Áine Lawlor of RTÉ Radio 1 explores religious, spiritual and ethical issues through discussions, interviews and features in her Divine Sparks series. Her show recently came to Glenstal Abbey, offering listeners a few moments of calm and insights into life at the monastery. Listen from 24 minutes here…
On Friday, 14th February we celebrated in a small way our long-standing friendship and connection with Maredsous Abbey School in Belgium. Our school captain Peter Purcell welcomed and exchanged gifts – including sports gear and beer! – with the school captain at Maredsous, Alexis van Rijckevorsel. Both young men could converse in the language of the other which immediately warmed relations.
Two other Maredsous students, Maximilien, (Alexis’ brother), and François Mertens were present, having just completed a six week stay ‘on exchange’ at Glenstal Abbey School, benefiting from a tradition that goes back decades. They fully participated in the school life and so we are all the better for it.
They also recalled our shared past: that Maredsous received from Ireland one of its outstanding abbots, the Dubliner Bl. Joseph Columba Marmion OSB. It was in his memory that Glenstal Abbey was founded by the monks of Maredsous in 1927.
One of the founders, Fr Hubert Janssens OSB, is Max’s grand-uncle and François and must surely be of the extended family of another founder, Fr Winoc Mertens OSB! Deep roots and shared values from the Benedictine tradition enrich our students and prepare them to make their contributions to the world.
May ‘the strong [among them] have something to long after, and the weak not draw back in alarm!’ (RB 65).
To this end we appreciate the leadership of Ms Grainne Foley, Deputy Principal, and Abbot Columba McCann OSB.
John O’Callaghan OSB
We invite you to join our long-running Easter retreat taking place from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th April.
Journey with us from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and deepen your experience of these holy days through solemn liturgies, a series of talks, time together and space for personal reflection.
Talks will include:
The cost is €360 fully residential, €250 non residential including meals, or €180 fully residential for students.
For bookings and more information contact guestmaster@glenstal.com
January is often a quieter month for monastic guest masters and guest mistresses, and so every two years we take the opportunity to gather together for a time of reflection and prayer. This year, monks and nuns with responsibility for hospitality in monasteries across Ireland and Great Britain met for three days at Kylemore Abbey, in beautiful Connemara.
Benedictine, Cistercian and Bernardine communities were represented, with guest masters and mistresses hailing from Buckfast Abbey, Stanbrook Abbey, Quarr Abbey, Glencairn Abbey, Silverstream Priory, Kylemore Abbey and Hyning Monastery. Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland joined us via Zoom.
Our theme was simple: “Welcoming the guest as Christ today.” We shared experiences of hospitality in our different monasteries and quickly discovered how much we hold in common. Though our settings vary, many of the challenges are the same. We spoke, too, of a striking pastoral reality: how many people arrive at our doors tired and worn down by the pressures of modern life. Again and again we see how deeply guests value the rhythm, prayer, and quiet of the monastic guesthouse.
One important insight was that hospitality does not have to be grand or luxurious to be authentic. It is not great gestures that make a guest feel welcomed as Christ, but the creation of a safe space, and the offering of reverence and respect. A listening ear, a simple meal, a peaceful room – these speak powerfully.
We were also reminded of something even more fundamental. While we are called to welcome Christ in the guest, it is Christ who truly does the welcoming. Our task is to set the table, to open the door, to be present. When we step aside and allow Christ to act, many marvellous things can happen.
The days in Kylemore were filled with prayer, conversation and encouragement. We returned to our monasteries strengthened in our shared vocation: to receive each guest as Christ and to trust that Christ is already at work long before we open the door.
Oscar McDermott OSB
This weekend the monastic community remembers Jean Dupiéreux OSB on the 70th anniversary of his death.
Maurice François Joseph Ghislain Dupiéreux was born in Florennes, Belgium, on 22nd September 1888. Following matriculation in the natural sciences and the humanities at the Collège Nôtre Dame de La Paix in Namur, he entered the Abbey of Maredsous on 5th October 1908. He received the name of Jean-Baptiste. He was professed on 7th February 1910.
Between 1902 to 1912 he studied philosophy in Maredsous and from 1912 to 1914, theology in Mont-César in Louvain. He was ordained priest on 19th September 1915. Having served as an army chaplain during the First World War, he taught in the Abbey School at Maredsous from early 1919 to October 1925. He then administered the local parish of St Martin until 1929 when he came to Glenstal as bursar.
Father Jean served as bursar until 1945, and was novice master from 1942 to 1948. When the monastery became independent, he changed his stability to the new Conventual Priory. He served as instructor to the lay-brothers from 1949 until his death. Here in Glenstal and in the neighbourhood he was known as Father John.
