Southern Star Abbey
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Kopua |
| Order | Cistercian |
| Established | 1954 |
| Mother house |
Mount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Waterford, Ireland |
| Dedicated to | Mary |
| People | |
| Important associated figures | Fr Brian Keogh (Abbot) |
| Site | |
| Location | Kopua, Takapau, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand |
The Abbey of our Lady of the Southern Star or Southern Star Abbey is a Cistercian abbey located in a remote, rural area of the North Island, New Zealand in the Diocese of Palmerston North. It is of the Trappist tradition (i.e. the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance). The monastery supports itself by operating a dairy farm. It is located at Kopua near Takapau between Dannevirke and Waipukurau, Central Hawke's Bay.
In 1948 a farming couple at Kopua, Thomas and Rosalie Prescott, decided to give their farm of 360 hectares (890 acres) to the Catholic Church 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.
Archbishop McKeefry of Wellington (Kopua was within the boundaries (as they were at that time) of the Wellington Archdiocese) explored the possibility of establishing a Cistercian monastery on the property. He approached Gethsemene Abbey, Kentucky (thinking that they might be interested because Thomas Merton, a monk of that abbey, was the son of a New Zealander, Owen Merton). He also approached Koningshoeven Abbey in Berkel-Enschot, the Netherlands. Neither abbey expressed interest. But eventually Mount Melleray Abbey in County Waterford in Ireland agreed to the foundation.
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