Mass for St. Joseph's Day in Graignamanagh

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, 19th March, the feast of St. Joseph, Mass in the Gregorian Rite took place in Duiske Abbey, Graignamanagh. The third volume of Bishop Comerford's Collections Relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin (1886) includes:

"The town and parish of Graig-na-managh derive their name from the celebrated Cistercian Abbey, called De Valle Salvatoris, which formerly flourished here, and of the noble church of which a large portion still remains. The name signifies the "Grange of the Monks," and indicates what constituted the grange of the first foundation. In ancient records it is styled the Abbey of Duiske, and was so called because it was build upon the confluence of the streams Duiske, i.e., the Blackwater, with the Barrow. The original monastery was founded on lands granted for that purpose by Dermod O'Ryan, Prince of Idrone, which grant was confirmed by Dermod MacMurrough, King of Leinster. The foundation charter is still extant among the Ormonde archives. Mr. Gilbert has reproduced it in fac-simile, from whose work the text is here copied... It does not appear as if the pious intentions of the chief of Idrone were immediately carried into effect. The next information we have in connection with the monastery is that William Mariscall, Earl of Pembroke, introduced a colony of Cistercian monks from the Abbey of Stanley, in Wiltshire, about the year 1202. They settled first at Loughmeran, near Kilkenny; then they removed to Athernott (Annamult), and finally they established themselves at Duiske about A.D. 1212. The charter of this new foundation is also preserved amongst the Ormonde archives..."



"Though the Abbey was suppressed, Abbots continued to be appointed. In a Note of the names of preestes, semynaries, fryers, etc., in the Citie of Kilkennie circa 1618, appears the Item: "Melchier Ragged, a franciscan (sic) fryer, keepeth usually with his father, Richard of ye said citie, Alderman, and is reputed as Lo; Abbot of the Monastery of Dawiske, within the county of Kilkennie," And in the Spicilegium Ossoriense, Vol. II., p. 281, there is a letter addressed to Propaganda by the Rev. John Magher, dated Kilkenny, 27th August, 1686, which commences:- "Ego Joannes Macharius Abbas S. Mariae de Valle Salvatoris, vulgo de Duisque, ord. Cisterciensis in Hibernia in Comitatu Kilkeniensi," &tc. In this letter Father Magher refers to his appointment as Abbot of Duiske, by Bull of Pope Innocent XI. He also relates how, on his landing at Cork, he was seized by the enemies of the Catholic faith and detained a prisoner and in chains, for two years."



"The Abbey Church was a building of great extent. It has a fine octagonal tower, which fell in 1744, similar to one that stood at Tristernagh, County Westmeath. this tower, according to the Rev. G. Hansbow, was one of the most beautiful ecclesiastical structures in the kingdom. Three of the four great arches that supported it, fell at the same time, and also the fine groined roof of the chancel.

"'Graig now appeared,' writes Trotter in his Walks through Ireland, 1812, 'and has the air of a Welsh village. An ancient castle stands in mournful solitude at some distance. The whole population here, and in the surrounding country, is Catholic. Graig contains about 2,000 inhabitants... The celebrated Abbey of Graignamanagh now struck our view. I cannot describe how nobly venerable it looked. The aisle and arches afford beautiful specimens of the Gothic. The windows we thought remarkably handsome. They Abbey was well enclosed, and good gates at different entrances. A very ancient tomb is to be seen near the entrance of the Abbey. The figure of a man in armour is seen on it, and is said to be Lord Galway's. He is reputed, I know not why, to have been a son of Queen Elizabeth's. We discovered a very small chapel built and connected with this Venerable Abbey. A holy gloom seemed to pervade it. Crimson curtains nearly shut out the glare of day. We observed a few respectable people crossing the grand and deserted aisles of the great building, and enter this chapel to perform their devotions. Never was a place more suited for the solemnity and tranquillity of religious worship. they stayed a short time and retired. I left my companions, and rested half-an-hour in a seat on the gallery. It is a melancholy, yet sweet moment, when the soul is thus abstracted from the world. And the melancholy is pleasing; for in such solitude we converse with the Deity, and repose all our cares and anxieties in His eternal breast.' The aisles have disappeared, but the portions still remaining are very extensive. The ruin has been roofed in, and now forms the Parish Church of Graig, being, with the Black Abbey, Kilkenny, probably the only ancient Catholic Churches throughout Ireland that have been restored to the worship of the old faith."



