The Monastery Of The Holy Spirit

At the beginning of October we took a class trip to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, officially named "Our Lady Of The Holy Spirit Monastery," for our Apologetic and Philosophy class. But not only does it have a rich history religiously speaking it also has much to do with Georgia's history.

In 1848 a group of Trappist monks lead by Dom Eutropius Proust, O.C.S.O. (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance) left their monastery in France and formed an order in Bardstown, Kentucky.

 "On 26 October 1848, 44 monks of the Abbey of Melleray left France with their leader, Father Eutropius Proust, O.C.S.O. It was a timely departure as France was verging toward a revolution inspired by socialism and rising secularism had made the environment hostile toward the church. One of the monks died during the voyage, and the other 43 arrived on 11 December 1848 in New Orleans, Louisiana. They journeyed up the Mississippi River on the Martha Washington, a steamboat, and arrived at Gethsemani on 21 December, celebrating mass on Christmas a few days later.^"

^{~ Wikipedia - Abbey of Our Lady Of Gethsemani}

Later in March of 1944 some of the monks from this order came down to Atlanta and lived on a piece of land given to them by the Archdiocese of Atlanta and media mogul Henry Luce, who gave them 1,400 acres of land. For around 8 months, the monks lived, worshiped and did they daily chores in a barn located on the acreage while building what was later called the "pine monastery," which was used after they moved into their present monastery as their stain glass workshop until it burned down in 2005. Later from December 1944 - 1959 they built their present church made entirely out of concrete. Both of these building the monks built themselves (with NO help!)

The monks of this order live in silence with the belief of contemplation only speaking to pray or sing hymns. They live in this beautiful place with these beautiful beliefs for a beautiful thing and being.

MJ

For More Info:

Monastery of the Holy Spirit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_the_Holy_Spirit

http://www.trappist.net/


Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_of_Our_Lady_of_Gethsemani

http://www.monks.org/


I found this video and it really shows you how beautiful the inter of the church is! Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS9QVf--P6A

ALSO!!!!! Small print! 

I had a crossword puzzle I was going to make but unfortunately it didn't work out. So! Instead each week at the end of the post I will put a clue, some hard, some not so much, about the history or a famous person from different counties or cities and without internet resources I want to hear your answers in the comments below! 
On the next post I will tell you the answer! But no going and looking up the answers on Wikipedia! That doesn't make it any fun! :( So! Without farther ado, here is you first quiz question! 

 Where was the boyhood home of Meriwether Lewis, the famous explorer!

What will be your answer?

Find out next week on Georgia History's Mysteries!