Mount Melleray closure: 'This isn't the final goodbye, the monks hope to return'

The closure comes almost two centuries after the abbey was founded in the 1830s by an Irish-born monk who returned to Ireland from the Cistercian monastery in Melleray in France

An emotional Brother Seamus Corrigan after what may be the final service at Mount Melleray Abbey. Picture: Sean Curtin True Media

“The hope is they will come back here. All the monks want to come back. There is more than a chance that this will happen.” 

Mount Melleray staff member Christina O’Flynn’s tone was tinged with cautious optimism as she expressed hopes for the return of the Cistercians to their rightful home.