His abiding interest was in the scouting movement, in particular the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland. It was he who began the series of summer-camps for scouts, which lasted until the 1990s. Although he had received the usual service-medals for his role in the First World War, he was most proud of the Bronze Medal of Merit awarded him by the Court of Honour of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland on 18 th March 1953. The esteem in which he was held by the scouting movement was reflected in the guards of honour that attended his removal, the overnight vigil and Requiem in the old chapel and the bearer-party of scouts who carried his coffin to the monastic grave-yard.
He died in St John’s Hospital, Limerick, on 29th February 1956.
May he rest in peace.
We are asking for your support.
On Sunday December 19th 2027, Glenstal Abbey marks 100 years since the official beginning of monastic life in this place; the Barrington estate was entrusted to us in May 1927. Since those early days, successive generations of monks, responding to the signs and needs of their time, have courageously built and developed, planned and visioned into the future.
The life and work of this community has influenced the fields of liturgy, hospitality and education, ecumenism, spirituality, the arts, music, literature, research, agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, and much more. It has and continues to be a place of encounter, enrichment and peace for countless people. It is a place where people connect, a place where many of you find belonging and shared vision.
In this last 100 years, all that has been achieved is due in no small measure to the kindness, generosity and support of so many. For all that has been given and gifted, for the connections and relationships, all these blessings that we have received, the monastic community are profoundly grateful. For you, we give thanks to God.
Now as we turn towards the next 100 years, we ask you, friends and benefactors to continue the journey with us. We ask you to continue to believe in and support us. We live and minister in a changing world where monasteries are more needed than ever. People come here in great numbers, to engage both mind and senses in exploring the mystery of themselves and of God, to find rest, to reflect, and to renew their spirit. Many, unable to be physically present connect with us through the Abbey’s webcam, newsletter and Chronicle.
As we continue responding to the needs of our time, our estate, and the built and natural environment needs investment and upgrading. We need your help, as we cannot do this alone. From the monthly or yearly contribution for the day-to-day running of the Abbey and estate to the large project funding, you can help in many ways according to your means.
Donating
Regular Giving is the simplest and most efficient way to do this. Setting up a monthly transfer takes the hard work out of the process for you and is most beneficial to us. A regular donation according to your means is what we ask of you.
One-off larger donations will go to the Glenstal Development Fund. This fund allows us to budget and plan for capital projects. We have through the generosity of our donor now completed the 4 year restoration of the castle exterior. 2026/2027 will see strategic planning with regard to other elements of the Abbey campus. We will be asking your support particularly in the areas of green energy, building upgrade and hospitality facilities, to name but a few.
Tax Efficient Giving benefits us if your individual or company monthly/yearly donation amounts to between €250 and €1m in a calendar year, Glenstal Abbey can claim the tax back through The Charitable Donation Scheme (Revenue.ie). Should you reach this threshold, with your permission, we will contact you to help us make this claim.
A Bequest in your Will or Trust is the most common, and simplest, way to support the monastery by naming Glenstal Abbey Trust as a beneficiary in your will or other estate planning documents. Bequests can be specified amounts, or part of or all of your estate after settlement of any obligations. Consultation with family members is important in this regard. Bequests to Glenstal Abbey generally are deductible for estate and gift tax purposes.
All and any support is most welcome. If you have questions, or would like to discuss anything in more detail, please do contact our Bursar, Br Pádraig McIntyre OSB, on 061-621000 or email bursar@glenstal.com. You can also make a donation directly:
Glenstal Abbey Trust (Charity Name)
CHY4001 (Charity Registered Number)
Glenstal Abbey Murroe, County Limerick, V94 TK61 Ireland
Saint Benedict took Lent seriously. He dedicates Chapter 49 of his Rule for monks to the ‘Observance of Lent.’ He doesn’t mince his words – ‘the lives of monks should be Lenten in character at all times.’ But he quickly acknowledges that most of us are not able for that and urges us at least to make an extra effort ‘in these holy days to atone for what was neglected at other seasons.’ And he says this will be done worthily if we abstain from vice, if we work at prayer with tears, at reading with compunction of heart and abstain from some food, drink and or sleep.
Benedict’s categories of reading, prayer, compunction of heart and abstinence seem like things we easily neglect at other seasons. But they are necessary if we are to live well, to live wisely, in this distracted, restless world. Living within our ‘culture of comfort,’ it is good and even necessary to take a ‘pull’ on ourselves and do something by way of stretching our lives; take aim at areas we have neglected in our daily round.
Benedict ends his chapter warning his monks that they must set off on their own project of reform but submit what they intend doing for Lent to the Abbot to avoid ‘vainglory and presumption.’
