Location
Official nameSt. Mary’s Abbey
Number24
AddressGlencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Contact Information
Telephone[353] (58) 56168
Telephone 2Card Dept: 353 56901
Community emailinfo@glencairnabbey.org
Business emailcards@glencairnabbey.org
Websitewww.glencairnabbey.org
SuperiorMother Fiachra Nutty, Abbess 2025-2031
Other Information
Juridical statusAbbey
DioceseDioecesis Waterfordiensis et Lismorensis (Waterford and Lismore)
OriginsFoundation by Stapehill in 1932; erection as an abbey in 1934.
History
- St. Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn was founded by Holy Cross Abbey at Stapehill, England (today located at Whitland, Wales). Until then, there had been no Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland since before the reformation.
- When the Abbot of Mount Melleray was informed that Glencairn was for sale and would make a suitable monastery for nuns, Stapehill agreed to make the foundation. Mount Melleray bought Glencairn, and over the next six years, monks and labourers built the Church, Sacristy, with rooms above, and Dormitory/Refectory North Wing.
- On 3rd March, 1932, two Sisters came from Stapehill to Glencairn to make final preparations for the main group, which, with Rev. M. Maura (foundress), fifteen Sisters in all arrived in Glencairn on 10th March 1932.
- The community continued to increase in number and by 1949 responded to a request from Cardinal Cushing to make the first Cistercian foundation for women in the United States at Mount St. Mary’s, in Massachusetts.
- Subsequently, in 1982 the community at Glencairn made a second foundation in Nigeria with the founding of St. Justina’s monastery in Abakaliki.
Father immediateMount Melleray (until 2022); Delegate of the Father Immediate: Dom Michael Ryan of Bolton
Lay associatesGlencairn Associates
Past superiors
- Maura Mary PERRY — Superior — 1932 – 31/01/1935
- Maura Mary PERRY — Abbess — 31/01/1935 – 15/10/1935
- Gertrude PURCELL — Abbess — 05/11/1935 – 05/11/1944
- Margaret SHAW — Abbess — 05/11/1944 – 05/11/1950
- Gertrude PURCELL (2) — Abbess — 05/11/1950 – 22/07/1955
- Agnes FAHEY — Sup. ad nutum — 22/07/1955 – 31/10/1958
- Margaret SHAW (2) — Abbess — 31/10/1958 – 27/03/1965
- Imelda POWER — Abbess — 31/05/1965 – 31/05/1983
- Dominic LEE — Abbess — 31/05/1983 – 31/05/1995
- Agnes O’SHEA — Abbess — 31/05/1995 – 31/05/2001
- Marie FAHY — Abbess — 31/05/ 2001 – 31/05/2025
Work/incomeFarm, Altar breads, cards (memorial cards and greetings cards), guest house
Guest facilities6 en suite guest rooms; alternative non en suite rooms for longterm volunteers
TransportationBuses to Fermoy or Dungarvan with further local buses to Lismore or Tallow. Nearest airport is Cork
FoundationsWrentham (1949), Abakaliki (1982)
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