Southern Star Abbey
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Southern Star Abbey, (Our Lady of the Southern Star Abbey (Kopua) or Kopua Monastery) is a Cistercian monastery located in a remote, rural area of the
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in the Diocese of Palmerston North. The monastery supports itself by operating a dairy farm. It is located at Kopua, between
Takapau Takapau is a rural town in the Central Hawke's Bay (district), Central Hawkes Bay in New Zealand. It is located 20 kilometres west of Waipukurau, off State Highway 2 (New Zealand), State Highway 2, and has a population of more than 500. Takap ...
and
Norsewood Norsewood is a small rural settlement in the Tararua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is situated east of the Ruahine Mountain range and is located 20 kilometres northeast of Dannevirke. Geography ...
.Southern Star Abbey Homepage: Cistercian Monastic Life
/ref>


History


Prescott land

In 1948 a farming couple at Kopua, Thomas and Rosalie Prescott, decided to give their farm of to the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
with the long-term idea of an agricultural college being established on it. Their only condition was that in some way a life-interest be reserved for Rosalie, and a home provided for their adopted intellectually handicapped son, John. It was a fine, productive property, ready made for monks who lived off land they cultivated, while they centered their contemplative lives on the full observance of the seven periods of formal liturgical prayer that punctuated each day.


Finding monks

At that time, Kopua was within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Archbishop McKeefry approached the
Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is a Catholic monastery in the United States near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County. The abbey is part of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (''Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae''), ...
in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
to establish a monastery, thinking that they might be interested because one of their monks
Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...
was the son of a New Zealander, Owen Merton. He also approached
Koningshoeven Abbey Koningshoeven Abbey () is a monastery of the Trappists (Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance) founded in 1881 in Berkel-Enschot in North Brabant, the Netherlands. Foundation In 1880 the situation facing monastic orders in France was ...
in
Berkel-Enschot Berkel-Enschot is a Dutch village, located in the municipality of Tilburg in the North Brabant province which borders Belgium. Geography Berkel-Enschot is located between Tilburg and Oisterwijk. Surrounding towns and hamlets are Brem, Heikant, He ...
, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. Neither abbey expressed interest. But eventually
Mount Melleray Abbey Mount Melleray Abbey () is a Trappist monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford. It closed in 2025. History The Cistercian order itself dates back ...
in County Waterford in Ireland agreed to the foundation.


Foundation

On 9 June 1954, six monks from Mount Melleray arrived in Kopua. The pioneers lived in the shearers' quarters on the property while they built their first dwelling and began working part of the farm. In 1955 more monks arrived and the temporary monastery began to take shape. Wooden buildings were transferred from the former Pahiatua Polish camp to provide kitchen, dining room and library. These buildings, intended to be temporary, still serve their purpose today. A Wellington lawyer, Thaddeus McCarthy, began drafting the complicated contract providing for the transfer of ownership of the Prescott farm to the Cistercians. More monks gradually arrived from Ireland between 1958 and 1969.


Threatened withdrawal

Even though he had approved of this arrangement while on a preliminary visit, back in Ireland the Mt Melleray abbot was having second thoughts and threatened to withdraw his men. He had come to think the initial transfer of land was inadequate; at least 120 hectares were necessary to sustain a self-sufficient community of 20 or more monks. "The ownership of a sufficient amount of land is the foundation rock of a Cistercian foundation. Take away our land and we cease to exist as Cistercians". Worried lest he lose the
Trappists The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...
as he had lost the
Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...
who he had tried to establish in his archdiocese before, McKeefry consulted the Sydney
Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...
, Archbishop Romolo Carboni, who intervened to smooth over the misunderstanding. It had been due to differing appreciations of land areas, land titles and New Zealand tax law relating to gifts; the deed of transfer was more than adequate security.


Life of the community

From its inception the monastery attracted a great deal of Catholic interest and some vocations. By 15 September 1959 it was considered sufficiently stable for the connection with Mt Melleray to be ended, and the General Chapter of the Order raised Kopua to the status of an abbey. The monastery was constituted as the ''Abbey of Our Lady of the Southern Star''. On 9 April 1960 Fr. Joachim (later Joseph) Murphy was elected to the office of
Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
and he was formally installed in a ceremony conducted by McKeefry in August 1960. Murphy continued as Abbot until 1986. During these years the changes in the Catholic Church made by the
Vatican Council II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for sessions ...
made an impact. Renewal was required of the community. Monks were offered the opportunity for higher studies in Rome, Latin gradually gave way to English in the Liturgy and the emphasis placed on fraternal life in community led to significant changes in lifestyle. During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Murphy and his team of priests quietly helped Bishop Owen Snedden (then McKeefry's assistant) with the painstaking work of criticising and commenting on draft English translations of various liturgical books as the church changed gear from the universal use of Latin. Thomas Prescott died in 1962 and, in 1972, at the urgings of his widow so as to put into partial effect the couple's hope for the establishment of an agricultural college, a farm cadet scheme began. The family homestead accommodated up to six young men who received basic farm training from the monks before going on to an agricultural college. This institute closed in 1980. In 1979 a community of 30 celebrated its silver jubilee with the temporary buildings becoming permanent. Rosalie Prescott continued to live with her son, John, on the property until her death on 17 July 2003, four days short of her 104th birthday, and John Prescott then joined the community. From its foundation the monastery has provided for itself, carried out its charitable works and fulfilled its obligations of hospitality through the Guest House from mixed farming: dairying, beef, sheep, pigs and potatoes. Other subsidiary enterprises have been: cropping, the grafting of root stock for orchardists, growing carrots (for the Rabbit Board), strawberry plants and orchids. By the year 2000, dairying and beef production were the main farming activities.


Current status

The monastery has a lay community for persons able to commit for a time to lead a community life that overlaps with the monastery. The members of the lay community are called "Companions of the Abbey". They are Christians, married or single, who reside at the abbey and live out the monastery's spirituality as fully as possible whilst remaining members of the laity. This vocation is normally temporary with a minimum period of three months. Hawkes Bay Today ''Abbey set for stellar revamp'' 29 December 2007
/ref>


Notes


External links


Southern Star Abbey Homepage

Kopua – 69, O.C.S.O. Order of Cistericans of the Strict Observance
(Retrieved 30 August 2012)


References

*{{cite book, last=O'Meeghan , first=Michael , title=''Steadfast in hope: The Story of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington 1850–2000'' , year=2003 , publisher=Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington, location=Wellington 1954 establishments in New Zealand Christian monasteries established in the 20th century Buildings and structures in Hawke's Bay