An American Catholic university has announced plans to establish a campus in Ireland at the site of a recently closed monastery.
Ave Maria University said it will open a campus at Mount Melleray Abbey in County Waterford, bringing undergraduate study programmes to the former Cistercian house near Cappoquin. The abbey, founded in 1833 by monks fleeing persecution in France, closed in January 2025 after almost two centuries of monastic life.
In a video message published on its website, the Florida-based university described the development as “a fully integrated Ave Maria University experience now embedded in the rich Catholic and cultural heritage of Europe”. The move represents the first overseas campus for the institution, which was founded in 2003 in the Diocese of Venice, Florida.
Mount Melleray, long associated with the Cistercian tradition of prayer and manual labour, had been one of Ireland’s best-known monasteries. In recent decades the community had diminished in number after the second Vatican Council. The decision to close earlier this year followed a period of discernment by the remaining monks, who consolidated their presence elsewhere in Ireland.
In announcing the project, the university said the new campus would operate in partnership with the local bishop and the Cistercian Order. Fr Malachy, said in promotional text said that in 2025 “the Cistercian community consolidated its presence elsewhere in Ireland, opening a new chapter for Mount Melleray”.
He added that, “in partnership with the local bishop and the Cistercian Order, Ave Maria University now continues this legacy of faith and learning. Students will be welcomed into a place of living tradition that fully respects the Abbey’s spiritual character, the life of prayer, and the local community.”
The university’s published mission statement emphasises its fidelity to Catholic teaching and to the vision set out in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution of St John Paul II on Catholic higher education. It states that the institution was “founded in fidelity to Christ and His Church in response to the call of Vatican II for greater lay witness in contemporary society” and exists to further teaching and research “in the abiding tradition of Catholic thought in both national and international settings”.
The statement continues that the university sponsors “a liberal arts education curriculum dedicated, as articulated in the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, to the advancement of human culture, the promotion of dialogue between faith and reason, the formation of men and women in the intellectual and moral virtues of the Catholic faith, and to the development of professional and pre-professional programs in response to local and societal needs”. It also acknowledges “the central and indispensable role of the Ordinary of the Diocese of Venice in promoting and assisting in the preservation and strengthening of the University’s Catholic identity”.
Details published on the university’s website indicate that life at the Irish campus will be shaped by the physical layout and traditions of the former monastery. “Life at AMU’s Mount Melleray Abbey campus is intentionally simple—and surprisingly full,” the website states. “You’ll live and learn in a place built for community: a campus where your dorm, classrooms, chapel, dining hall, library, and faculty and staff are all within the monastery grounds.” It adds that days will follow “a steady rhythm of prayer, coursework, meals, and time outdoors—giving you the structure to grow and the space to breathe”.
Students are told that between classes they will be able to gather in common areas, walk the grounds, explore the working farm and study in “quiet corners of the abbey”. Weekends, the website says, will allow access to Ireland’s “coastline, castles, trails, towns, and pilgrimage routes”.
The announcement however has prompted questions in Ireland about regulatory approval. According to the Irish publication The Beat, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said it has not received any communication to date regarding the establishment of the university in Ireland.
In a statement, the Department said, “The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has not received any communications to date regarding the establishment of Ave Maria University in Ireland. It is open to education institutions based in other jurisdictions to explore the development of campuses in Ireland.”
However, it added that the use of the title “university” is protected under Irish law. “The Universities Act 1997 provides that the term ‘university’, when used to describe an educational establishment or facility, may only be used with the approval of the Minister,” the statement said. “This provision is intended to ensure that the public can clearly distinguish between State-regulated universities and other providers that are not subject to the same regulatory framework.”
