Melleray Abbey

Melleray Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, founded about the year 1134. Guitern, the first abbot, erected the original monastery in 1145, but the church was not completed until 1183, under Geffroy, the fourth abbot.

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 Dom 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 religious were dispersed.

This, however, was not the end of Melleray. The Trappists, expelled from France, took refuge at Valsainte in Switzerland; from there Dom Augustine de Lestrange established them in various parts of the world. Through the generosity of Sir Thomas Weld, a wealthy English Catholic and the father of Cardinal Weld, they settled (1795) at Lulworth, Dorset, England. St. Susan's was soon created an abbey, and Dom 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 Melleray.

Although much of the soil of their property was stony and sterile. Upon these fields they applied the skill learned from the improved methods of English farming, introducing new types of plows and the first threshing machine ever used in Brittany. 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.

Today Melleray Abbey is given to Chemin Neuf community.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

La Meilleraye-de-Bretagne, France

Details

Founded: 1134-1183
Category: Religious sites in France
Historical period: Birth of Capetian dynasty (France)