Ирландиядағы Гленстал аббаттығы

Benedictine monastery in Murroe, County Limerick, Ireland

Glenstal Abbey is a Catholic Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of the Annunciation located in Murroe, County Limerick, Ireland. It is dedicated to Saint Joseph and Saint Columba. As of 2018, the abbot of the monastery was Brendan Coffey.

The abbey is located in and beside Glenstal Castle, a Normanesque castle. The house was built for Sir Matthew Barrington, who, in 1818, purchased part of Lord Carbery's Limerick estate. Designed as a castle in 12th century style, it was built in the 1830s. The village of Glenstal grew from the construction of the abbey. Many of the builders and craftsmen who came to construct the Abbey ended up settling in the area. Sir Charles Burton Barrington, 5th Baronet inherited the estate from his father in 1890. In 1921, his daughter, Winifred, was killed in an IRA ambush of a Royal Irish Constabulary inspector with whom she was traveling. The family then decided to relocate to Fairthorne Manor in Hampshire, England. Barrington first offered the property to the Irish Free State for a presidential residence, but in light of the anticipated cost of maintenance, the government declined. In 1925, at the suggestion of Fr Richard Devane, professor at St Patrick’s College, Thurles and John Harty, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Monsignor James J. Ryan, retired president of St. Patrick's College, purchased the estate from the family with the intent to establish a Benedictine school there. The abbey released commercial Gregorian chant albums in the late 1990s as The Monks of Glenstal Abbey, also contributing to the multi platinum selling Faith of our Fathers in 1996. The monks of Glenstal Abbey, feature as part of the interval act during the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, in Dublin, Lumen, composed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin who has a long association with the Abbey.

The picturesque grounds include lakes, forests and an old walled, terraced garden which features a "bible garden". From 1986 Dr. Brian P. Murphy OSB worked with volunteers, restoring the gardens; he also published a book in 2004 on the history of Glenstal Abbey Gardens. The abbey also runs a 250 acre (100 hectare) dairy farm.