The pilgrim walking trails of Mount Melleray (Cosáin Chnoc Mheilearaí) are steeped in tradition, collectively covering over 30km of track in the lower hills of the Knockmealdown Mountains. This beautiful area has been home to the Cistercian monks since they arrived here in 1832, having come from Melleray in Brittany, France.
The trails enabled the monks, the people of Melleray and others access mountain land to harvest turf, to herd sheep and to walk long distances across the mountain range.
The monks were given 600 acres of mountain land by Sir Richard Keane in 1832 and cultivated the terrain with the support of many local parishes. Today’s pilgrim walking trails cross the same paths used by the monks since the 1800s, with a wonderful mix of meandering boreens, forest trails and open mountain tracks. The overriding symbol of peace and hope in the hills is The Holy Year Cross and it is this iconic monument which is a powerful symbol of the Cosáin Chnoc Mheilearaí.
Mount Melleray is now a leading spiritual centre in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world. The monks gather several times a day to pray and chant the psalms, they run a retreat guesthouse, hostel and café and offer hospitality to walkers, pilgrims and penitents.
The pilgrim trails allow us to step back into the past but also to imagine the future through the timeless beauty of this landscape. Welcome to the magnificence of Mount Melleray!
Tá traidisiún láidir ag baint le cosáin oilithrigh Chnoc Mheilearaí; san iomlán clúdaíonn siad breis is 30km de chosáin i gcnoic íochtaracha Shléibhte Chnoc Mhaoldomhnaigh. Tá manaigh Chistéirseacha ina gcónaí sa cheantar álainn seo ó tháinig siad anall ó Mheilearaí na Briotáine sa Fhrainc sa bhliain 1832.
Chuireadh na cosáin ar chumas na manach, muintir Mheilearaí agus daoine eile teacht a bheith acu ar thailte sna sléibhte le móin a bhaint, le caoirigh a thiomáint agus le bheith ag siúl achar fada thar na sléibhte.
Tugadh 600 acra de thalamh sléibhe do na manaigh ag Sir Richard Keane i 1832; shaothraigh siad an talamh le tacaíocht ó mhuintir a lán de na paróistí áitiúla. Is ionann cosáin oilithrigh an lae inniu agus na cinn atá in úsáid ag na manaigh ó bhí na 1800í ann, le meascán iontach de bhóithríní a théann ag lúbarnaíl, cosáin choille agus cosáin a théann thar thalamh oscailte na sléibhte. Is í an phríomhshiombail síochána agus dóchais sna cnoic ná Cros na Bliana Naofa; siombail chumhachtach is ea an séadchomhartha íocónach seo de Chosáin Chnoc Mheilearaí.
Tá Cnoc Mheilearaí ar cheann de phríomhionaid spioradáltachta na hÉireann anois, é ag mealladh cuairteoirí ó ar fud an domhain. Bailíonn na manaigh le chéile roinnt uaireanta in aghaidh an lae le bheith ag guí agus ag canadh na salm; tá teach lóistín agus caifé á reáchtáil acu freisin, gach cóir á cur acu ar shiúlóirí, ar oilithrigh agus ar aithrígh.
Ligeann na cosáin oilithrigh dúinn dul siar sna blianta, ach ligeann siad dúinn freisin an todhchaí a shamhlú le cabhair áilleacht bhuan an tírdhreacha seo. Fáilte romhat chuig Cnoc Mheilearaí Maorga!
The Cistercian Order was founded in France in 1098 and follows the Rule of St. Benedict. When the monks arrived in 1832 from the monastery of Melleray in Brittany, they brought Cistercian monastic life back to Ireland after an absence of about 300 years. The founding father of Mount Melleray Abbey was Dom Vincent Ryan from Waterford. In addition to Sir Richard Keane and the local parishes, Daniel O’Connell MP and the Duke of Devonshire also supported the foundation of the abbey.
The church and buildings that we see today have evolved since the 1830s with the large bell tower and churches built from the stone of Mitchelstown Castle, which was burnt during the Civil War in August 1922. The beautiful Harry Clarke window in the church is one of the finest examples of his work in Ireland.
All visitors are invited to pray with the monks and listen to them chant, to light a candle, or just to spend time walking in this beautiful landscape, at one with the world.
For the Cistercians, charity and education are at the core of their values. During the Famine of the late 1840s many poor and hungry people were helped at the monastery. Mount Melleray established a primary school in the 1840s, then later a secondary school which continued until 1974. There was also an agricultural college and a seminary in Melleray during those years.
Built in 1898 the ponds were part of a system to filter and store water supplied by The Source. The system can still be seen today and consisted of a settling bed, screen house and several filter beds through which water was piped to the monastery.
The 19th century Well House you see today supplies water to the monastery while a second supplies the needs of the farmyard and workshops. It was built to help protect the well from impurities and it has never run dry even in the worst droughts experienced.
The iconic Holy Year Cross was built in 1950 by local man Sean O'Donnell, with the help of pupils in the boarding school in Mount Melleray. It is built on Knockboy Hill and has extensive views of the Blackwater Valley and the central peaks of the Knockmealdown mountain range.
The groto of Our Lady of Lourdes is about 2.4km from Mount Melleray Abbey. Fr Celestine, a monk from the monastery, was involved in the establishment of the grotto in 1982. It is a place of frequent pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths and is particularly known for the apparitions of Our Lady in August 1985.
In 1887, Brother Vincent Stapleton and a team of workmen successfully created a permanent water supply to the monastery by directing water over a 4km route from the Rough Glen river. It is an extraordinary feat of engineering and the water course is so well laid out on the upper mountain that part of the route gives the illusion of water running uphill.
In this area, almost at the county bounds between Waterford and Tipperary, old abandoned farmsteads can be seen high on the Knockanask hillside where sheep still graze, giving an idea of the challenging terrain where landowners lived in this area up until the 1960s.
The Mount Melleray Pilgrim Paths have been developed with the assistance of funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Tomar Trust, Knockmealdown Active and the Cappoquin Community Development Company.
