. 43.
2 Concise History of the Cistercian Order, pp. 225-6.
29
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
since the Restoration-and a shadow of legal form was in this way given to the proceedings.
But the revised Charter 1 granted liberty of worship to every one, and the defense of the Abbot rested upon this ground. A second investment of Melleray in October result- ed in the giving of passports to forty five French monks, and the determination upon the part of the Abbot to put off the religious habit as a matter of prudence until he could examine the rights which the Charter conferred upon him, and then to stand upon them.
But the principle cause of trouble was the presence in Mel- leray of a large number of British Trappists. Fear of Eng- land made it embarrassing for the government to treat them otherwise than as Englishmen, and, the assistance of the Con- sul having been invoked, they were conveyed in free omnibuses on the 19th of November to a steam vessel which carried them down the sound to the Hebe, a sloop of war then lying at St. Nazaire. At length after some delay they sailed on the 28th of November and arrived in Cork, their destination, on the Ist of December. These British subjects were most of them Irishmen, and at their own desire they were convey- ed to Ireland. Such in brief was the history of the expulsion from France, in 1831, of the men who were to found Mt. Melleray. The story of Melleray Abbey from that time is briefly as follows: There were left in the monastery only a few monks, its industries were ruined, and for some years it remained in a state of forced inactivity and of uncertainty. At length it revived, and to-day is one of four first monasteries of the order, acknowledging, as do all the Trappist houses, La Grande Trappe as its superior and mother house.
MT. MELLERAY.º
Before the storm had burst upon the Trappists of Melleray,
1 Charter granted by Louis Phillippe.
: The chief sources for the history of the Abbey are manuscripts furnished to the author by the Reverend Father Superior and by the Reverend Father Placid of New Melleray. Some details will be found, but very meagre ones, in the History of the Cistercian Order, quoted above.
30
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
as just recounted,1 Dom Antoine, foreseeing a tempest, had sent to Ireland in 1830 Father Vincent Ryan and Brothers Malachy and Moses with the purpose of selecting a place of refuge. A foundation of Trappists had been solicited by the Archbishop of Dublin and the following letter is a copy of the reply sent to the Archbishop by Dom Antoine.
"MY LORD:
"The events which, during some months back, have been passing in France, are not less known to your Grace than to myself. Those which still threaten this unhappy kingdom, and which are directed more against religion than against the monarch, have made me think seriously before God, how I may preserve the precious and interesting colony which it hath pleased His goodness, notwithstanding my incapability and unworthiness, to confide to my care. I have cast a glance through Europe, and I tremble. For everywhere I behold commotion, insurrection, discord. Ireland appears to me, at this moment, the most secure from any revolutionary move- ment. The great majority of its inhabitants are Catholic; their attachment to the religion of their forefathers is prover- bial. Emancipation,2 which they so long and so justly de- manded, is now granted, and has already become the best surety of peace, in a country the spiritual wants of which are supplied by prelates whose zeal equals their piety. But the decisive consideration, my Lord, is this plain fact; in a house composed at this time of a hundred and seventy members, forty of these are from Ireland. One objection alone meets and opposes me-the want of funds. The greater part of the members who have joined us, brought nothing with them but their good will. The repairs of our monastery-the purchase of the property-the support of so large a family, have entirely exhausted our feeble resources; so that we have not the means wherewith to assist our brothers in the estab-
1 Above, title " MELLERAY."
2 The " Emancipation " of the Catholics in England-i. e., the repeal of the anti-Catholic laws, took place in 1829.
3I
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
lishment of a foundation in a foreign land. But God, who is rich in mercy, and whose Providence has constantly watched over us, since the commotions in France, has given to us at this moment a fresh proof of His unspeakable kindness and generosity in our favour. Many pious and respectable per- sons of both sexes in your Grace's diocese, have offered in a most handsome manner to supply funds for the foundation of a Cistercian house in Ireland. I behold in these traits of benevolence, my Lord, the worthy descendants of those of noble minded men, who formerly adorned Ireland with so many religious asylums, and who testified a deep interest in the monks of Citeaux-the children of St. Stephen and St. Ber- nard. I feel bound to respond to so generous an appeal; but that which principally confirms my resolution, is the assurance that bishops of Ireland, and more especially your Grace, will favour the undertaking by their kind sympathy and protec- tion.
