The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-06-27
AT MOUNT MELLERAY.

the principal range, lies an elevated
plateau bearing the name of Noun
Melleray. Far and wide it stretches
some four miles distant from the de-
, lightfully situated little town of Cap
! poquin, County Waterford. No more
appropriate site, one thinks. on behold.
ing it, could have been chosen for the
abode of religious silence and solitude
or for a home devoted to sacred sci
ence and meditation. The spot itself
far removed as it is from the busy
haunts of life and commerce, abounds
with scenery truly magnificent in its
wild grandeur, the whole forming a do
main where deathlike calm and stiffness
reigns supreme.
The famous Trappist monastery, sur
named Mount Melleray, forms, with its
many and extensive buildings, the cen
trail object of a picture which is both
pleasing and deeply interesting. Around
the sacred pile, on all sides, tXtend rich
green pastures and broad acres, cult
waited with a care which makes itself
visible even to tn most listless observ-
er. 1t is a fair, bright spot, indeed
meet for the erection of a sanctuary de-
voted TO religion and learning-where
life's highest and noblest ideals seem
easily realized.
TIL history of the famous abbey is
one that cannot fail to interest and
enchant even the ordinary reader.
Mount Melleray takes its name from
the Abbey of Melleray, in Brittany, to
which it is considered as affiliated since
the monks who founded it were, al
though Irishmen. professed members of
the French monastery. A persecution
set on foot by the French government
in 1880 against the religious commune
/ IF
of the founding of the Irish abbey
Failing in their first attempts at sup
preston, the French government re-
solved to eXpel those members from
Melleray, in France, who were foreign
by birth.
Irish Element Propenderates.
AT the time this measure was taken
there were nearly 200 monks in the alb
hey of different nationalities, the Irish
forming the majority. 1t was this pre-
ponderance of the Irish element in the
body that determined the choice of
Ireland as the place for the new set
Element. On December 81, 1880, two of
the Irish monks set out from France on
a journey to Ireland, in the endeavor
to find a new home for the Irish sec
ton Of the community in France. All
their first efforts were doomed to fail
ure, and at each new step unforeseen
difficulties arose to discomfort their
plans For months they travelled the
country in search of a suitable site for
the proposed abbey, to be met only
with bitter disappointment and hard
ships. At last. however, their deter
mined and praiseworthy efforts were
rewarded, for in the month of May,
1892, they obtained possession of Mount
Melleray from Sir Richard Keane, a
lond owner residing at Cappoquin, in
County Waterford.
The property formed part of the ex-
tensive plateau described at the begin
ming Of this article; but at that time it
was nothing but wild waste of unre
claimed, uncultivated, mountainous
land. Not a tree or shrub of any kind
was visible from end to end of this eX-
panse-nothing but stretches of bog and
huge boulders of stony earth could be
seen. Altogether the outlook was such
as to deter even the stoutest heart from
venturing to form a habitation there.
Nevertheless, the determination of the
monks surmounted all these difficulties.
and on May 80, 1882, they took possess
sion of their new home, which they
called Bethlehem.
Glorious Development to Come.
A poorer abode than that small house
1t would be hard to imagine, but from
humble beginning it was destined to
arise glorious and far-reaching devel- |
opment in years to come. Seeing Mount !
Melleray today, with its cultivated and |
rich pastures, cannot fail to call forth |
admiring and laudatory expressions. to-
gether with feeling surprise at the |
Wondrous transformation that has TAX |
en- place in the comparatively short |
space of seventy years
Today all is gladness, gruitfulness
and animation. The little cottage that |
the primitive monastery has
been replaced by a maze of large and |
buildings, forming quite a |
conspicuous and Interesting object in |
the landscape. The brown mountain |
heath, the furze and peaty morass have
almost disappeared, and in their stead |
may be seen meadows of emerald green
in richness, and stretches of arabic
land. This is the more wonderful when
we consider that every handful of earth
had to be brought to this dreary noun
tain side by the monks themselves. 1t
is a truly magnificent testimony to their
determination and tenacity.
A visit to Mount Melleray and its set
tement conyinces one of the really holy,
1iOu5h dOSNSIeg lives leo by the in
mates of the abbey. Its very sim
phcity is enough to cause even a cas-
ual visitor to come away deeply i'm
pressed. The daily life of the monAs-
terry begins at o'clock in the morn |
ing, at which hour the bell summons
the monks from their hard wooden
beds, and well earned repose, to begin
the tasks of another day. From the
time of rising until a. m. they are
engaged in their beautiful chapel at
their devotions. The pealing of the
organ, and the low monotonous chant
ing of the monks penetrates even the
peaceful retreat where are the visit
ors quarters. and gently informs
them, too, that the day at Mount Mel
leray has begun. From a. m. till Z
o'clock in the evening, with the ex-
ception of intervals for their plain
meals consisting of break and milk
for breakfast and supper, vegetable
soup for dinner), the inmates are con-
stantly at work at their various occu-
pations. The abbott is the first to
catch up his spade and go forth to the
fields and the example thus set is at
once followed by the rest.
A not easily to be forgotten expert
ence it is to watch these hooded fig
llreS-SOne of them i'm he bitS Of white |