Roscrea

Location

Official Name Mount St Joseph Abbey

29

Country Ireland

City Roscrea

Contact Information

Telephone [353] (505) 25600

Community Email [email protected]

Guesthouse Email [email protected]

Website www.msjroscrea.ie

Superior Dom Rufus Pound, MSB, Monastic Commissary 2022

Other Information

Juridical Status Abbey

Diocese Dioecesis Laoniensis (Killaloe)

OCSO Region ISLES

Founded/Restored 1878

Origins

Founded by Mt. Melleray in 1878, raised to the rank of abbey 1885.

History

1878, 29 January: Estate of Mount Heaton purchased and presented by Count Arthur Moore of Mooresfor.
21 March: Monastery founded. D. Athanasius Donovan appointed prior.
1879, 22 May: Foundation-stone of church laid.
1881, 18 September: Dedication of the church.
1884, 9 August: Consecration of the church.
1885, December: Papal Brief raising monastery to an abbey, with all the privileges of Cistercian abbeys. Brief expedited 1886.
1886, April: Dom Stanislaus White is elected first abbot, but the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith refuses to allow him to leave Rome.
20 May: Then Fr Carthago Delaney of Mt Melleray is elected but he refuses to accept.
1887, 30 October: Dom Camillus Beardwood is elected. Blessed by Mgr Persico, Papal Envoy to Ireland, 30 Oct. 1887.
1892, 7 September: The community unanimously decides in favour of the union of the four Cistercian congregations into one Order.
1902: Abbot Carthage of Mt Melleray and Dr. McRedmond, bishop of Killaloe send full approval of new college opened here, 21 & 24 Jan., 1902.
1952: Roscrea is authorized to study the possibility of a foundation in Australia, first by the Definitory then by the General Chapter of 1953.
1954: Departure of the founders of O.L. of Tarrawarra, in the diocese of Melbourne. The Foundation officially begins on 18 December 1954, with 18 monks.

Foundations

Nunraw (1946), Tarrawarra (1954), Bolton (1965)

Father Immediate

Mount Melleray; Delegated Father Immediate: Dom Brendan Freeman of New Melleray (2022)

Daughter Houses

[Nunraw] ; [Tarrawarra] ; [Bolton] ; [Tautra].

Past Superiors

Athanasius DONOVAN — Prior — 12/05/1878 – ?/ ?/1886
Camillus BEARDWOOD — Abbot — ?/ ?/1887 – 12/07/1911
Justin McCARTHY — Abbot — ?/ ?/1911 – 06/09/1944
Camillus CLAFFEY — Abbot — 25/09/1944 – 21/02/1962
Eugene BOYLAN — Abbot — 10/07/1962 – 05/01/1964 (v.51)
Columcille O’TOOLE — Abbot — 20/02/1964 – 01/07/2000
Laurence WALSH — Abbot — 21/07/2000 – 28/10/2003
Kevin DALY — Abbot — 28/10/2003 – 2009
Richard PURCELL — Abbot — 2009 – 11/08/2017
Malachy THOMPSON — Sup. ad nutum 2018 – 2022

Transportation

Bus & Train : Roscrea 4 km.

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