The day?s first shafts of light filter through the gothic windows in the stone chapel of New Melleray Abbey as the daily procession of Trappist monks make their way to their seats. The wooden benches scratch against the gray limestone floors as the monks settle in to their familiar places. Psalms resonate from wall to wall with an everlasting cadence as the monks chant their verses.
Thus begins another day at the one hundred and sixty one year old Trappist Monastery in Peosta, IA. So also begins a new video that explores 161 years of Catholic faith at New Melleray Abbey and the changes those years have brought.
The monks who founded New Melleray Abbey arrived in the Iowa wilderness in 1849, after a hard 77-day journey from Ireland in a transatlantic ship, endured a deadly cholera epidemic that took a number of the monks? lives and grueling winter conditions that almost finished off the remaining ones. The first monks came to Dubuque from Ireland at the invitation of the revered Bishop Mathias Loras and established New Melleray Abbey in 1849.
Dubuque was, at the time, a Midwest center of Catholic culture, home to key American Catholic missionary personalities like Venerable Samuel Mazzuchelli. These monks supported themselves through the sale of farm animals and crops raised on their acreage, which includes 600 acres of prairie given to them by Bishop Loras and 600 acres they bought for $ 1.25 an acre. During the Civil War, the early monks sold hogs to William "Hog" Ryan in nearby Galena, IL., who sold pork to the Union Army.
The young Irish Trappists survived and started one of the United States? most beautiful monastic communities just outside of young but thriving Dubuque, Iowa. They were a tough, humble lot of practical, hardworking craftsmen and farmers?as many Trappists are?attracted to a contemplative life of working with their hands outdoors in God?s creation.
Christian monastic life started in the 3rd century. The Rule of St. Benedict was written about 1,500 years ago and that?s the rule that the monks follow to this day, committing their whole lives to God in prayer.
The monk?s life is really a life of balance. The rhythm of that life is based on communal prayer, prayer of the heart, manual labor, study, lectio divina, and community life. To be mindful of God is one of the practices the monks take with them all day long.
Brother Placid Zilka, the caretaker of New Melleray?s award-winning 1,200-acre hardwood forest, has been at the monastery about fifty years. Over time, the monks have responded to changing economic conditions by moving from farming to handcrafted caskets, but their spirituality of prayer and work remains strongly intact. ?The prayer life just flows into the work life it seems to me,? says Brother Zilka. ?The carpenter shop and the casket industry, they?re great places for growing spiritually. God is always there??
Video and information on their handcrafted wooden caskets?watch now.
Trappist Monasteries aspire to live by the work of their hands, not donations. ?Saint Benedict says ?Ora et labora? a Latin phrase for pray and work. And the day is divided 50-50; half the day spent in prayer, half the day spent in labor. But the labor part can also be a prayer, especially if you?re mindful of God,? says Abbot Brendan Freeman. ?We realized that certain people admire the simplicity of our way that we deal with death. And then we said, ?Well, maybe let?s provide them with a simple wooden casket.?
The caskets have become an important ministry for the Trappists of New Melleray Abbey, who work hard at being good and faithful stewards of God?s creation. They craft the caskets and urns in their shop at the monastery, which includes special quiet areas within the shop so that the monks can work with their hands with minimal distractions. Much of the wood comes from their forest. Brother Zilka finds ample opportunity to see God in his work. ?Out here I can see God in the forest very readily, in the sky. And the nasty days when the wind is blowing and the snow is flying, then, you can really see God?s power and His majesty.?
But Brother Tobias Shanahan, who talks with many of the potential clients making phone inquiries, sees God at work at the monastery from a slightly different perspective. He views his interaction with the families who call as an opportunity to pray for them in a time of need. ?We?re looking to make our living in a good way. As it turns out, we touch hundreds and thousands of people.?
The monks see each casket as a work of art and are mindful of the casket?s end use. They hope that each casket they make will bring comfort to a family in their time of need. It?s a sacred ministry, a corporal work of mercy.
The handcrafted casket is just part of the story that the monks tell about the relationship they have with the families who purchase from the monastery. Every casket is blessed and prayed over by a monk. Each family member that is buried in a Trappist Casket is remembered in a special way with a mass, and a tree is planted in their honor in the forest. They find that many families send them notes thanking them for the caskets and for their prayers, sometimes even years after the funeral.
As the sun goes down, the Trappists of New Melleray Abbey gather for evening Compline service. An ethereal version of Ave Maria fills the air as it has for 161 years. For the monks of New Melleray, the day ends as it began, with prayer and thanksgiving for the work they do and the many people they bless.
For more information about New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, IA, or about their handcrafted caskets and urns, please visit their website. Anyone interested in information about private retreats at the monastery or in exploring a vocation, is invited to call 563-588-2319 or email monks(at)newmelleray(dot)org.
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