The Holy Cross Abbey (Mainistir na Croise Naofa) is a restored Cistercian monastery in Holycross near Thurles. It is situated on the River Suir. It takes its name from a relic of the True Cross or Holy rood. The fragment of that Holy rood was brought to Ireland by the Plantagenet Queen, Isabella of Angoulême, around 1233. She bestowed the relic on the original Cistercian Monastery in Thurles, which she then rebuilt and which was thenceforth thereby named Holy Cross Abbey.