Whether by accident or design you have reached the Glenstal Abbey Website. Whoever you are, we welcome you, as we are encouraged to do in the Rule of Benedict which we follow, and which monks such as ourselves have followed since about the year 480 CE.

We are a Benedictine Monastery in County Limerick, Ireland founded in 1927. You can study our history, examine our lifestyle, and see what is on offer here at present, by perusing the various links on this page.

The Abbey is essentially a house of God, which has become home to a community of about 40 monks. Our community life of prayer is combined with running a boarding school for boys, a farm, a guesthouse and various other works. We offer a number of lectures, workshops and seminars which may be the very reason why the Holy Spirit has guided you to our website at this moment. So, I invite you to check these out.

Meanwhile, the essential work of every monk is what we call The Work of God, when we gather together in the Abbey church four times a day for the Divine Office and for Mass. We invite you to join us there in Spirit, and we in our turn will pray for you and your special intentions.

Mark Patrick Hederman
Abbot of Glenstal