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Monastery
Chronicles
The following is a selection of events which have recently occurred
on Papa Stronsay.
24
April 2002
Fr Anthony Mary, Fr Richard Mary, Br Marcel-Marie and Br Gerard Maria
all leave for South Africa to visit their mother who is in intensive
care. Four weeks later, Mrs Seeber is back home and quite well again.
25
April 2002
Mr J. and L. Leonard come from Mainland Orkney to help lay foundations
for the monastic cells on Papa Stronsay.
26
April 2002
In Br Gerard’s absence, Br Hohepa takes over the cheesemaking.
As more cows will be giving milk, Brother’s hands will be continually
busy. Before the end of a month, there will be more than 150 cheeses
on the shelf!
1
May 2002 – St Joseph the Worker
In honour of today’s patron, the shepherds (Br Wolf and Sean)
keep a long day’s watch over the flock. With more than 100 yows
(ewes), we are expecting nearly 150 lambs to be born this spring.
3
May 2002
Due to all the building works going on this summer, the Brothers will
not have time to grow the tatties and neaps (potatoes and turnips)
which are normally grown on Papay. Nevertheless, under the kind direction
of Mrs McKeever from Whitehall, Stronsay, onions will be tried for
the first time.
4
May 2002
Mr & Mrs Morris, Br Wolf Maria’s parents, arrive today from
South Africa for a short visit to Orkney. At the same time, Mr and
Mrs Fairbrother and Miss Fairbrother from Taunton, England, are visiting
Stronsay.
5
May 2002
A new milking machine arrives today. With two machines, milking should
take only half the time.
6
May 2002
Nineteen cases of statues made of reconstituted stone, including an
outdoor Nativity set, arrived today from Poland.
12
May 2002
Mrs Mirfin, Mrs Adams and Mrs Ruck come up from Kent, England to visit
Papa Stronsay for a few days.
14
May 2002
Daniel Stephen arrives from Harare, Zimbabwe.
15
May 2002
Fr Michael Mary and Br Nicodemus Mary leave to visit Ukraine. Later
the same day, Fr Alphonsus Mary, Br Yousef Marie, Br Gabriel Marie
and postulants Stephen and Patrick leave for the Chartres-Montmartre
Pilgrimage in France. On Papa Stronsay, Mr Colin McDougal from Stronsay
begins work on the stone dykes.
20
May 2002
Papa Stronsay is a real beehive of activity! Men are working on the
foundations, others fixing tractors, others rebuilding dykes, still
others are painting Stackaback….
23
May 2002
Liam Weber arrives from Wanganui, New Zealand, and Rene Kuschan arrives
from Dresden, Germany.
24
May 2002
Mike Stafford and Michael Dewey arrive from Florida, USA.
26
May 2002 – Trinity Sunday
Mrs Teresa Jones, of Whitehall, Stronsay, receives the sacrament of
Baptism. She has received catechetical instruction from Fr Richard
Mary during the last few months. Father offered the Mass at St Joseph’s
Chapel on Stronsay and preached on the importance of the gift of faith.
After Mass, Mrs Jones was baptised. Her neice and grand-nephew were
present for the occasion. A most memorable day.
28
May 2002
Br Mark’s father, Mr Bohdan Dzhur, arrives from Lviv, Ukraine
to visit the monastery.
30
May 2002 – Corpus Christi
Mrs Jones receives her First Communion today at the sung Mass on Papa
Stronsay. After Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is taken in procession
around the monastery.
31
May 2002 – Queenship of Mary
Today Fr Michael Mary sang the Mass in thanksgiving for the third
anniversary of our purchase of Papa Stronsay. After the Mass, a procession
was made to the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which had been erected
yesterday on a concrete pedastal near the ancient holy well on Papa
Stronsay. Hymns were sung in honour of the Mother of God, and Sr Rafaela
crowned the statue with a beautiful wreath of flowers.
3
June 2002
To celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,
an evening of British music and national anthems was held in the refectory
on Papa Stronsay.
4
June 2002
Mr Hans Bok arrives from Cape Town, South Africa.
6
June 2002
Johan Granstrom arrives from Stockholm, Sweden.
7
June 2002 – Sacred Heart of Jesus
Michael Chipperfield arrives from Stirling, South Australia.
