abbeys louth

In the tranquil valley of the River Mattock, a subsidiary of the Boyne, lie the noble ruins of Mellifont, the first Cistercian monastery to be established in Ireland. Founded in 1142 by St. Malachy, the monastery was consecrated amidst great pomp and ceremony in 1157 at a great national synod attended by seventeen bishops and the High King. The new monastic order was successful in re-introducing discipline into what has become a very lax Irish Church. Over forty other Cistercian monasteries w...

Shortly after the Norman invasion, about 1206, a hospital for the sick and infirm was founded here by Ursus de Swemele and his wife Christina, the care of the hospital being put in charge of a religious community. By the end of the 13th century, it was taken over by the Augustinians or Crutched Friars, and the subsequent history of the Abbey was an uneventful one. After a period of decline it was reformed by the Observantines in 1519.

At the dissolution of the monasteries, after the Re...

St. Malachy of Armagh brought a handful of monks with him from Clairvaux and founded the first Irish Cistercian monastery here in 1142, on lands granted by Donogh O'Carroll, Prince of Uriel. St. Bernard of Clairvaux sent a skilful architect named Robert to help build the church, and this is reflected in the rounded chapels in the transepts - which are of Continental origin and which are some of the few remaining portions of the original church. In 1157 the church was consecrated with great pom...