Establishment In September 1805, French Trappists from the Abbey of
La Valsainte in Switzerland traveled from Pennsylvania to
Louisville, Kentucky. From Louisville, they traveled south to the area of
Bardstown to meet with
Stephen Badin, the first
Catholic priest ordained in the United States. Badin invited the monks and members of their Order to make their home in the area, near
Holy Cross Church. Their stay was short-lived and they left in 1809 after a season of bad flooding. Four decades later, in 1847,
Dom Maxime,
abbot of the
Abbey of Melleray in France, sent two monks to Kentucky to find a tract of land on which the order could build a monastery.
Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget in Louisville greeted the pair and guided them to
Nelson County, to a tract of land owned by the
Sisters of Loretto that was called
Gethsemani where the previous community of Trappists had lived. The two monks were able to contract a deal for the land. On 26 October 1848, 44 monks of the Abbey of Melleray left France with their leader, Eutropius Proust. It was a timely departure as France was verging toward a revolution inspired by socialism and rising secularism had made the environment hostile toward the church. One of the monks died during the voyage, and the other 43 arrived on 11 December 1848 in
New Orleans, Louisiana. They journeyed up the Mississippi River on the
Martha Washington, a steamboat, and arrived at Gethsemani on 21 December, celebrating Mass for Christmas a few days later.
Beginnings Life at Gethsemani at this time was exceedingly harsh. Shortly after their arrival, Proust came down with
pneumonia and nearly died—recovering only after being administered the
Last Rites. By 1849 the fledgling community had torn down the old cabins on the property and constructed a second
chapel, and soon began planning for the construction of a monastery. Proust returned to France in the summer of 1849 to raise funds for construction. At this time the Order was receiving offers from several bishops in other states that wished to have the Order move there to establish monasteries. Proust refused them all because he wanted to establish at least one monastery before expanding, and Gethsemani would be that place. So, in 1851, the grounds at Gethsemani were declared the "Proto-Abbey of the New World" and Proust became
Dom Eutropius Proust—first Abbot of Gethsemani. With Proust having been installed as abbot the previous year, plans for construction of the three-storey monastery finally began in October 1852—to be designed by the architect William Keely. It was during these pre-Civil war years that the monastery was built, modeled after the Abbey of Melleray. It was made of brick walls with timber roof supports with a rectangular abbatial church (meaning a church belonging to an abbey) constructed as well, the interior of which was made of
lath and plaster in a
Neo-Gothic style. The bricks were made on the work site, while the foundation was of limestone rock from Indiana. Later, windows were installed, and atop the church a large
steeple was mounted. Many local members of the community helped the monks in with construction, some of them were slaves. In exchange for the hard work, Proust promised the locals free schooling for their children. In 1859 Proust resigned as abbot and returned to the Abbey of Melleray in France. At this time Gethsemani had a total of 65 monks. Proust died in 1874 while serving as abbot of the
Abbey of Tre Fontane near Rome, Italy.
Civil War and later 19th century Benedict Berger was installed as the next abbot, just after the
American Civil War had commenced on April 19, 1861, though he had been leading the community since January of that year. Berger was known to have an astute business-sense about him and was diligent in ensuring his monks lived an austere existence—in fact, many locals viewed the monks as a strange and unhappy lot. He was equally remembered for his generosity and kindness to soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, accepting them in the abbey to provide nourishment, horses and/or
distilled spirits. Berger did sympathize with the
Union, however, and his monks enjoyed the protection of Union troops in the area. On May 1, 1864, the abbey opened their church in the public wing of their
basilica to the general community, and France sent a priest by the name of Jerome Moyen to lead them. On November 15, 1866, Gethsemani's abbatial church was
consecrated by
Archbishop Purcell of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, assisted by the bishops of Louisville and
Buffalo. Present at the consecration was
Bishop Spalding of
Baltimore, who gave the
homily. That same year Gethsemani was given control over a nearby parish, and Dom Benedict also founded a religious order for women—the Sisters of the
Third Order Regular of St. Francis—who were assigned to teach at an all-girls school in
Mount Olivet, Kentucky. At this time, the abbey was not bringing in many new
postulants, in part due to the strict leadership of Dom Benedict. In 1878 the abbey had roughly the same number of monks as when it was founded, and none of those present were American. As a result, Gethsemani leased some of its land to local farmers to avoid closure. In 1884 the abbey suffered a devastating blow. Their
grain mill—a major source of income and nourishment—was destroyed by fire. Despite this, Gethsemani managed a very large and productive farm by this time. In 1885 the community received its first lifelong American monk, a former
cowboy from
Texas. The number of monks at Gethsemani, however, had dropped to 34 by the end of Dom Benedict's tenure. In ailing health, Berger retired in 1889 and was confined to the abbey's infirmary until his death in August 1891.
Abbot Edward Chaix-Bourbon's resignation amidst scandal Dom Edward Chaix-Bourbon was the next Abbot of Gethsemani, installed on May 9, 1890; his abbatial benediction took place in September. Dom Edward applied himself to caring for the all-boys school the abbey ran on the grounds, transforming it into
Gethsemani College (or Gethsemane college Abbot Edward knew about Beaufort's offenses but did not intervene for years. After the scandal was made public, he submitted his resignation at the General Chapter, but it was rejected twice. Nonetheless, he remained in France. The abbey remained without an abbot for years. After a visitation in January 1898, Dom Edmond Obrecht from La Trappe was appointed the administrator and then elected abbot in 1898.
Dom Obrecht's collection of manuscripts Obrecht, originally from Alsace, had been at the
Sorbonne before becoming a monk. In 1875 he entered La Trappe, and later served as secretary to Procurators General François-Régis Martrin-Donos (1808–1880) and Stanislaus White (1838–1911), working in Rome until 1892. From 1893 to 1897 he collected donations in Europe and in the United States for the construction of
Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome. He collected medieval manuscripts (and documents from the time of the French Revolution), kept first at
Western Michigan University, then transferred to their current repository at the
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.
Trappists as writers Two Gethsemani monks of the 20th century are well known for their writing: Thomas Merton and
Raymond Flanagan. Merton wrote on the spirituality of the Cistercians, while Flanagan's work was aimed at a more popular audience. Both published widely and had their books translated into several languages. Also, the
Nicaraguan poet
Ernesto Cardenal entered Gethsemani under the supervision of Merton.
Present Elected to his third six-term in 2020, the current abbot is Elias Dietz. Silence is still encouraged. The 40-odd monks who make up the community mingle with visitors and leave the monastery grounds for medical appointments and business concerning the abbey. The monastery uses hired help for some of their maintenance, construction tasks and to staff their mail-order phone center.
Mass is held every weekday at 6:15 a.m., and at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays in the main
chapel. There are also
vespers and other services interspersed throughout most days. ==List of abbots==