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| Transalpine Redemptorists, Golgotha Monastery, Papa Stronsay, Orkney Scotland After 700 years, the Transalpine Redemptorist Congregation has brought Catholicism back to the site of the most northerly early Christian monastery ever found. Situated on Papa Stronsay, an island in Orkney, north of Scotland, Papa Stronsay means 'Priest Island of Stronsay' in the Old Norse language. From this holy desert, the Fathers and Brothers work for the salvation of the most abandoned souls by their prayers and their apostolic labours.
The island provides a home base for the contemplative part of their lives, but the other half of their vocation is to give missions all over the world, preaching God's Word and providing the sacraments. The apostolic aim of the Congregation is to draw sinners from their life of vice and set them on the road of virtue. They spread devotion to Our Lady of Succour, whose image the Redemptorist congregation was entrusted with by Pope Pius IX. The isolated island of Papa Stronsay provides seclusion from the world, while the priests pray and contemplate in preparation for their apostolic labours. The climate is harsh, and modern conveniences are almost non-existent. Still, they raise their own cattle and sheep, and produce their own meat, potatoes, turnips, milk, cheese, butter and bread. The ancient monastic ruins dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries mark Papa Stronsay as a holy island and inspire the Redemporist monks living there now to continue with the traditions of the Catholic Church and the Redemptorist Order as well as to rebuild the ruins to their ancient splendour.
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