About Mississippi Abbey · Dubuque, Iowa
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey is a monastic community of Trappist Cistercian (OCSO) nuns located on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River just south of Dubuque, Iowa. Founded in 1964 by thirteen nuns from Mount Saint Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts, the sisters follow the Rule of St. Benedict in a life 'wholly ordered to contemplation,' balancing seven daily periods of communal prayer with manual labor and lectio divina. The community supports itself primarily by making Monastery Candy and farming the land, and welcomes visitors to join them for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours in their guest chapel or to make a private retreat in one of several small guesthouses on the property.
- Established
- 1964
- Patron
- Our Lady (Our Lady of the Mississippi)
- Rector
- Mother Rebecca Stramoski, O.C.S.O. (Abbess, 2024–2030)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Dubuque
Why belong here
A visit or retreat at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey offers a rare gift: the chance to step into the rhythm of a contemplative Cistercian community that has kept the Liturgy of the Hours seven times a day for over sixty years. Guests are welcomed into the abbey church and guest chapel to pray the Divine Office and attend Mass alongside the sisters, to walk the wooded bluffs above the Mississippi, and to stay in simple guesthouses built for silence and solitude. By supporting Monastery Candy or simply dropping a free-will offering for a stay, visitors participate in the sisters' life of prayer, hospitality, and stewardship of the land.
Mass times at Mississippi Abbey
Weekly Mass schedule
Adoration times
- Sunday 4:30 PM (Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament)
- Wednesday: Guest Chapel closes after Vespers; Compline not said in Church
Welcome to Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
Tucked into the bluffs of the Upper Mississippi River Valley just south of Dubuque, Iowa, Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey is home to a monastic community of Trappist Cistercian (OCSO) nuns. The sisters describe themselves as called by Jesus 'to this place and to this community of sisters,' seeking to follow him together in simplicity, silence, and ordinary work. They live by the Rule of St. Benedict, and their Order is wholly ordered to contemplation. Seven times a day the community gathers in the abbey church to chant the Liturgy of the Hours in praise of God and for love of all creation.
- Founded 18 October 1964 by thirteen nuns from Mount Saint Mary's Abbey, Wrentham, Massachusetts
- Currently home to about twenty sisters
- Located on roughly 630 acres of bluff, woodland, and farmland
- Visitors welcomed for prayer, walks, and retreats
Our History
The community's foundation story begins in 1960 at Mount Saint Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts, where a great influx of new vocations led Mother Angela Norton and her council to discern a new foundation. After an initial plan for Argentina fell through, the abbot of New Melleray Abbey in Iowa and Archbishop James Byrne of Dubuque invited Wrentham to found on a 'Hickory Hill' estate south of Dubuque. On 18 October 1964 Mother Angela arrived with the thirteen founding sisters, with Mother Columba Guare as superior. Archbishop Byrne consecrated the new abbey church on 3 May 1968, and the community was raised to the status of an autonomous abbey on 7 May 1970 with Mother Columba as its first abbess.
- 1964: Foundation; first thirteen sisters arrive from Wrentham
- 1965: Sister Rosemary travels to Wrentham to learn candy-making; Trappistine Creamy Caramels launched
- 1968: Abbey church consecrated by Archbishop Byrne of Dubuque
- 1970: Monastery declared an autonomous abbey; Mother Columba Guare elected first abbess
- 1979–80: Construction of dormitory, refectory, and scriptorium
- 1999: Tautra Mariakloster in Norway becomes an autonomous priory
- 2002: New candy factory built
- 2003: Candy business renamed 'Monastery Candy'
- 2009–10: Major renovation of monastery with new senior wing, library, prayer room, and ramps
- 2012: Mother Rebecca Stramoski elected fourth abbess; re-elected 2018 and 2024
The Sisters — Abbesses and Community
Leadership of the abbey has been entrusted to four abbesses since the community was raised to abbey status in 1970. Mother Columba Guare, the founding superior and first abbess, led the community until 1982; she died on 1 September 2003 and is commemorated by a statue in the front circle. Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, elected 7 May 1982, led the 1997 decision to found Tautra Mariakloster in Norway. Mother Nettie Louise Gamble was elected third abbess in 2006, and Mother Rebecca Stramoski was elected fourth abbess on 7 May 2012, re-elected in 2018, and again for a 2024–2030 term.
- Mother Columba Guare, O.C.S.O. — first abbess, 1970–1982
- Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, O.C.S.O. — second abbess, 1982–2006
- Mother Nettie Louise Gamble, O.C.S.O. — third abbess, 2006–2012
- Mother Rebecca Stramoski, O.C.S.O. — fourth abbess, 2012–present (re-elected 2018, 2024)
Daily Liturgy and Schedule
The rhythm of the abbey is the rhythm of the Liturgy of the Hours. Seven times a day the sisters gather in the abbey church to chant the Divine Office. Guests are warmly invited to join them in the guest chapel for the Eucharist and for as much of the Office as they wish. Mass is celebrated daily, with Vigil Mass on Sundays and Solemnities at 8:30 AM, Monday Mass at 5:00 PM, and Tuesday through Saturday Mass at 7:00 AM. On Sundays Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows Sext at 4:30 PM.
