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Wild spiderlily, Abbey of Gethsemani woodland by sniggie

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Trappist Monks of the Abbey of Gethsemani by sniggie

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Prayer recitals at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near New Haven, Kentucky

Trappist monks recite noon prayers by sniggie

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Kentucky's freedom of religion and deep religious tolerance

Founded in 1848, this Catholic monastery, the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, is not only the first abbey of Trappist monks in Kentucky but also in America. Its first monks immigrated from Europe to found the abbey. It sits alone, surrounded by woodland, hills, and farms in Nelson County, Kentucky.

Why did Kentucky historian Thomas Clark put Nelson County's Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani as one of the state's top eleven treasures for Kentuckians to visit? Whether one is Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Taoist, Zoroastrian, atheist, agnostic, or something entirely else, Dr. Clark felt that all Kentuckians should visit and be familiar with the abbey in order to more deeply appreciate their state. But why?

One guide answered me that it is because this ground is such a holy place. I understand that Catholic believers would visit this site for that reason and would feel that slice of heaven here in Kentucky. But for the rest of us, is the answer that this place shows Kentucky's early and deep commitment to freedom of religion?!? Or maybe the answer is as simple as to have each Kentuckian appreciate its history of when there was a large influx of Catholic immigrants to the Bluegrass State. I don't know.

I do know that the 1850s were the heyday for the Know Nothing Party in Kentucky, whose members thought Catholics were conspiring to overturn the U.S. government and to follow the Pope. During all of that, the foreign Trappists were welcome to immigrate, settle, and establish a monastery in Central Kentucky. The monastery thrived while the Know Nothing Party faded into oblivion.

The book Dr. Thomas Clark's Kentucky Treasures points out why Nelson County seemed like a good place for the immigrating Trappists, especially after an initial attempt at an abbey in Marion County in 1804 did not succeed. But their second attempt looked solid. "Their chances for success seemed good. Nelson County already was a center of Roman Catholic settlement, the nation's first inland Catholic diocese having been established at Bardstown in 1808. Indeed, the Abbey of Gethsemani has flourished since its founding."