Who We Are: Timeline 

1960    Mt St. Mary's Abbey of Trappist nuns in Wrentham Massachusetts, after an enormous influx of new members, decides to send sisters to found a new monastery.

1962    New Melleray Abbey and Archbishop James Byrne of Dubuque invite Wrentham to make the foundation in Iowa.

1964        18 October: 13 sisters, led by Sr Columba Guare, arrive in Dubuque.

1965    We begin making candy to support ourselves. Sr Rosemary goes to Wrentham to learn how to cook caramels, and we call our new industry Trappistine Creamy Caramels.

1966    Br Placid of New Melleray becomes our farm manager. We start withdrawing the land from soil bank and planting Christmas trees, then row crops. Eventually we establish a rotation of soy, corn, oats and alfalfa). Our pasture lands are rented to neighbors for cattle grazing.

1968    We accept our first new candidate.

1969        The abbey church is built, and consecrated on May 3.

1969-78    We raise sheep, mainly to graze the untillable land, but also for wool.

1970    7 May: O. L. Mississippi becomes an autonomous Abbey.  Mother Columba Guare is elected the first abbess.

            22 August: Kathy Lyzotte, the first new member to persevere at Mississippi Abbey, enters as a postulant.

 

1979    Transfer of major offices in the monastery (prioress, cellarer) from founding sisters to new members.
            Major expansion of the candy building.

1980    10 April: Blessing of the new wing begun in 1977 (dormitory, refectory, scriptorium).

 

1982    Initiation of a Long Term Guest program for women desiring an experience of monastic life.
             7 May: Sr Gail Fitzpatrick is elected second abbess of Mississippi Abbey.

1985    Br Placid returns to New Melleray. For the next 5 years we rent or sharecrop most of our cropland to neighbors.

1986    Construction of an acre pond in our farm fields, to help with soil conservation, to encourage wildlife, and to beautify our land.

1991        Renovation of Abbey Church and installation of organ.

1995    Mississippi and New Melleray begin a joint lay association, the Associates of the Iowa Cistercians.

1996    Creation of Mississippi Abbey's first web site.

             Our farm is certified organic.

1999    We send five of our sisters, accompanied by two Norwegian sisters from other monasteries, to begin a new monastery in Norwayon the island of Tautra, site of a medieval Cistercian monastery.

             We hire a professional forester to manage our woodlands.

2002    Construction of a new candy factory. In August we move in and cook our first batch.

2003    Conversion of the old candy house into St Benedict's Welcome Center, housing our first giftshop and our first meeting room for visitors, as well as office space for sisters.

2006    Jan-Feb: Five lay women live with us for 40 days, filmed for a TV program, The Monastery, for The Learning Channel.

              Purchase of adjacent 80-acre farm, to shield us from encroaching housing development.

              25 March: Tautra Mariakloster in Norway becomes an autonomous priory.

              7 May: Sr Nettie Gamble is elected third abbess of Mississippi Abbey