"The circumstances under which the restoration took place, as related by the old inhabitants, are curious. It appears that the west end of the nave was roofed and prepared to serve as a Protestant Church (though never used as such), at the commencement of the present century; the windows having been glazed, it was found next morning that they had been broken by the jackdaws, who thus, as tenants in possession, resented the invasion of their prescriptive rights - again the glass was replaced, and again and again the aggrieved birds repeated their work of demolition. This was reported to Lord Clifden, who replied that the birds appeared to be the ministers of divine justice; that the Church had been built by Catholics, and for Catholic purposes; and, consequently, that it should be restored to the rightful owners. Lord Dover, in 1809, granted a lease for ever of the chapel and Abbey ruins to the Parish Priest and people of Graig, at a nominal rent of 10s, which has never been demanded. The present Lord Clifden is about to add to the holding the plot outside the western end of the church, in the Main Street. The walls of the chancel and transepts were pronounced secure, and remain; the walls of the nave were found to be ruinous, some of the arches having fallen. These were taken down and rebuilt, but, unfortunately, not in line with the walls of the west end of the nave; the consequence of which is that this portion of the old building, with its beautifully carved windows, cannot now be incorporated with the Church."

Mass in Graignamanagh

One of the first fruits of the Novena of Grace has been the kind permission to have a Mass in the Gregorian Rite in Duiske Abbey, Graignamanagh (or Graiguenamanagh), Co. Kilkenny, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 19th March, feast of St. Joseph. A location map can be found here. The last Mass organised by St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association in this Parish was a Requiem for the 40th Anniversary of Bishop Thomas Keogh.

St. Joseph, pray for us!
St. Francis Xavier, pray for us!

Trettondag Jul - Epiphany in Sweden

The Epiphany, the feast of the Three Holy Kings, known in Swedish as Trettondedag Jul (Thirteenth day of Christmas, just as the day after Christmas Day is Annandag Jul, Second day of Christmas) is the most controversial of our Christian Public holidays. The "Almega" employers union disapproves of the religious theme of the holiday - nothing to do with having to give employees a day off of course!

Public holidays in Sweden are called Röda Dagar (Red Days, just like "red letter days") because the important Church feasts were marked in red in Church calendars. There are 13 Red Days. They are Nyårsdagen (New Year's Day), Trettondedag Jul (Epiphany), Langfredagen (Good Friday), Påskdagen (Easter Monday) Forsta Maj (1st May), Kristi Himmelsfardsdag (Ascension Day), Pingst (Pentecost Sunday) - Annandag Pingst (Pentecost Monday) was a Red Day but was replaced by - Sveriges Nationaldag (Swedish National Day, 6th June), Midsommardagen (Midsummer Day on the Saturday between 20th and 26th June), Alla Helgons Dag (All Saints/Souls Day on the Saturday between 31st October and 6th November), Juldagen (Christmas Day) and Annandag Jul (26th December).

Everyone in Sweden also celebrates a few other days like Julafton (Christmas Eve), Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve) and Nyårsafton (New Years Eve) as full holidays and Trettondagsafton (Epiphany Eve), Skärtorsdagen (Easter Thursday), Påskafton (Easter Saturday), Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Eve), Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag (Ascension Eve), and Allhelgonaafton (All Saints/Souls Eve) as half holidays. Also, if the Red Day falls on a Tuesday or Thursday we take the Klämdag (squeeze day between the Red Day and the weekend) as a holiday too!

Only 1st May, the Swedish National Day and Midsummer are not Christian Days, unless you include the feast day of St. Joseph the Workman and the election of King Gustavs I Vasa, who founded the Reformation in Sweden, and the feast day of St. John the Baptist as Christian Days!

Back to the Epiphany or Thirteenth Day of Christmas. It was celebrated in Sweden during the Middle Ages with Mystery Plays. It used to be the day that stjärngossar (Star Boys) dressed in white with cone hats with stars on would put on pageants of the journey of the Three Kings to Bethlehem and they would make a procession from house to house. Balthazar carried a star lantern on a pole and Caspar and Melchior would carry swords. The other children dressed as biblical characters. All would go singing songs and hymns and collecting gifts. The most famous of these biblical characters was always Judas in a big beard. The one dressed as Judas would jingle a bag with the 30 pieces of silver he received for betraying Jesus.