"For this reason I have sent the Reverend Father Vincent Ryan, Prior of Melleray, and Father Malachy, to lay before your Grace our present position, our designs, and the details necessary for a full explanation of the subject. I do not doubt but that, under your Grace's auspices, this institution we have in contemplation, and which is intended for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, will prosper, and bring forth abundant fruit. May our wishes, my Lord, be realized: May Ireland again present that fervour and piety which rendered her eminent even among the Catholic kingdoms of the uni- verse! May the children of St. Bernard and of Abbé Rance, even in these later days-days of sorrow and general defec- tion from the faith-re-people once more your solitudes, and console the church for the losses which she daily deplores, and which seem to bring us to the borders of those unhappy times, when, as our Divine Master informs us, faith will be found no longer on the earth."1
The establishment of a house in Ireland proved more diffi-
1 History of the Cistercian Order, pp. 221-2-3.
32
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
cult than had been anticipated, but the first step toward this end was taken by Father Vincent in the renting of a house and fifty acres of land at Rathmore in the county of Kerry, about twelve miles from Killarney. While the pioneers of the new monastery were thus occupied in Ireland, the expul- sion of the Irish monks from France actually took place, and when they arrived in Cork, they were met by Father Vincent, who explained to them his needy circumstances, and stated that any of them were at liberty to seek homes elsewhere. Four or five took advantage of his permission, but the rest followed him to Rathmore. In the course of time nearly all the French exiles, not only those of Irish birth, but those of English and French extraction, were gathered to Rathmore. It was evident that a rented house of small dimensions and fifty acres of land were entirely inadequate to the carrying out of the Trappist customs, and Father Vincent bent him- self to the task of obtaining a more fitting and spacious resi- dence.
Sir Richard Keane, a Protestant gentleman, made over to Father Vincent for a nominal rent an area of six hundred acres of mountainous land, barren and unbroken, and five lay brethren were sent in 1832 to begin the task of its enclosure and cultivation. This domain was situated in the county of Waterford near the town of Cappoquin. The surrounding country gave liberally of its means and of its manual labor to aid the Trappists in the erection of their monastery, and to help them to reclaim the desert which had never known any cultivation. At first, Father Vincent and a few of the monks whom he had brought with him from Rathmore, took up their abode in a small cottage near their farm called "the cottage Bethlehem"-but on the 20th of August, 1833, the first stone of the present Abbey was laid by Sir Richard Keane in the presence of the Bishop of Waterford, a numerous body1 of
1 At the laying of the corner-stone of Mt. Melleray there were present of the Trappists about twenty. Among this twenty were Father Vincent, Brothers Ambrose Byrne, and Foley of the lay brethren, and Brothers David and Fran- cis of the choir brethren.
33
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
clergy and a concourse of people which is said to have num- bered nearly twenty thousand souls. The progress of the building was however slow, and it was not until 1838 that it was inhabited by the community, and in October of the same year divine service was celebrated in the church of the mon- astery for the first time.
It is worth noticing, that in virtue of this first establishment of the Reformed Cistercians or Trappists in Ireland, the monastery was raised to the dignity of an Abbey, and by a brief of Pope Gregory XVI. Father Vincent was appointed a mitred Abbot. This was the first consecration of a mitred Abbot in Ireland since the Reformation, and the ceremony was celebrated on the 17th of May, 1835. The Abbey was given at the same time an independent jurisdiction, thus free- ing it from dependence upon the mother house. At this time the Abbey had become the home of the greater number of the French exiles-i. e., of about seventy persons.
"Mt. Melleray, the mother house of New Melleray, is situ- ated about three and a half miles northward from Cappoquin. The Abbey cannot be seen from Cappoquin, as the woods belonging to Sir Richard Keane's demesne conceal it from view, and, for the same reason, neither can the mountains to the rear of the Abbey be seen from the town. In fact, from the town no vestige of the celebrated Abbey of Trappists can be discerned. The town, like others of its size, is generally pretty noisy, there is an almost constant hub-bub there from morning to night, and the passing traveler sees nothing to indicate that in the near neighborhood there is a celebrated establishment of ascetics, of men living in profound solitude, entirely shut off from the busy world, observing among them- selves an almost unbroken silence and devoted exclusively to their eternal interests. When the traveler has driven perhaps a mile and a half on the Clonmel road, of a sudden he is startled. In front of him is an extensive plain, not cultivated, for it is in great part covered with heather; bounding his horizon on the north is a range of mountains, the two princi- pal heights being Knockmealdown and Knocknafolla. Quietly
34
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
