Monastery Chronicles

Yet again we had the pleasure of the BBC coming to Papa Stronsay.
Anne Smith, David Hartley and Ken Gow visit the monastery refectory with their equipment
to interview the Fathers and Brothers for another television program about the monastic life.

November 2001

Cowbells

“Grant, O Lord, that wherever these bells may sound, the power of the devil may depart; and that whosoever may hear the sound of these bells may receive an increase in devotion….” (Roman ritual)

A touch of Switzerland has come to Orkney, as new coobells have arrived for the dairy kye of Papa Stronsay. Each brass bell is specially made, hanging from a Swiss leather halter, and each has a different sound so that each coo is now readily identifiable by its tone. Thanks to the generosity of Mrs Dawn Ockerse, of Sion, Switzerland, who provided the Monastery with these new items, the brass bells will help the brothers to locate the kye with greater ease when the nights grow long and the winds blow fierce during winter. And on calm days, the sound of the coobells carries across the water to the village of Whitehall on Stronsay.

December 2001

In memoriam
Barbara Lombardi

Mrs Barbara Lombardi, of Germantown, Maryland, USA, passed away on the morning of 29 September 2001.

"In true contrition and humility of heart, man is secured from the wrath to come, and God and the penitent soul meet together." In these few words written a short time before her death, Mrs Lombardi summed up her entire life. As a Redemptorist Oblate, the constant remembrance of the Eternal Truths incited her to make a daily spiritual program for herself: rising early at three or four o'clock, she would spend the morning in prayer, silence and spiritual reading. The rest of her day was a practical application of her morning of spiritual exercises.

Almsgiving played an important part in Mrs Lombardi's life. She was always known for her helpfulness towards those in need, and she proved to be particularly generous with her substance in favour of the Church. Single-handedly she provided a house in Lviv, Ukraine, for the traditional Basilian sisters there — and that house was no less than that in which Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R., had died in 1959. Mrs Lombardi also substantially aided the Transalpine Redemptorist houses in Joinville, France, and on Golgotha Monastery-Island.

Throughout her last months, as she suffered from a rare form of lung cancer, breathing became more and more difficult. It was her true contrition and humility of heart which caused her to accept, and to accept joyfully, the illness which God had sent her. She appreciated the redemptive value of suffering, when that suffering is lived in union with the redemptive death of Jesus Christ on His Cross. By offering herself to whatever God willed for her in death, Mrs Lombardi was simply continuing the sacrifice which she had begun in life by devoting herself to furthering the apostolic works of His Church.

God is not to be outdone in generosity, and indeed His loving Hand was clearly evident in her death: having been fortified with all the sacraments, Mrs Lombardi passed away on a Saturday dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, clothed in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, while Mass was being offered for her in an adjoining room, and while another priest was with her reciting the prayers for the dying. After she had peacefully passed away the prayers for a departed soul were recited. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints; and the death of Mrs Lombardi is certainly surrounded with sufficient signs of her eternal salvation - that God and the penitent soul met together.

Mrs Lombardi is survived by her husband, Mr Victor Lombardi; her mother; four sons and three daughters-in-law; and numerous grandchildren.

Her funeral was celebrated at St Athanasius Church in Vienna, Virginia, on 6 October 2001. Father Ronald J. Ringrose was celebrant at the Solemn Mass, and the funeral oration was preached by Rev. Fr Michael Mary, C.SS.R.

Requiescat in pace.
May the Holy Archangel enfold
you in his wings, One whose life of God's Love
only sings; Above all these things may He
place in your heart
The love which we have set for
you apart.

First Religious Profession

On the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 11 October 2001, Br Gabriel Marie made his first religious profession.After a novitiate of one year, during which time the novice learns and experiences religious life, the aspirant binds himself to his religious institute by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. These three vows are helps to overcoming the three obstacles to salvation: the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life. (1 Jn 2:16) From the moment of his religious profession, a monk belongs entirely to God, and all his acts become so many acts of the virtue of religion, by which a man acknowledges God to be his Lord and Master.

Br Gabriel Marie, C.SS.R., originally of Metz, France, has now begun his first year of studies in the Redemptorist studendate on Stronsay.

Apostles Abroad

Fr Michael Mary, C.SS.R., visited Lviv, Ukraine, for the feast of Christ the King, 28 October. The chapel of the Basilian Sisters of the traditional Ukrainian rite is dedicated to the Kingship of Our Lord, and they were able to celebrate their patronal feast with a sung Mass. Afterwards, Father travelled to eastern Ukraine to visit Fr Valeriy, a traditional priest of the Russian rite who lives in Lugansk, on the Russian border.
And between 30 October and 8 November, Fr Richard Mary and Fr Nicholas Mary travelled to Munich, Germany. There they gave a series of conferences to the Katholische Jugendbewegung (Catholic Youth Movement) on Catholic apologetics and means of converting souls. The Fathers also took this opportunity to renew contacts with the many German friends of the Monastery.

Brother Gabriel Marie expresses his desire to leave the world and bind himself to God
by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.