In Sweden today children dress as stjärngossar on Luciadag (St. Lucy's Day) instead but in a few places in Norway they can still be seen on Epiphany.

Ite ad Ioseph!

The following has just been received from Fr. Stan Smolenski:

THE APOSTOLATE FOR FAMILY CONSECRATION HAD A CONFERENCE ON ST. JOSEPH DURING OCTOBER 1-3. IT CONCLUDED WITH A VOTUM/PETITION TO THE HOLY FATHER TO DECLARE 2012 AS 'THE YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH' - HONORING THE 2000TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE - THE LAST TIME ST. JOSEPH'S PRESENCE IS MENTIONED IN THE GOSPELS. THE BISHOP OF STEUBENVILLE AND ALL PARTICIPATING THEOLOGIANS SIGNED THE DOCUMENT WHICH WILL BE HAND DELIVERED TO THE POPE BY AN AFC FRIEND IN THE PAPAL OFFICE. - AFC REQUESTS PRAYERS FOR THE POPE'S ACCEPTANCE... THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION...

October 3, 2010

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Vatican City State
EUROPE

VOTUM

Your Holiness,

We, the speakers and participants of the "Totus Tuus-Consecrate Them in Truth" Family Conference focused on Building a Culture of Life through St. Joseph, Guardian of the Christ Child, held on October 1-3, 2010 at the Apostolate for Family Consecration, Catholic Familyland, in Bloomingdale, Ohio, USA, wish respectfully to bring to your attention the following petition for your consideration:

That a universal "Year of St. Joseph" be declared in the Church from the dates of 19 March 2012 to 19 March 2013 (or any other dates suitable to Your Holiness), in order to invoke the special protection of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, on behalf of the People of God at this present historical moment, and to raise up St. Joseph as the greatest exemplar of Christian fatherhood for the benefit of all families of the world today. We also humbly request that a formal consecration or entrustment of the Church to St. Joseph, Patron of the People of God, be made by Your Holiness on 19 March 2012, or at some other appropriate time during the 2012-2013 "Year of St. Joseph."

The Year 2012 constitutes, in general, the two thousandth anniversary of the last appearance of St. Joseph in Sacred Scripture, that being the presence of St. Joseph at the finding of Jesus in the Temple when the Christ Child was 12 years old (cf. Luke 2:41-52). As he was declared "Patron of the Universal Church" in 1870 by Pope Pius IX, a universal Church year dedicated to St. Joseph in seeking his particular intercession would be especially efficacious for the People of God amidst the grave crises facing the Church today.

"I am convinced that by reflection upon the way that Mary's spouse shared in the divine mystery, the Church--on the road towards the future with all humanity-will be enabled to discover ever anew her own identity within this redemptive plan, which is founded on the mystery of the Incarnation. Besides trusting in Joseph's sure protection, the Church also trusts in his noble example, which transcends all individual states of life and serves as a model for the Christian community, whatever the condition and duties of each of its members may be." (Pope John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, 1; 30)

As with the universal Church, so too, with the domestic Church, the present challenges facing the Christian family in general and the role of Christian husband and father in particular would be greatly aided by the sublime example and powerful intercession of the divinely appointed Head of the Holy Family. "The crisis of fatherhood that we are experiencing today is a basic aspect of the crisis that threatens mankind as a whole." (The God of Jesus Christ, p.29, Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger)

Most Holy Father, we the members of this Conference gathered from various parts of the United States and beyond, wish to express to Your Holiness our collective and ardent desire for you, according to God's holy will, to consider the declaration of this "Year of St. Joseph," which we believe will bring forth profound graces to the universal Church through its providential Patron, and to the domestic Church, through the intercession of him who is already the spiritual Father of each and every Christian family and greatest model for every husband and father.

We join to this petition our firm promise of humble prayers for Your Holiness, in regards to this petition, and for the continuation of your heroic and inspired guidance of the People of God as our Vicar of Christ and Universal Shepherd. We humbly request the Apostolic Blessing for ourselves and our dear ones.