seated at the foot of this latter height is the Abbey, nestling in groves of modern date. The buildings are low but very extensive. Looking down on the Abbey from the tower of the church, one might fancy himself looking down upon a village. A well kept avenue leads from the main road up to the Abbey. The first building that is seen upon this avenue is a school for the little boys of the neighborhood, and gener- ally two choir monks are employed to teach in it. The next building is the classical seminary, having a small lawn in front. After leaving the seminary the monastery lodge is reached in two or three minutes. This lodge is really a large two-story house, having from ten to twelve large rooms. As this lodge is outside the enclosure of the monastery, women as well as men are received in it. Here two lay brethren in their brown habits are always in attendance. At every hour of the day or night they are prepared to receive guests. Men who wish to see the interior of the monastery have no difficulty in gratify- ing their desire, for one of the brothers shows them with great courtesy all that is worth seeing-viz: the church, chapter room, dormitory, refectory, cloisters, cemetery, sac- risty, shops, garden, library, etc. Although the monks are met with in all parts of the house they never speak to visitors, they are intent on their various duties and go through them in silence. The numerous visitors never disturb them in the least, for the brother porter so manages that while the visitors are in the immediate vicinity of the brethren, they speak only in a low whisper. The brethren, though they are devoted to solitude and to seclusion and to silence, are not misanthropes, but, on the contrary, have very warm feelings for their fellow men, and hence are not disturbed when seeing them in the monastery."1
This first foundation of Trappists in Ireland was fruitful in results. Not only did the abbey prosper, but its prosperity
1 This description of Mt. Melleray is from the manuscript, kindly given to the author of the monograph by its writer, the Rev. Father Placid, who spent many years in Mt. Melleray, and is now Sub-Prior of New Melleray.
35
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
became so great, and its condition so crowded, that in about 1835, even before the monastery was completed, a few breth- ren were sent to England where an Abbey was founded, though under the affiliation of Melleray, in the same year. This Abbey is called Mt. St. Bernard, and is situated in Lei- cestershire.
Father Vincent, in order that his monks might contribute in some way to the public good, appointed a few choir breth- ren to conduct a classical school attached to the monastery. This is found in the seminary above alluded to.1 This estab- lishment was successful from its inception, and is to-day a prominent school in the county of Waterford. A part of the Abbey church was given up to the use of the public, and priests were appointed to take charge of it. This arrange- ment also was successful, and at the present time there are ten or twelve priests of the Abbey devoted to the services of the public.
Abbot Vincent died in IS45, and to him succeeded a Su- perior who held office only until 1848, and was followed by Abbot Bruno, who still governs Mt. Melleray. It was in his time that the emigration to the United States occurred which resulted in the foundation of the Abbey of New Melleray in Dubuque County, Iowa.
NEW MELLERAY.2
The history of the Trappist Abbeys which have been described in the earlier portions of this monograph finds its final outcome for the State of Iowa in the existence of New Melleray. Between Monte Cassino and the monastery which rises not far from the Mississippi, the connection, though extending through centuries, is distinct and plain. Monte Cassino, Cluny, Molesme and Citeaux; Monte Cassino, Fon-
1 Supra, P. 34.
" The sources for the history of New Melleray are, records of the Abbey, manuscripts written by the monks, and oral information kindly given the author by the Father Superior, and by Father Placid, Sub-Prior.
36
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
trevault, Savigni, La Trappe, Citeaux. The stream of monas- ticism which flowed from that Italian summit of the Appen- nines, though divided into many channels for six centuries, found its legitimate expression in the Cistercian reforms, and in that, attracted perhaps insensibily, united those monas- teries of the older order which were situated on different sides of France. Citeaux becomes therefore a new point of departure, and from this La Trappe, Valsainte, St. Susan of Lullworth, Melleray, and Mt. Melleray are distinct ancestors in the pedigree of New Melleray.
We will preface the history of New Melleray with a brief description of its situation. This Abbey is situated in the State of Iowa, about twelve miles southwest of the city of Dubuque. The approach to it from the city is by the mili- tary road for ten miles, a road which unlike most American roads is macadamized. Thence for perhaps two miles the road is undulating, winding over hills, and through valleys. At the end of ten miles one turns abruptly to the right and passes into a forest. This forest is penetrated by a road which has been constructed by the monks, and which is car- ried on roughly laid blocks of stone across a number of deep ravines. As one plunges from the light and splendor of the 'summer's day into these darker recesses, the mind is well prepared for the stillness and quiet of the Abbey. Emerging from the forest road, the Abbey is seen at a little distance, and the cross crowning a gentle elevation.
As the Trappists invariably select quiet and remote situa- tions for their monastery, so the site of New Melleray is no exception to the general rule. The immediate grounds of the Abbey are surrounded by a high, close fence, the gates of which are usually kept locked. The lodge and the house for strangers which exist in older establishments 1 have not yet been erected here. On the contrary, the stranger is received at a side door of the main building which opens into
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.