The origin of Gethsemani, America’s oldest Catholic monastery, dates back to 1098 CE and the New Monastery of Citeaux near Dijon in eastern France. A Middle Age reform in the monastic order led several monks to return to the rule of Saint Benedict in its ideal simplicity and silence.
From these humble beginnings, the Cistercian Order arose. Its expansion was rapid and far-reaching, including hundreds of monasteries founded across Europe during the Middle Ages.
The name “Trappist” comes from the Cistercian Abbey of La Trappe in Normandy, France, where a significant reform took place in the 17th century. When the French Revolution suppressed all religious houses in 1790, the monks of La Trappe dispersed across Europe to as far away as Russia, and also to North America. After the revolution, the monks returned to France in 1815 to repurchase and repopulate La Trappe.
The Abbey of Mount Melleray in southern Ireland was another early foundation, and this community finally established Gethsemani after overcrowded conditions and unrest in the land forced several of the younger monks to seek a new home. The Abbey of Melleray dispatched the 45 founders of Gethsemani via ship, steamboat, and wagon to again establish a new Order of Trappists in the New World. Gethsemani Abbey is the oldest monastery in the United States. States still in continuous use, founded by French Trappist monks on December 21, 1848.
From the earliest days of Christianity, men and women ascetics have been drawn to the devotional and simple ways of monastery life. Saint Benedict of Nursia, father of Western monasticism, established the abbey of Monte Cassino in southern Italy around 530 CE, where he wrote the Rule of Saint Benedict.
This manual outlines the regulations for community living, but is especially noted for its devotion to discipline, balance, prayer, and service. The “Rule” has remained to the present day the living code for most of the monks in the Western Hemisphere. Based on the Benedictine tradition, the New Monastery of Citeaux was founded, and this tradition has been passed on to Gethsemani.
Saint Benedict’s Rule makes clear: “when they live by the labor of their hands, then they are really monks.” Gethsemani Abbey’s principal source of income is the production of cheese, fudge, and fruitcake, which is sold on site and by mail order. Just as Citeaux is the origin of the Cistercian Order, the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is well regarded as the “motherhouse” of the 13 monasteries of Trappist monks and five convents of Trappistine nuns in the United States.
It is therefore more thoughtful, arduous, and stricter than all the others. Gethsemani is most famous for being the abbey where Thomas Merton lived and later became a hermit. His writings grace the abbey, including the monastic milieu, which offers a place apart “to amuse silence in the heart and listen for the voice of God to pray for your own discovery.” From Citeaux to Melleray to Gethsemani.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is located in the community of Trappist, just off Highway 247 in central Kentucky. Take Exit 21 on the Blue Grass Parkway near Bardstown and head south about 10 miles, 16 kilometers. All are welcome to visit the chapel, walk the grounds, or stay for Mass. There is a guesthouse for men and women, but segregated by the week. Accommodations are by reservation only.