Very respectfully yours in the love of the Holy Family,

Most Rev. R. Daniel Conlon, Bishop of Steubenville
Fr. Basil Cole, O.P.
Fr. Kevin Barrett
Fr. High Gillespie, S.M.M.
Dr. Scott Hahn
Dr. Mark Miravalle
Dr. Alice von Hildebrand

Christ Heaven Flight-Day

Ascension Thursday is known in Sweden as Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag, which translates to Christ Heaven Flight-Day. Here, just like everywhere else, it is celebrated to commemorate Jesus' ascension into Heaven, body and soul, forty days after his resurrection. Unlike everywhere else, though, we haven't moved the celebrations to the weekend.

Celebrated 39 days after Easter, always on a Thursdsay, Kristi Himmelsfärdsdag is always celebrated between April 30th and June 3rd, which means it sometimes falls on a couple of secular feasts celebrated in Sweden during this time; Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis eve, April 30th) and May 1st (International Labour Day or, indeed, the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker).

It is celebrated as a national holiday even if it has lost many of the traditions attached to it. It used to be the day when cows were allowed out to grass for the first time of the year and since 1924 it is an important day for the sobriety movement. It is also the first day for fishing - första metaredagen - it used to be widely believed that fish wouldn't bite before this day.

During the middle ages there would be himmelsfärdsspel - plays illustrating the events, this tradition is not very commonly practiced these days, but you can still see it in some rural parts of the country. (If Medieval mystery plays are what you're looking for Visby is the place you wanna be, where they have a Medieval week every year in August.)

The Swedish celebration of this day carries on the rebirth message of Easter and many activities, even Masses, take place outdoors to fully utilise the sunlight that's returned after months of darkness and gloom.

Carlow Cathedral for Saint Joseph the Worker

I was bowled over, a rarity for me, by my experience of the Mass for the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker today as the venerable stones of the mother Church of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin witnessed the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, a sight that I am sure it was thought, they would never see again. It was a day for extraordinary things as the people turned out in extraordinary numbers. I stopped counting at 180 and there were plenty more beyond that. People came from Carlow, town and County, people from the Diocese of Leighlin and from the Diocese of Kildare, and further afield, turned out in strength of Faith, strength of hope and strength of voice. Time and again after Mass, they wanted to know if it was going to be celebrated again, where, how regularly. The answer, at least in this Diocese, is not an happy one... extraordinary.

Once again, we were graced with the presence and singing voice of the magnificent Miss Máire Mullarkey, who filled the cathedral vaults with the music of Heaven and led the congregation in once-familiar Gregorian Chants and traditional vernacular hymns. Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, O Salutaris, Pange Lingua, Adoremus in Aeternum rang out again in Carlow Cathedral. She rendered the Ave Verum, 'Queen of the May,' Críost Liom with consummate skill and with a reverence and discretion that seemed to fit the extraordinary nature of the day as it did the majesty of the day's Liturgical observances. A noted and professional singer we were privileged that she shared her gifts with us once again.

The celebrant was Father James Larkin of the Archdiocese of Dublin, the Metropolitan See loaning of her very self to her suffragan Diocese today. In his sermon he spoke of the dignity of work, and the tragedies of unemployment that we see in our own country. He said that in dedicating this day to St. Joseph the Church wishes us to understand that work is in God's plan that we provide for ourselves and that we fulfil ourselves in service to our families and our neighbours. He referred to the Gospel passage 'is this not the Son of Joseph the carpenter' and said that there seems to be a certain snobbery in this, as if the people asked how could a carpenter's Son have such wisdom. The answer is that, however people may set a social premium upon certain professions or kinds of work, all work has equal dignity in the eyes of God because its dignity is found in the fulfilment of our duties and of ourselves. Father Larkin spoke about the importance of devotion to Saint Joseph, a most powerful protector and patron of the Universal Church, and particularly, in this Holy Year of Priests, and since the Mass was offered for Priests, Saint Joseph's patronage of the Young Priests' Society, that helps young men to pursue their vocation to the Priesthood.

Great credit is merited by the Administrator of the Cathedral and the Cathedral staff, who were present throughout, giving every assistance and courtesy, and who made available the original Altar furnishings for today's Mass. Please God, we may speak as they do concluding the Passover celebration... Next year in Carlow!

