Monazite and allanite are important tools for dating prograde and peak metamorphism. Rising temperature together with suitable bulk-rock composition results in allanite replacement by monazite. To constrain the timing of prograde Eo-Alpine metamorphism in the Veporic Unit of the Western Carpathians we dated monazite using electron microprobe. The dated monazite occurs in garnet mica schists exposed from the deepest levels of the Veporic dome. The peak metamorphic assemblage consists of garnet + biotite + phengite + paragonite + rutile + quartz. Alpine garnet is zoned with decreasing Ca and increasing Mg from the core to the rim reflecting prograde growth. Monazite-(Ce) occurs in the chlorite, muscovite and biotite matrix occasionally associated with allanite-(Ce)–(REE-epidote/clinozoisite) and xenotime-(Y), suggesting monazite formation via allanite breakdown. Formation of monazite was controlled by rising temperature and low-Ca bulk-rock composition; the monazite-rich sample shows a CaO/Na2O ratio of 0.47. Dating of monazite yielded Cretaceous weighted average Th–U–total Pb age of 95.8 ± 2.7 Ma (MSWD = 1.13) with individual dates ranging from 75 to 124 Ma. Thermodynamic modelling suggests allanite–monazite transition along a prograde P–T path, from the stability field of allanite (6–8 kbar; 520–540 °C) approximated by epidote-zoisite, to peak conditions (12–14 kbar; 580–600 °C) constrained by the composition of garnet, phengitic muscovite and biotite, and Zr-in rutile thermometry. The age of 96 Ma refers, therefore, to the prograde metamorphic stage, close to peak P–T conditions, which is in excellent agreement with the timing of Eo-Alpine HP/UHP metamorphism (100–90 Ma) in the Austroalpine Nappes. This supports the correlation of Eo-Alpine metamorphism in the Western Carpathians with intracontinental subduction in the Eastern Alps.