Prayer for Vocations to the Cistercian Life
St Malachy, once archbishop of Armagh and bishop of Down and Connor, on his way to Rome in the early 12th century, stopped at the recently founded monastery of Clairvaux, where he met St Bernard and fell in love with the Cistercian monastic life. Having had men trained there under Bernard he brought them back and founded the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland at Mellifont, Co. Louth, in 1142. The ruins are still there, and a Cistercian community lives nearby in the town of Collon.
Conscious that we owe so much to St Malachy for the establishment of our Cistercian life on this island, we ask his intercession, and invite you to join us, as we pray this prayer for new vocations to our Cistercian life:
Prayer for Vocations to the Cistercian Life:
Lord of the harvest,
you planted within St Malachy
a love for the Cistercian way
and a desire to see the monastic life
flourish among the Irish.
By his prayers,
may your Holy Spirit enkindle within many today
a call to the Cistercian life so that,
preferring nothing whatever to Christ,
they may truly seek you
in community and contemplation.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
-Bethlehem Abbey Cistercian Family-
bethlehemcistercianfamily@gmail.com
Bethlehem Abbey Cistercian Family 