Latin Mass in Carlow Cathedral

As already announced, Mass in the Gregorian Rite (Missal of Blessed John XXIII) will take place on Saturday, 1st May, 2010, the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, at 11.30 a.m.

For those travelling from Kildare, public transport details are available from Irish Rail, Bus Éireann, and J.J. Kavanagh & Sons. For example, Irish Rail has scheduled a train leaving Dublin Heuston at 9:10 a.m., Newbridge at 9:37 a.m., Kildare at 9:45 a.m., Athy at 10:02 a.m. and arriving at Carlow at 10:15 a.m. Another is scheduled to leave Carlow at 2:10 p.m. stopping at all of those stations on the way back.

We hope that this Mass will satisfy five debts of gratitude, the first to the Ever Virgin Mother of God, whose Month is traditionally held in special honour by the Irish people, the second to St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, the third to St. Conleth, our own special patron, whose feastday in the traditional calendar of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin is on 3rd May, the fourth is to Our Most Holy Father the Pope, since we have been unable to obtain a Church in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in which to organise Mass for the Anniversary of his election, and the fifth is to Priests during the Holy Year for Priests.

The Mass will be followed immediately by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, during which the Pope's Prayer for the Church in Ireland, contained in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, will be recited.

Gregorian Chant Hymn to Saint Joseph

Our Lady, Saints Joseph and Conleth pray for us!

Mount Melleray Retreat

Members of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association made a retreat in Mount Melleray Abbey again this year. The theme chosen for the retreat was Lectio Divina, to take account of the fact that the Cistercian Abbey where the retreat was being held follows the Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 48), which gives Lectio Divina an important place in its rule of life, along with Liturgical Prayer and manual labour. Mount Melleray Abbey is situated in the lea of the Knockmealdown Mountains, just to the north of Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. It has been the home of monks of the Strict Observance of the Cistercian Order, known as Trappists, since 1832. The foundation stone of the Monastery was laid on St. Bernard's Day, 20th August, 1833.

"First the tower, austere and massive, gleaming white against the sun,
With its crown of brazen crosses all aflame,
Rose above the circling pine-woods; then the gables, one by one,
To the field of my delighted vision came."

"Now the whole monastic city lay unshrouded to my view,
As a picture on a screen in spendour thrown,
Every snowy arch and angle pointing upward to the blue,
An ecstatic Benedicite in stone."

"Earth's cocoon of light and air,
Wondering Angels peering through,
Find reflections here and there,
Of their home beyond the Blue."


The Abbey Church is in Gothic style and cruciform in plan. Although extended, it follows mainly the lines of the original chapel built by the first community of Cistercian monks. The foundation stone for the new Church was laid by his Eminence John Cardinal McRory on the occasion of the centenary celebration. The Public Church and Monastic Church are the main elements of the magnificent Church-building project undertaken under Dom Celsus O'Connell, O.C.S.O., seventh Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray. The foundation stones were laid on 17th April, 1933, only twelve days after Dom Celsus was elected at Lord Abbot and a few months before the Abbey celebrated its centenary. The Monastic Church, the Church where the monks of Mount Melleray Abbey celebrate the Divine Office every day, was completed and solemnly blessed in November, 1940, but it wasn't until August of 1952, the 120th Anniversary of Mount Melleray, that the Church was solemnly consecrated. Prominent in the monastic Church, as is the custom in all Cistercian churches, was a massive crucifix suspended over the nave and containing relics of St. Bernard and many Irish saints, now, unhappily, removed. The smaller suspended crucifix in the Public Church remains.

The east window seen below is the work of the Harry Clarke studio. The central panel represents Christ the King crowning Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. Each evening at the Office of Compline the lights of the Church are extinguished and, according to Cistercian tradition, the figure of Our Lady is illuminated for the singing of the Salve Regina. To the right of the central panel are St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Carthage of Lismore, patron of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, where Mount Melleray is found, and to the far right are St. Robert, one of the three founders of the Cistercian Order, and St. Patrick of Ireland. To the left of the central panel are St. Brigid of Kildare and St. Columba and to the far left are St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church and the father of Cistercian monasticism, and St. Malachy of Armagh, who invited St. Bernard to send Cistercian monks to make their first foundation in Ireland.


"...that marvellous melody in whose haunting cadence all the immortal aspirations and emotions of humanity seem to struggle for expression..."

