FLOURISH UNDER SUCCESSIVE EMINENT SUPERIORS

58   CHAPTER VI. MELLIFONT IN TROUBLOUS TIMES 67   CHAPTER VII. THE SUPPRESSION OF MELLIFONT 85   CHAPTER VIII. MELLIFONT BECOMES THE HOME OF A NOBLE FAMILY—IS SOLD, AND IS DELIVERED
UP TO RUIN AND DECAY 101   APPENDIX. I.— LIST OF ABBOTS OF MELLIFONT 128 II.— CHARTER OF NEWRY 129 III.— INVENTORY OF ESTATES OF MELLIFONT 131

 

 

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List of Illustrations.

General View of Mellifont	Frontispiece
Plan of Clairvaux	At p. 4
Plan of Mellifont Abbey	5
Gateway (Porter’s Lodge)	15
North Window of Chapter-House	19
Doorway of Chapter-House	23
Interior of Chapter-House	35
Interior of Lavabo (Octagon)	43
Arch of Lavabo (Octagon)	47
South Wall of Lectorium	63

 

 

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MELLIFONT ABBEY, CO. LOUTH:
Its Ruins and Associations.

 

CHAPTER I.

THE RUINS.

“Look, stranger; where these stones in ruin lie. Here in the old, grey times a holy thing Rose up—a cloistered pile; but time swept by And smote the sanctuary with his reckless wing.” (From the Swedish, by J. E. D. Bethune.)

 

f the many historic ruins which dot our country and attest its former greatness, few attract so much attention, and invite so close a study as our monastic remains, pre-eminent amongst which are those of the ancient historic Abbey of Mellifont. In countless pages of our Annals the name appears. In the records of sieges, battles and insurrections, from the day on which a colony of St. Bernard’s monks from world-famed Clairvaux, came and settled in its tranquil valley, till having passed through many vicissitudes, as an abode of piety and wide-spread beneficence, it became a baronial residence, and finally lost its prestige as the site of a mill, whose remains contrast incongruously with those of such a precious memorial.

And what was Mellifont? It was the first house of the Cistercian Order in Ireland; founded, endowed and enriched by native princes and saintly prelates; the mother of saints and scholars; and at one time, the admiration of our land, as a gem of rare architectural beauty.

Before going back to the shadowy past, let us endeavour to trace amongst its ruins the outlines of the ancient buildings, and to explain the special use and meaning of each in the monastic economy, when white-robed monks trod its cloisters, and knelt and prayed before the altars in its church. Each of the Cistercian churches and monasteries was