Jerpoint Abbey

On our way to the Jerpoint glass studio, we found the Jerpoint Abbey. Of course we stopped. We also happened to be the first people there. This is yet another site run by the OPW and we looked around the reception area a bit before getting a guided tour.

The Jerpoint Abbey was founded in the second have of the 12th century by Cistercian order. It's "claim to fame" was that the monks didn't follow rules very well. The Cistercian order had very strict guidelines as to how a monk was supposed to live and what an abbey was supposed to look like. The walls of the abbey were supposed to be absent of adornment/decoration. However, this abbey is known because it has carvings/stonework in some of the walls and pillars. There even appears to be sculpture work of people who may have donated to help build the abbey.

The monks were supposed to spend a large percentage of their days praying but were also supposed to be self sufficient. However, due to the amount of time that they needed to spend in devotion to God, they had men who weren't connected enough to get into the abbey live there and grow the food and such. The monks were allowed a small amount of food and a good bit of (weak) beer during the day. They were only supposed to be near heat for a very short amount of the day.

The monks also engaged in "blood letting" where they let some of their blood out of their body (don't know what happened to it after it left the body). This was believed to cleanse their bodies of evil spirits or sickness. There were strict guidelines as to how often monks were supposed to let their blood and how much to let. However, these Irish monks supposedly let their blood more often because after you let blood, you got to spend time by the heat and got extra food!