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Story Notes
In 1998, the Cistercians celebrated 900 years of prayer and farming.The Cistercian religious order of monks and nuns are sometimes referred to as Bernardines, after the highly influential St. Bernard of Clairvaux, or the White Monks, in reference to the colour of the white choir robe worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black robes worn by Benedictine monks.
The original emphasis of Cistercian life was on manual labour and self-sufficiency, and many abbeys traditionally supported themselves through activities such as agriculture and brewing ales. The monks identified closely with the people around their monasteries and local people benefited greatly by adopting the monk's radical scheme of farm management. This mutual respect meant that the order flourished and the number of abbeys grew across Europe.
The Cistercians were among the first of the Continental orders to come to Ireland from France, settling by the Mattock River at Mellifont, Co Louth, in 1142. Their influence on the Irish landscape is evident through their impressive abbeys which now constitute some of the island's most picturesque ruins, such as at Bective, Co Meath and Boyle, Co Roscommon.
The Cistercian Abbey in Roscrea is a relative newcomer, the bursar, Fr Laurence traces its history. The Abbey in Roscrea was founded by the Cistercians of Mount Mellaray Abbey in County Waterford, thirty-one of whose monks came in March 1878. The property known as Mount Heaton Demesne had been purchased for them by Arthur J. Moore MP of Mooresford House near Tipperary town. Moore was a devout and committed Catholic landlord, who was to become a Papal Count. The property cost £15,000, £10,000 of which Arthur Moore paid himself. The remainder was raised by mortgage by the new community.
The Cistercian's core value that "work is prayer" has served the abbey well as the monastery is a big business with farming being the main source of income.
What is life like for the monks in St. Joseph's Abbey in Roscrea?
Produced by Joe Murray ( First broadcast in 1998)