The Consecration of the Monastic Church was carried out by the Ordinary of the Diocese, Bishop Coholan of Waterford and Lismore beginning at 8 a.m. on 20th. The Public Church was consecrated contemporaneously, with Dom Benignus Hickey, O.C.S.O., Abbot of New Mellifont, consecrating the High Altar. During the consecration festival from 20th August to 29th August, 1952, well over 100,000 people visited Mount Melleray, an echo, surely, of the great occasion that was the consecration of the first Cistercian Church in Ireland, at Mellifont in Co. Louth. Mellifont Abbey was founded in 1142, with St. Christian Ó Connarchy as first Abbot. The consecration of the Church, the largest in Ireland at the time, was attended in state by the High King, Murtach Ó Loughlin, together with the flower of the nobility, including MacMurrough, as yet "guiltless of his country's blood." St. Christian, by this time Bishop of Lismore and Papal Legate, presided at the consecration, another direct link, through the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, to the Abbey at Mount Melleray. Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh, was principal consecrator, assisted by 17 Bishops.


At Mount Melleray in 1952, the Abbot General of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, Dom Gabriel Sortais, was liturgically received on the morning of 20th August and His Excellency, the President of Ireland, Séan T. Ó Ceallaigh and Mrs. Ó Ceallaigh were given a liturgical reception that evening. From noon on Thursday, 21st, until Friday, 29th, the law of enclosure was suspended to permit ladies to enter the precincts of the Monastery. On 21st August, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop O'Hara, sang Pontifical Mass. On Sunday, 24th, Dom Celsus O'Connell, Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray celebrated Pontifical High Mass in the open air next to the Public Church. On the final day of the festival, Pontifical Vespers in the open air were followed by Benediction and a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the grounds of the Monastery and was brought back to the High Altar of the Monastic Church for the Office of Compline. The conclusion of the festival was the turning of the key in the lock of the enclosure by the Lord Abbot.


During the course of the retreat conferences, Father McCarthy said that all Catholics should take the words of Pope Benedict XVI seriously when he said: "I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart. If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced of it - a new spiritual springtime." He said that the starting point for any Lectio divina was the Divinity of Christ. He added that the aim was not to obtain some kind of personal magisterium on the meaning of S. Scripture but rather to converse with God.



Fr. McCarthy introduced the retreatants to the words of Guigo II, the twelfth-century prior of Grande Chartreuse, and spoke about the four elements of Lectio divina: Lectio, to read the Scriptures; Meditatio, to meditate upon them and to settle upon some element that strikes one particularly; Oratio, to pray, the intimate dialogue of which the Pope speaks; and Contemplatio, to contemplate upon all the elements.

Each day was begun with Mass in the Gregorian Rite and concluded with devotions and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the traditional manner. The retreat began on the feast of the Annunciation, carried on through the feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, and concluded on the Saturday of Passion Week.



The Abbey Guest House accommodated the retreatants throughout and gave direct access to the Public Church, dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint Philomena. It was once the National Shrine to Saint Philomena, although her statue was removed when her name was removed from the Roman Calendar. The Guest House formed part of the older monastery complex.



The interior of the Public Church has five bays consisting of aisles on either side and double lancets above. The Sanctuary is decorated in mosaic, both in nave and aisles. The walls surrounding the side aisles being decorated with adoring Angels. The walls of the Sanctuary having the instruments of the Passion in quatrefoils on the lateral walls, the east wall having the Sacred Heart represented to the Gospel side of the east window and St. Joseph to the Epistle side, each having the appropriate monogram in the quatrefoil beneath.



