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On Sunday September 20th, a Mass will take place at Mount Melleray in Waterford, in the southern part of Ireland The Abbey is important not just because of its spiritual role hearing confessions and hosting retreats, it was the FIRST monastery to be build in Ireland after the Reformation The apocalyptic reign of Henry VIII brought about the dissolution of monasteries across Ireland and Britain and this was the first ray of light to emerge after centuries By coincidence, it was another persecution which brought the monks to Mount Mellary in the first place in the 1830s, the July Revolution in France. The Trappists at Melleray in Brittany were forced to leave as a result in 1831. Irish and English monks from there landed in Ireland and soon set about seeking a permanent place to reside. It was not soon after its founding that it suffered its first existential crisis, the mass starvation of the 1840s and 1850s that is referred to as 'The Famine' In an 1847 edition of 'The Nation', it was reported 'three hundred destitute persons are relieved daily and receive rations from the limited resources of the Monks of Mount Mellary' By 1849, the Waterford News and Star reported that there were 400 people being fed daily there, though this came with a caveat. 40 monks were going to leave for Pennsylvania due to 'the exhausted state of the funds of their charitable institution' In 1849, the Tuam Herald was sharing calls for people to help the monks, who were by then facing difficulty. That same week, the Tralee Chronicle reported a Brother Macarius returning from the USA, where he spent three years raising funds with 'great success'. Later that year, the Abbott returned from the USA, where he was asked about plans to abandon Ireland for greener pastures. He said: 'as long as we can have even the poorest food and the poorest clothing here, we will never abandon our country' An 1852 article in the 'Cork Consitution' said that they had to sell their 'magnificent organ' and sanctuary organ, with 'half the community' being sent to America. Their first 20 years was described as a 'continuous struggle against crushing difficulties' So bad were conditions that in 1852, the Waterford News and Star reported a priest in Mauritius of all places had sent £8. He wrote to the Bishop of Waterford about the need for prayers at this terrible time: 'While the sentinels are asleep the holy Trappists watch over Israel ; they never cease to offer a holy violence to heaven by asking pardon for the sins of the world. Who is it that would dare to assert that if Ireland be arising from the night of misery in which she remained so long—if the tears which she has shed are being wiped away, that all her present and future happiness may not be attributed to the efficacy of the prayers of the holy monks of your lordship’s diocese?' Mount Melleray made it through those times, even founding a school and daughter houses. In the early 20th century, it played a crucial role in the formation of the world's largest lay apostolate, the Legion of Mary. Its founder Frank Duff made retreats there for 5 decades, travelling on bicycle from Dublin. It was while on retreat there that he encountered the book 'The Knowledge of Mary' which inspired him to include the Holy Spirit as central to Legion theology. Against all odds, Mount Melleray was founded in the wake of Catholic Emancipation and is still standing today and ready for a new chapter under Ave Maria University. In 1849, Irish newspapers published a poem by Thomas Connor called 'The Midnight Bells of Melleray' in which the Abbey stood as a symbol of hope amidst the horror of starvation: 'Ye midnight bells of Melleray! how many a changing year, Since first amid those regions dark you did with light appear, How pealed with joy and hope to all, have cheered the peasants' hearth, While famine stalked around his home in all its wildest dearth'

CatholicArena's tweet photo. On Sunday September 20th, a Mass will take place at Mount Melleray in Waterford, in the southern part of Ireland

The Abbey is important not just because of its spiritual role hearing confessions and hosting retreats, it was the FIRST monastery to be build in Ireland after the Reformation

The apocalyptic reign of Henry VIII brought about the dissolution of monasteries across Ireland and Britain and this was the first ray of light to emerge after centuries

By coincidence, it was another persecution which brought the monks to Mount Mellary in the first place in the 1830s, the July Revolution in France. The Trappists at Melleray in Brittany were forced to leave as a result in 1831. Irish and English monks from there landed in Ireland and soon set about seeking a permanent place to reside.

It was not soon after its founding that it suffered its first existential crisis, the mass starvation of the 1840s and 1850s that is referred to as 'The Famine'

In an 1847 edition of 'The Nation', it was reported 'three hundred destitute persons are relieved daily and receive rations from the limited resources of the Monks of Mount Mellary'

By 1849, the Waterford News and Star reported that there were 400 people being fed daily there, though this came with a caveat. 40 monks were going to leave for Pennsylvania due to 'the exhausted state of the funds of their charitable institution'

In 1849, the Tuam Herald was sharing calls for people to help the monks, who were by then facing difficulty. That same week, the Tralee Chronicle reported a Brother Macarius returning from the USA, where he spent three years raising funds with 'great success'. Later that year, the Abbott returned from the USA, where he was asked about plans to abandon Ireland for greener pastures. He said: 'as long as we can have even the poorest food and the poorest clothing here, we will never abandon our country'

An 1852 article in the 'Cork Consitution' said that they had to sell their 'magnificent organ' and sanctuary organ, with 'half the community' being sent to America.

Their first 20 years was described as a 'continuous struggle against crushing difficulties'

So bad were conditions that in 1852, the Waterford News and Star reported a priest in Mauritius of all places had sent £8. He wrote to the Bishop of Waterford about the need for prayers at this terrible time:

'While the sentinels are asleep the holy Trappists watch over Israel ; they never cease to offer a holy violence to heaven by asking pardon for the sins of the world. Who is it that would dare to assert that if Ireland be arising from the night of misery in which she remained so long—if the tears which she has shed are being wiped away, that all her present and future happiness may not be attributed to the efficacy of the prayers of the holy monks of your lordship’s diocese?'

Mount Melleray made it through those times, even founding a school and daughter houses.

In the early 20th century, it played a crucial role in the formation of the world's largest lay apostolate, the Legion of Mary.

Its founder Frank Duff made retreats there for 5 decades, travelling on bicycle from Dublin. It was while on retreat there that he encountered the book 'The Knowledge of Mary' which inspired him to include the Holy Spirit as central to Legion theology.

Against all odds, Mount Melleray was founded in the wake of Catholic Emancipation and is still standing today and ready for a new chapter under Ave Maria University.

In 1849, Irish newspapers published a poem by Thomas Connor called 'The Midnight Bells of Melleray' in which the Abbey stood as a symbol of hope amidst the horror of starvation:

'Ye midnight bells of Melleray! how many a changing year,
Since first amid those regions dark you did with light appear,
How pealed with joy and hope to all, have cheered the peasants'
hearth,
While famine stalked around his home in all its wildest dearth'

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