When I joined the monastery over fifty years ago, we had a practice that reflected Benedict’s advice. Each monk drew up a list of things he would do for Lent. The list had to include: a book to read, a virtue to practice and some food to abstain from. This list had to be presented to the Abbot before Ash Wednesday for approval.
Of these three spiritual disciplines, the practice of virtue is not something we hear much about these days. A virtue has become the trait of the ‘goody good’ rather than a useful spiritual practice. Unless it comes in just ‘one click’ we are not interested. This is to our detriment. Virtues opted for and practiced are our allies and fortify us to live well as we wade out into the mainstream of life’s many challenges.
Any number of virtues suggest themselves, such as reverence, gratitude, patience. Maybe patience is the one we need to practice more than any other these days. Carlo Carretto, who spent over 20 years in the Sahara desert as a monk, was asked when he emerged if God had asked anything of him during his long silence. His answer was clear and unambiguous: ‘God is asking us to be patient.’
We are no longer used to being patient. We expect things to happen immediately and with ‘one click’ and become irritated or even angry at any delay. It wasn’t always so – throughout most of human history, patience was not a choice – our ancestors waited for light, waited for the harvest, for rain, for news.
The dictionary definition of patience may surprise you: ‘the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.’ I was surprised by the tenor of this definition particularly by the inclusion of suffering.
‘The greatest temptation of our time,’ says Eugene Rosenstock Hussey, ‘is impatience in its full original meaning – a refusal to wait, undergo, suffer. We seem unwilling to pay the price of living with our fellow people in creative and profound relationships.’
We are in a hurry and want, even demand, the quickest, the fastest, and are contemptuous of slowness. But human life, especially spiritual life, does not do speed. ‘There are no shortcuts’ says Eugene Peterson, ‘to becoming the person we are created to be.’ Human life is complex and deeply mysterious and requires a ‘deep passion for patience.’
Why not take Benedict’s advice? Select a book that will move you closer to the Lord; abstain from some food (fasting has been shown to be beneficial in so many ways, and not just spiritually!) and practice a virtue… maybe even patience.
Simon Sleeman OSB
The times in which we live are among the most challenging, both for the world and for the Church. As Christians, we experience time as marked by the cycle of feasts. In last month’s newsletter, we were introduced to the beautiful tradition of announcing the movable feasts of the newly begun year, which traditionally takes place on 6 January. This month, it may be a good opportunity for us to pay closer attention to the feasts of the saints whom we commemorate throughout the year.
We have just celebrated one of them: a great saint of Ireland, Saint Brigid of Kildare. Brigid, with her distinctive voice and her ways that challenged established patterns of thinking, was part of a period of great religious fervour on this island. This was soon followed by the remarkable missionary zeal of the Irish, who tirelessly carried their enlightened faith to Scotland and Britain, and further onto the European continent. These were turbulent times, yet the contribution of the Irish monks helped to establish a new and lasting identity for the peoples of Europe, particularly in France, Germany, and Italy.
A parallel work was undertaken later by Bulgarian monks in the eastern parts of Europe. On 14 February, we will celebrate the founders of that missionary movement, Saints Cyril and Methodius. Not only did these brothers, together with their companions, evangelise a vast area of the continent, but they also established a new language for that purpose, known as Old Bulgarian, or Old Church Slavonic. They recognised that, in order to reshape the mindset of the peoples they encountered, a new tool of communication was necessary. Through the spread of this language, their mission reached as far north as Great Moravia.
Centuries later, Leoš Janáček, a composer from the land reached by those Bulgarian saints—now known as the Czech Republic—made a remarkable connection with the history of his homeland. Although he described himself as a non-believer, Janáček composed the Glagolitic Mass, a deeply moving work of liturgical music that pointed to the alphabet devised by Cyril and Methodius for the construction of their language. That alphabet would go on to shape the identity of many countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Less than twenty years ago, Janáček’s compatriot and devoted admirer, the writer Milan Kundera—who had lived in exile in Paris since 1975—attempted to make sense of the composer’s mindset. “Who was he?” Kundera asked in one of the essays in his Encounter. He went on to question Janáček’s stature: “A provincial character under the spell of folk music, as he was persistently described by the arrogant musicologists of Prague? Or one of the great figures of modern music? And in that case, of which modern music? He belonged to no recognised trend, no group, no school. He was different, and alone.”
One of the brothers who established the mysterious Glagolitic alphabet, Saint Cyril—after whom the better-known Cyrillic alphabet is named—went to Rome toward the end of his life. His relics now rest in the church of San Clemente. Remarkably, in our present context, this church has long been cared for by Irish Dominican priests.