Perhaps one of the most interesting of all sights in Mount Melleray is the Miraculous Bin which is kept in the farm-yard near the Monastery garden. A long wooden structure about 3 metres long by 1 1/2 metres wide by 1 metre deep, it is regarded the greatest wonder of Mount Melleray. On the cover of the bin is a small notice which tells the story as follows: "DURING THE FAMINE OF 1840, THE COMMUNITY AND MORE THAN SEVENTY POOR PEOPLE WERE FED DAILY WITH MEAL STORED IN THE BIN. AFTER THREE MONTHS THE SUPPLY WAS FOUND UNDIMINISHED." The story is one well known to visitors to Mount Melleray. The then Lord Abbot, Dom Vincent Ryan, left instructions that nobody was to be turned away from the monastery hungry during his absence, which was to last three months, beginning just after Easter. The stock of Indian meal in the bin was found to be undiminished upon his return, although the daily measure required for 100 monks and the more than 70 poor people was taken from it each day. Dom Vincent's written and signed statement attesting to the incident is still extant: "Who will not here admire and praise the wonderful dispensation of Divine Providence. A poor and numerous community of religious men, located on the side of a barren mountain, improvided with funds, resources, or human means necessary to support existence, labouring incessantly in the arduous and painful enterprise of reclaiming its stubborn and neglected soil, depending on the casual charity of humane friends, are thus enabled, I will presume to say miraculously, not only to maintain their own existence, but to feed and preserve the lives of nearly five thousand of their fellow creatures during a period of no ordinary calamity and distress!"


The east window of the Public Church is in two levels, above, in the central panel is Our Lady assumed into Heaven flanked by Angels, while below are, from left to right, St. Brigid, St. Malachy of Armagh (who introduced the Cistercian Order to Ireland), St. Bernard of Clairvaux, friend of St. Malachy, greeting him, and St. Patrick. This is a window of old associations. Mention of St. Malachy and St. Bernard draws the mind back to Mellifont and the first Irish foundation of the Cistercians. The seven main panels of this window were originally in the east window of the old Monastic Church.



To the East of the Monastic Church is 'God's Acre,' the monks' grave-yard, where generations of Cistercians lie. The three High Crosses in the foreground (and another two in the distance) mark the graves of the Lords Abbot of Mount Melleray.

"To my ears as thus I pondered came the sweet and soothing sounds,
Of the Abbey chime, from workshop and from cell,
From the field and from the forest, from the grange's distant bounds,
Calling all to choir, for that's the Office Bell."

If you would like to explore a monastic vocation in Mount Melleray Abbey, the Novice Master of Mount Melleray Abbey can be contacted by letter at:

Revd. Novice Master, O.C.S.O.,
Mount Melleray Abbey,
Cappoquin,
Co. Waterford,
Ireland.

Or by 'phone at:

+353 58 54404

Or by e-mail by clicking here.

Saint Lachteen and the Boggera Mountains

In a previous post I wrote about the sights and sites of the valley between the Boggera Mountains and the Nagles Mountains through which the Martin River flows south to Blarney and the Clyda River flows north through Mourne Abbey towards Mallow.

In this post I'd like to take you on a visit to one of the valleys of the Boggera Mountains to the north and west of Blarney. The Martin River meets the River Shournagh at St. Ann's just west of Blarney and shortly thereafter their mingled waters join the River Lee near Ballincollig. One branch of the old Muskerry Railway (1893-1934) used to follow the line of the River Souragh to Donoughmore and it is effectively in the traces of that line, going upstream from Blarney, that I am going to take you today.

Just north of where the Shournagh flows through St. Ann's, it passes through the townland of Loughane West, the site of the old Parish Church of Matehy. I don't mean the present St. Joseph's. One story of this site relates to the long era of the Penal Laws, when Catholicism was illegal and persecuted. As the Priest was celebrating Mass, a soldier entered and, before any of the congregation could react, drew his sword and cut off the Priest's arms. He rushed out of the Church and rode away down the hill. The horse stumbled beneath him, threw him to the ground and he was killed. A companion buried him in the grave yard of Loughane. The following morning, the people found that the dead soldier had left the grave yard, crossed the River, mounted the hill and lay buried instead in the grave yard of the Church at Matehy.

Farther up the river about half a mile north of the village of Donoughmore is the site of St. Lachteen's Well. The Holy Well is said to have dried up and appeared instead at Ballyglass near Lyradane because a woman once washed her clothes in it. The original well was the site where St. Lachteen preached to the people of the area, using the dripping waters of the well to illustrate the dropping down of God's mercy. The Corkman Lachteen had been directed by his guardian angel, Uriel, to the monastic school of St. Comgall at Bangor, where he studied for the Priesthood. The Saint lived near Donoughmore at the beginning of the 7th century. His pattern day is 19 March, on account of which the present well is known interchangably as St. Joseph's Well or Tobar Laichtin. The unfortunate modern Parish Church at Stuake is named for St. Lachteen. Built in the 1990s, it replaced a beautiful Church from the 1830s. It is certainly my least favourite Church in the County.

