Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea

Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea
Monastery information
OrderTrappists
Established21 March 1878
DioceseKillaloe
People
Founder(s)Count Arthur Moore MP
Architecture
StatusActive
Site
LocationRoscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland
Public accessYes

Mount St. Joseph Abbey is an abbey of the Trappist branch of the Cistercians located in County Offaly, near Roscrea, County Tipperary in Ireland.

The abbey was founded in 1878 by a group of 32 monks from Mount Melleray Abbey, County Waterford, a number of years earlier Arthur John Moore MP of County Tipperary visited Mt Melleray petitioning for it. The church was opened for worship in 1883, on 600 acres in Mount Heaton, Roscrea, and a Boarding school - Cistercian College, Roscrea - was founded in 1905. The first superior was Dom Athanasius O'Donovan (born Daniel O'Donovan).[1]

Mount St. Joseph contains several stained glass windows created by Harry Clarke or his studios. Three windows in the infirmary, three later windows in the chapel of the college and a 1960s window dedicated to St. Patrick for the abbey church.[2]

Three foundations have been made from Mount Saint Joseph - Nunraw (Scotland) [3] in 1946, Tarrawarra (Australia) in 1954, and Bolton Abbey, Moone,[4] (County Kildare) in 1964.

Nationalist, MP, Catholic and Home Rule supporter Count Arthur John Moore, who donated the 600-acre property and buildings to the Cistercians, where the abbey and college are, is buried in Mount St Joseph.

  1. ^ Genealogical Memoir of the O'Donovans,Ch. 6. by Rev. Michael O'Donovan, published 1902
  2. ^ "Mount St Joseph Abbey Roscrea". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Our History".
  4. ^ "History | Cistercian Monastery of Bolton AbbeySeeking God as a Way of Life".