This is the official channel for the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. We are an abbey of the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), commonly known as the Trappists. We were founded in 1848 from the abbey of Melleray in France. Our abbey was the first in North America recognized by Rome. Gethsemani has been home to several well-known writers, most prominently Thomas Merton.
As monks of the Strict Observance, we live lives of silence and prayer. We rise each morning at 3:00 AM. for our first service of Vigils, and continue to sing the psalms as a community in choir seven times a day. As a member of the larger Benedictine family, we follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, and our motto is ora et labora, pray and work. We earn our living by the work of our hands, making fruitcake and fudge which we sell in our store and on-line.