Gethsemani Abbey Founded Today in 1848

On this day in 1848, the Trappists took possession of that land that became Gethsemani Abbey. In 1847 two monks from the Abbey of Melleray in France—under the instruction of Abbot Dom Maxime—were looking for land in Kentucky to build a monastery on. The two were greeted by Benedict Joseph Flaget in Louisville, who took them to nearby Nelson County, Kentucky. Here they surveyed a group of ten or twelve log buildings and land known as Gethsemani that was owned by the Sisters of Loretto—this was the same area that the Trappists who preceded them had temporarily made home—and made a deal for the land. On October 26, 1848, forty-four monks of the Abbey of Melleray left France with their leader—Fr. Eutropius Proust. France at this time was on the verge of revolution, and a secular attitude was sweeping across the land. Forty-three of the monks arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 11, 1848, after losing one member of the congregation at sea. From there they sailed for ten days upriver to Louisville on the Martha Washington steamboat, arriving at Gethsemani on December 21, 1848. The group moved into the various buildings present at the site and celebrated Christmas days later.
(From Wikipedia)