The Abbey of Gethsemani, Place of Peace and Paradox

150 Years in the Life of America’s Oldest Trappist Monastery

by Dianne Aprile

Gethsemani’s story begins inauspiciously, as the most memorable stories always do. The weather does not cooperate: it’s cold, damp and dark as the Trappist party of 44 men leaves the French Abbey of Melleray on foot. Danger, both political and physical, threatens every step of the way. The monks get separated, lose their luggage, come up short of cash. But always they make their destination. God’s plan, not man’s, operates here.

Because it is an archetypal story of origins, events that occurred 150 years ago take on shades of the present. It is as if the Trappist who runs the computers at the Abbey today and the Trappist who left Melleray on foot in October of 1848 are one and the same monk.

Now the remarkable story of the oldest and most influential Trappist monastery in America is available in a handsome, hard-bound volume, richly illustrated in full color with treasures from the Abbey’s archives.

Read about the extraordinary men and women who people Gethsemani’s past and the exceptional events that challenged and inspired them. Learn how this out-of-the-way place, founded by French immigrant monks, has come to play a pivotal role in contemporary American spiritual life.

Place of Peace and Paradox is storytelling at its best. The 248-page, large-format volume is a visual treat as well, featuring hundreds of illustrations, including never-before published photographs, documents and works of art. Specially priced at $25.00 postage paid Order The Abbey of Gethsemani from Amazon.com