- Sunday Mass & Solemnities: 8:30 AM
- Monday Mass: 5:00 PM
- Tuesday–Saturday Mass: 7:00 AM
- Vigils (daily): 3:45 AM
- Lauds: 7:00 AM (7:15 AM Monday); 6:45 AM Sundays
- Sext: 12:00 PM (Mon–Sat); 11:30 AM Sunday, followed by 4:30 PM Adoration
- None: 2:00 PM (Mon–Sat)
- Vespers: 5:00 PM daily
- Compline: 7:00 PM (not said in Church on Wednesdays)
Retreats and Hospitality
The community welcomes retreatants year-round to share in the beauty, peace, silence, and solitude of their bluff-top grounds. There is no set fee per night — only a free-will offering — but reservations should be made well in advance, especially for the summer months and weekends. The abbey does not offer directed retreats; guests may, however, request to speak with a sister by notifying the guest secretary when booking. Retreatants are invited to join the sisters in the guest chapel for the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, and to walk the large, pleasant property.
- Retreat House — two bedrooms and a sitting room (also usable as a bedroom); on the same level as the monastery, short walk from the Abbey and Guest Chapel; open all year except December
- Stone House — old country farmhouse at the bottom of a hill, three bedrooms, sleeps up to 8; open March 1 – October 31
- The Cabin — small two-room hermitage, short walk from the Abbey and Chapel; open all year except November and December
- Free-will offering; no directed retreats; advance reservation recommended
- Basic food supplies provided; retreatants cook their own meals
Vocations and Discernment
Women discerning a call to contemplative life are invited to contact the abbey's Vocation Director, Sister Myra, at [email protected]. The abbey shares a 'A Day in the Life' schedule on its website showing how a typical weekday and Sunday unfold from the 3:30 AM rising through Compline and the Great Silence. Since 2003 the abbey has also offered a Long-Term Guest program for women desiring an experience of monastic life.
- Vocation Director: Sister Myra ([email protected])
- Long-Term Guest program for women (begun 2003)
- Day in the Life schedule published on the website
Monastery Candy — Work and Livelihood
The community earns its living principally by making Monastery Candy — what began in 1965 as 'Trappistine Creamy Caramels.' The sisters reportedly produce about 72,000 pounds of confections a year, sold online and shipped nationwide, with Christmas and St. Patrick's Day (Irish Mints in a green box) as the busiest seasons. As Sr. Christine Reinhart has said, the candy kitchen is 'one job that we have where everyone, pretty well everybody, can come and work.' In 2009 the business was officially renamed 'Monastery Candy,' and recent sustainability efforts include fully recyclable paper boxes and Guittard's 'Cultivate Better Cocoa' chocolate.
- Trappistine Creamy Caramels launched in 1965; renamed 'Monastery Candy' in 2009
- New candy factory built in 2002
- Candy, farm work, and woodland stewardship are the community's primary works
- Sales run primarily online and by mail order
Land, Farm, and Stewardship
The abbey stewards roughly 630 acres of bluff, woodland, and farmland above the Mississippi River, including about 350 acres of managed woodlands and a 200-acre organic farm. After Br Placid of New Melleray became farm manager in the mid-1960s, the community withdrew the land from the soil bank, planted Christmas trees, and established a rotation of soy, corn, oats, and alfalfa; pasture lands are rented to neighbors for cattle grazing. An adjacent 80-acre farm was later purchased to shield the property from encroaching housing development. The sisters describe their work as an act of stewardship: 'we celebrate the beauty of the land by our practice of good stewardship on the farm.'
- Roughly 630 acres total
- ~350 acres of managed woodlands
- ~200-acre organic farm
- Crop rotation of soy, corn, oats, and alfalfa
- Christmas trees, pasture rental, and woodlands
Contact and Visit
The abbey can be reached by phone, fax, or email. General inquiries go to [email protected]; Monastery Candy business to [email protected]; and vocation inquiries to [email protected]. The guest mistress (extension 147) handles retreat reservations. Visitors traveling to the abbey will find it on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi south of Dubuque, with the brother monks of New Melleray Abbey about a twenty-minute drive away in Peosta, Iowa.
- Address: 8400 Abbey Hill Road (or Lane), Dubuque, IA 52003
- Phone: (563) 582-2595 — ext. 111 general, ext. 147 guest mistress, ext. 114 vocation director
- Fax: (563) 582-5511
- Web: mississippiabbey.org
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Mother Columba Guare, O.C.S.O.1970–1982 (as first abbess; prior superior 1964–1970)
Led the founding community from Wrentham in 1964; first elected abbess when the monastery was raised to abbey status on 7 May 1970. Died 1 September 2003; a statue of Our Lady of the Mississippi in the front circle was blessed in her memory on 8 September 2008, designed and built by artist Philip Howie.
- Mother Gail Fitzpatrick, O.C.S.O.1982–2006 (elected 7 May 1982)
Second abbess; led the unanimous 1997 decision to send sisters to found Tautra Mariakloster in Norway.
- Mother Nettie Louise Gamble, O.C.S.O.2006–2012 (elected 7 May 2006)
Third abbess; oversaw the major 2009–10 renovation of the monastery including the senior wing, library, and prayer room.
- Mother Rebecca Stramoski, O.C.S.O.2012–2024; re-elected 2018–2024; re-elected 2024–2030
Fourth and current abbess; began her first term on 7 May 2012 and continues to lead the community through a third term.