PEOSTA, Iowa — The era of farming by New Melleray Abbey monks came to end Nov. 20 when the monastery’s farm machinery was auctioned in a hay field. The blustery day drew 500 auction goers ...

New Melleray isn’t a resort, it’s an abbey that is home to 32 Trappist monks of the Cistercian order. Members of the Cistercian order generally are committed to manual labor such as field work.

PEOSTA, Iowa — --Amid the gently contoured hills of eastern Iowa, only a few miles from the Mississippi River, New Melleray provides guests with an idyllic setting in which to escape the hustle ...

(RNS) — The Trappist monks of New Melleray Abbey have always given away child caskets. Now they're offering adult caskets to people in need.

PEOSTA, Iowa — Abbot Brendan Freeman said New Melleray Abbey’s decision to quit farming did not come easily. Get 3 months/99¢ a month SUBSCRIBE NOW Show Search. Clear Search Query Submit Search.

Rev. Bernard Cullen, 90, of New Melleray Abbey, Peosta, Iowa. Beloved son of Bernard and Catherine (O'Connor), dear brother of John Bernard (Ruth Cleary), C ...

At New Melleray, which was founded by Irish monks who came to Iowa in 1849, prayer is considered "the center of life," said Father Brendan Freeman, who has been the abbot for 20 years.

For nearly 160 years, the Trappist monks of New Melleray Abbey have worked with their hands to support their lives of prayer. For most of that time, it was agricultural work — raising grain and ...

Trappists, Sam Mulgrew tells me, “are very land-based.” We’re sitting in the office of Trappist Caskets, just a short walk from New Melleray Abbey in Dubuque, Iowa.

The New Melleray Trappists will be at home with their monastic family, too. At Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, the abbey church bells will ring, and the Iowa monks will sing hymns like “Angels We ...