St. Lachteen also founded another monastery at Kilnamartyra about 8 miles to the west, set between the Sullane and Toone Rivers. Cill na Martra is actually the Church of the Relic, referring to St. Lachteen's hand was venerated. The 12th century 'shrine' or reliquary of his hand, Lámh Lachtaín, was kept locally by the Healy family until the 19th century, when it was sold and came to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and I think it's now in the National Museum of Ireland. As you can see, it is in the form of an arm with a fist, which is very worn on account of the custom of taking oaths on it. The beautiful old Church of Kilnamartyra (1839) is also dedicated to St. Lachteen.


Passing on through Gowlane Cross, you pass Uctough Mountain, which is the source of the River Shournagh. Next it passes through a very wide moorland, which is probably about 1,000 feet above sea level and as the road turns west to Nad, on the north face of the Boggeras, it passes the great Bweeng Mountain. The River Nad becomes the River Glen and, at Fr. Murphy's Bridge, you suddenly leave the mountains and enter the broad valley of the River Blackwater that sweeps eastward towards Mallow and Fermoy, then on to Lismore and Cappoquin, before turning sharply south and into the ocean at Youghal.

Happy Feast Day Holy Father!

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, who is also the Heavenly Patron of Our Holy Father the Pope.



To thee, O Blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our tribulations, and while imploring the aid of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that love which united thee to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and by the fatherly affection with which thou didst embrace the Infant Jesus, we humbly beseech thee graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased with His Blood and to help us in our necessities, by thy powerful intercession.

Protect, O most provident Guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen children of Jesus Christ; ward off from us, O most loving Father, all taint of error and corruption; graciously assist us from Heaven, O most power protector, in our struggle with the powers of darkness; and as thou didst once rescue the Child Jesus from imminent peril to His life, so now defend the Holy Church of God from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity.

Shield each one of us with thy unceasing patronage that, imitating thy example and sported by thy aid, we may be enabled to live a good life, die a holy death, and secure everlasting happiness in Heaven. Amen.

Pope Leo XIII

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us, pray for the Pope!

A Tale of Two Towers

A view of Arran Quay from the West where the River Liffey flows

under Mellows Bridge with the Campanile of St. Paul's Church

and the Dome of the Four Courts Building on the skyline.

Two further pilgrimages for the Holy Year of Priests will be made on Saturday, 23rd January, to St. Paul's Church '@Smithfield' , Arran Quay, Dublin 7, for Mass in the Gregorian Rite at 11 a.m., and on Saturday, 1st May, to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow, for Mass in the Gregorian Rite at 11.30 a.m.

Last year, we had Mass in St. Paul's to mark the Holy Year of St. Paul during the Octave for Christian Unity and we are glad to have the permission of the Administrator of the Church to return again during the Octave.

The details of the pilgrimage to take place in March will be announced later.

The Mass on the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker will be the first celebrated there in the Gregorian Rite in more than 40 years. The funeral of Bishop Thomas Keogh in 1969 would have taken place before the publication of the Novus Ordo Missae but the Liturgy would have followed the reforms of 1965 and 1967.

The Campus of Carlow College with the Cathedral of the Assumption.

Son of Saint Louis...

As reported, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg has refused to give his assent to a law legalising euthanasia in the predominantly Catholic Grand Duchy, which now has the dubious distinction of being the third European Country, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to do so.

However, the 'Christian' 'Democrat' Government has decided not to permit the Grand Duke's conscience to prevent the legalised murder of the old.

Rather than adhere to the Constitution of the Grand Duchy, which required the Grand Duke to assent to laws passed by parliament before they came into force, they have decided to change Article 34 of that Constitution, stripping His Royal Highness of that function. His Royal Highness will now be required to promulgate laws, even if they are repugnant to his own conscience .

His Royal Highness' paternal Grand Aunt, the Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde was forced to abdicate in 1919 for having defended the rights of the Church in education, after which she entered a Convent for the remainder of her life. His Royal Highness' maternal Uncle, Baudoin, King of the Belgians, was forced to abdicate in 1990 rather than sign a law legalising abortion in Belgium.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Dying, pray for Luxembourg and its Grand Duke!