![Brother Felix Leja at work on a casket. The New Melleray Abbey business is on target to grow 125 percent this year.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/db7b844/2147483647/strip/true/crop/140x175+0+0/resize/880x1100!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fprograms%2Fwesat%2Ffeatures%2F2003%2Foct%2Fmonks%2Fcasket_140-ebfc747fde69a3c015ec472cda0cb4fe67f164ae.jpg)
Allison Aubrey, NPR /
Not too many businesses are expanding by triple digits these days. But deep in rural Iowa, the Trappist Monks have a business that's growing like gangbusters.
The New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque launched a casket-making business five years ago after their farming operation went under. Now, in between their seven-daily prayer vigils, the monks can be found in the wood-shop sanding and sawing. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.
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