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Soon To Ireland
To Mayo and Leitrim On Saturday 30 June, making my way via Ireland to the United States, I will fly Aerlingus from Rome to Dublin, and then from Dublin to Knock in County Mayo. After a few days in...
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140 Years of Eucharistic Adoration in Ireland
Original Chapel of the Drumshanbo Monastery I had just finished the Invitatory at Vigils this morning when I heard the telephone ringing. Normally, I don’t answer the telephone during the Divine...
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Longford Cathedral Destroyed by Fire
Saint Mel’s Cathedral of the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois burned to the ground last night. Carrick-on-Shannon and Drumshanbo (County Leitrim) where I was blessed to spend time again this past...
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Winter Reading
What are you reading during these dark winter days? You may think me a glutton for gloom, given recent events in the land of my forebears, but I decided that I needed to read and reflect on The End of...
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For the Church in Ireland
After reading, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Father’s beautiful letter to the faithful of Ireland, I was moved to intercede in my own way for the Church in Ireland, beloved of the...
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From a new found friend in Ireland
I just received this grand letter (in the form of a comment) from Eamonn Giblin, a native of Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, Ireland, a place dear to my heart. I’m sure that Mr. Giblin will not object to...
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The Sacred Heart in Margaret’s Kitchen
A Family Story My Irish grandmother’s Christian name was Margaret Mary. As one might expect, a framed picture of the Sacred Heart figured prominently in her kitchen. She, like so many Irish Catholics...
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Hail, Glorious Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland Today is my second Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland (transferred from yesterday, Passion Sunday). Silverstream Priory is not very far from the famous Hill of Slane where,...
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Mother of the Churches of Erin
Today at Holy Mass, we will have the traditional blessings of Saint Brigid’s crosses. There are still many people here who know how to make the crosses, which are woven out of reeds. Just such a cross...
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St Patrick’s Day Pilgrimage to the Hill of Slane
In celebration of the feast of Saint Patrick, part of the community made a little pilgrimage to the Holy Hill of Slane where, in 433 A.D., Saint Patrick kindled the Paschal fire that set Ireland...
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Restoring Ireland to Christ
In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred . . . . Thus begins the Constitution of Ireland. It...
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To strengthen thee in the Testaments of God
Today is the feast of Saint Columba (Colum Cille), one of the three principal patron saints of Ireland, the other two being Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid. Here is the monastic Rule of Saint Columba,...
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Saint Malachy’s Pastoral Plan for Ireland
Today is the feast of Saint Malachy of Armagh. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who counted Saint Malachy among his friends, describes the Archbishop of Armagh’s pastoral plan for Ireland: A Consuming Fire...
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On the need for more Irish canonisations
Catholic Culture and Holiness Yesterday on his blog, Remembering Father William Doyle, S.J., our dear friend, Benedictine Oblate Pat Kenny, wrote a compelling plea for the canonisation of more Irish...
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Martyrs Close to Home
The photograph shows statues of the martyrs Blessed Margaret Ball and Blessed Francis Taylor at Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. We keep their feast today. Blessed Margaret Ball Blessed Margaret...
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Brigid’s Bright Burning Chastity
Saint Brigid of Kildare, window by Chicago artist Plamen Petrov The Mary of the Gael Today is the feast of Saint Brigid, the Mary of the Gael, born just north of Silverstream in Faughart, County Louth....
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Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland Today is my fifth Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland. Silverstream Priory is not very far from the famous Hill of Slane where, in 433, Saint Patrick kindled the Paschal Fire...
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Patrick, bound fast to the mystery of Christ
Saint Patrick’s Day On this feast of Saint Patrick , I should like to reflect on his life and mission, and on the patrimony of the Catholic Faith that he bequeathed to his sons and daughters. The...
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An Irish Bishop Who Died in Italy
Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy We kept today the commemoration of Blessed Thaddeus Machar (McCarthy). When we first began following the Irish Sanctoral, and I had to admit to knowing next to nothing about...
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