The question, then—for Rome and for the Church, for Europe and for the whole world—is this: where are we to look for the new identity so urgently needed today? Is it to be found in established patterns of thinking, in what is already recognised? Or must renewal come from what has so far remained isolated, different, and alone?
For anyone who truly cares about the future of the Church and of the world, the task is to apply themselves to a re-reading of the sources of our cultures. In Greek—the primary language of Cyril and Methodius—this act of re-reading is anagnosis, which literally means “re-cognition.” It is imperative that we re-cognise our own identity, our values and traditions, and ultimately the depths of who we are as Christians, as Europeans, or simply as inhabitants of this world. This may be the only way forward in these most challenging of times.
Jarek Kurek OSB
As we enter the New Year, my social media feed is full of advice on how to set and achieve goals for 2026, while my email inbox overflows with offers for gym equipment and self-improvement plans. But I’m not quite ready for all that — and perhaps you aren’t either.
If so, I’d like to draw your attention to a quiet gesture the Church offers in the upcoming feast of Epiphany: the singing of the Proclamation of the Date of Easter, sometimes called the calendar of movable feasts. After the Gospel, the Church solemnly announces the dates of Easter and the great feasts that flow from it. Time itself is named, blessed, and gently ordered around the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.
For those shaped by monastic life, this moment resonates deeply. Monasteries live by a calendar that is both intensely practical and profoundly theological. Bells ring, psalms return, seasons change, and feasts arrive whether we feel ready or not. The Epiphany proclamation reminds us that our lives are not simply a series of personal plans or private resolutions, but part of a shared rhythm — a common life in time.
There is something quietly countercultural about singing the year into being. Instead of asking, “What will I achieve?”, the Church asks, “How will we receive what is given?” As this New Year opens, rather than turning first to goal-setting videos or productivity advice, you might look instead to the singing of the Proclamation of the Movable Feasts from St Peter’s in Rome, where the year ahead is named and entrusted to God. In that same spirit, the dates of the movable feasts for 2026 are set out below, so you can take a screenshot and return to them when the year begins to unfold.
May we live this year, in all things, that God may be glorified.
Oscar McDermott OSB
The Year Ahead — Movable Feasts 2026
Ash Wednesday – 18 February
Easter Sunday – 5 April
Ascension of the Lord – 14 May
(in some dioceses celebrated on Sunday 17 May)Pentecost Sunday – 24 May
Corpus Christi – 7 June
First Sunday of Advent – 29th of November
This week the monastic community remembers Father Gerard McGinty OSB whose anniversary occurs at this time. Born Francis Patrick Joseph McGinty in Dublin on 12th March 1929, he was educated by the Jesuits at Belvedere Collegeand entered Glenstal on 10th October 1948, receiving the name Gerard. He was professed on 6th January 1950 andstudied theology at Glenstal, Maredsous and Sant’Anselmo before his ordination to the priesthood on 11th July 1954.
After his ordination he began post-graduate studies at University College Dublin. Following some delays, these studies culminated in a Doctorate in Medieval Studies, which he obtained in 1971. His dissertation was an edition of an important Irish treatise, De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae, written around the year 655.
Although Father Gerard held a variety of offices in the monastery and was a long-term Master of Ceremonies, Sacristan and Annalist, he was essentially a monk-scholar. Excelling in the editing of medieval religious texts, he was an expert in Hiberno-Latin. He edited the Glenstal Bible Missal (1983) and Today We Celebrate – the Saints and their Message (1985). Father Gerard made a major contribution to the three-volume Divine Office. In a pre-computer age of the 1970s, he was modestly proud that, as he put it, “every word of the three volumes of the English Breviary passed through my fingers.”
In 1980, he published a short commentary on the Rule of Benedict for the 1500th anniversary commemorations of the saint’s birth. He also composed a martyrology for monastic use. There was a practical side to Fr Gerard. He was one of the first in the community to master the complexities of the computer and for a number of years he was responsible for the maintenance of our telephones.
He also liked outdoor work, and spent much of his free time managing our garden and orchard. His knowledge of birds was extensive and he was keenly interested in all aspects of nature and wildlife. From its foundation in 1968, up to his death, Father Gerard was the official representative of Birdwatch Ireland in its survey of the two ‘squares’ that covered the townlands of Glenstal and Cappercullen.
At a spiritual and pastoral level he was a man of faithful observance who was always available for the hearing of confessions, the counselling of people with problems and the giving of blessings. Faithful to the end, it was in the course of a full working day that he died on the evening of Saturday 29th December 2001.
May he rest in peace.
