Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey from Top Wood - geograph

Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey, a Cistercian monastery in

Portglenone Portglenone (from ga, Port Chluain Eoghain , meaning 'landing place of Eoghan's meadow') is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies 8.5 miles (14 km) west of Ballymena. It had a population of 1,174 people in t ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, was founded in 1948 by

Mount Melleray Abbey Mount Melleray Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford. It is famous in literature due to Seán Ó Ríordáin's poem ''Cnoc Mel ...

in County Waterford. The monks bought Portglenone House, a country mansion built about the year 1810 by the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

Bishop, Dr. Alexander who demolished the local castle. History records that

Sir Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

often stayed in the house in the early years of the 20th century. Despite opposition from local Protestants, the monastery succeeded in establishing itself in the locality and ran a successful dairy farm for many years. Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey was the first enclosed monastery of men to be established in

since the Reformation. The monastery belongs to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), also known as

Trappists The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

, who follow the

Rule of St Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's R ...

, but emphasise some of the more austere and penitential aspects of the Rule such as strict silence, abstention from meat, early rising and physical work. In the 1960s, the community built a new monastery designed in a modern style by Padraig Ó Muireadhaigh. The building has won several architectural awards. To establish continuity with the Order's past, stones from some of the pre-Reformation Irish Cistercian abbeys were incorporated in the church and cloisters.

Abbots

* 1953 - Abbot Oliver Farrell - Superior from 1948-1953 * 1958 - Abbot Aengus Dunphy (1921-2014) - subsequently from 1979-1991 he was chaplain in Our Lady of Praise, Butende. * 1977 - Abbot Celsus Kelly 'Gregory's Angels: A History of the Abbeys, Priories, Parishes and Schools of the Monks and Nuns' By Gordon Beattie OSB, 1997.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.bethlehemabbey.com Cistercian monasteries in Northern Ireland Christian organizations established in 1948 Buildings and structures in County Antrim Trappist monasteries in the United Kingdom Religion in County Antrim 1948 establishments in Northern Ireland

Abbots

See also

References

External links