Who We Are: About Us

Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey is a monastery of Trappist nuns. A community of 22 Roman Catholic women, we try to follow Jesus Christ through a life of prayer, silence, simplicity, and ordinary work.
The monastic tradition we follow dates back more than 1500 years. Our rule of life, after the Gospel, is the Rule of St Benedict (ca. 480-550 A.D.). The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), the international organization to which we belong, is a branch of the Benedictine family containing autonomous but interdependent monasteries of women or men. Like all Cistercian monasteries, Mississippi Abbey is dedicated to Our Lady, Mary the mother of Jesus, who listened to the Word of God and pondered it in her heart (Luke 2,19).

Our monastery is situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River south of Dubuque, Iowa. We earn our living through the Trappistine Creamy Caramels we produce in a workshop on our property and sell by mail. The 630 acres of land God has committed to our stewardship includes over 350 acres of managed woodlands and a 200-acre organic farm.

Six times a day we gather in the abbey church to sing God's praise. Our liturgies are open to the public. Four small guest houses are available for individuals or very small groups of any religious tradition wishing to make a private retreat in our beautiful, peaceful setting.

Our Order is wholly ordered to contemplation (Constitutions of the O.C.S.O., #2) and the goal of our life together is union with God through prayer. We believe the greatest service we can render to the world is fidelity to our call to be united with Jesus who always lives to make intercession for us all (Hebrews 7,25).