8
June 2002
As we will need deeper wells for our cheesemaking enterprise, experts
visit Papa Stronsay and find two possible locations. The next step
is to have the wells drilled. Not a moment too soon, for when we were
least expecting it…
12
June 2002
The well on Papa Stronsay runs dry, due to water usage for cementing
etc. Thanks to the quick help of Mr John Watson, an emergency solution
is achieved: a pipe is laid across Papa Sound which allows water from
our property on Stronsay to feed into the well on Papa Stronsay, approximately
800 metres away. The pipe is laid from the Stella Maris, and bricks
are tied to the pipe in order to sink it to the bottom of Papa Sound.
Br Wolf Maria, in his wet suit and oxygen tank, goes down to inspect
the pipe. The Fathers and Brothers finally retire after a hard day’s
work at 2 a.m.
13
June 2002
Sean Quinlan arrives from St Paul, Minnesota, USA.
14
June 2002
Joseph Peterson arrives from St Mary’s, Kansas, USA. The Papa
Stronsay day population swells to 35, and work is making progress!
September
2002
18
June 2002
Tonnes of concrete are poured into the base for the pillar of the
statue of St John the Baptist. The statue will overlook the Papa Stronsay
pier. Novices and postulants begin to lay the bricks on top of the
foundation. The same day, the old sheep pens between the pier and
the Holy Face Building are taken out, and new pens are prepared behind
the building, out of sight from the pier and Stronsay.
22
June 2002
Tom Chalmers of Stronsay makes the most of our JCB tractor to dig
an enormous pit for the foundations of the pillar for the statue of
St Alphonsus.
24
June 2002 - St John the Baptist
This morning the life-size statue of St John the Baptist is placed
on top of the first pillar. Despite gale force winds, friends from
Stronsay join the monks in the evening. During a short ceremony, Fr
Michael Mary blesses the statue as well as the fire in honour of St
John the Baptist. The tradition of burning a bonfire on this night
goes back to the Middle Ages, for the Baptist brought testimony of
the Light. Mr John Fiddler of Stronsay was given the honour of lighting
the bonfire with the blessed flame. Afterwards, Bill Miller provided
everyone with a barbecue.
25
June 2002
Terrence arrives from northeastern England.
26
June 2002
Mr and Mrs Seeber arrive from South Africa, and Oscar Braaksma arrives
from Sydney, Australia. Work begins on the concrete walkway around
the novices’cloister.
27
June 2002
Fr Anthony Mary and Fr Clement Mary both sing Masses to commemorate
the anniversary of their ordinations (1991 and 1998 respectively).
28
June 2002
After three days of gales (very normal here around the summer equinox),
the winds die down and leave us with a month of sunshine and beautiful
weather. Now that Stackaback has been nearly completed, work begins
on the other two houses on Papa Stronsay: Mill House (just north of
Stackaback) and East House (just north of the ruins of the St Nicholas
Chapel).
29
June 2002 - Sts Peter and Paul
Fr Richard Mary offers a sung Mass to commemorate the anniversary
of his ordination (1996). An archway between the pillars has begun
under the direction of Rene.
4
July 2002
Mike Wisniewski from Washington State and Ryan Blizzard and David
Sestak from Sanger, Texas arrive today.
5
July 2002
After being carefully wrapped in blankets and secured with straps,
the life-size statue of St Alphonsus is set on its pillar by Fr Anthony
Mary, who uses the JCB to hoist it up.
6
July 2002
A generator shed is begun down at Stackaback to provide electricity
for the house.
8
July 2002
With fifty-five men to feed, we need real help in the kitchen! Mrs
Julia Wild and Mrs Evelyn Chalmers from Stronsay have taken over the
cooking on Papa Stronsay, providing monks and workers with wholesome
meals twice a day.
11
July 2002
Tomek and Mirek Posytek arrive from Poland, and James D’Aquino
and Edmund O’Donovan arrive from England.
16
July 2002 - Our Lady of Mt Carmel
After a sung Mass in honour of Our Lady, it was back to work! Oscar
Braaksma is finishing building a well at Stackaback.
26
July 2002
A new John Deer teleporter arrives for trial. It can lift three tonnes,
and will be very useful for all the barge trips which are made every
day, ferrying materials from Stronsay to Papa Stronsay.
27
July 2002
John Friel begins work on Mill House, another derelict 19th century
house north of Stackaback. It will be turned into a self- contained
hermitage with sitting room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.
In Memoriam:
Rev. Fr Patrick Cosgrove, C.SS.R. (1916-2002)
Father Patrick
Kevin Cosgrove was born in the small mining town of Consett in north-east
England on 8 November, 1916. When he was just eleven years of age
he attended a Mission given by the Redemptorist Fathers, an event
which was to determine the rest of his life. He later related how
it had been his elder brother who had first heard the call, and who
had wanted to join the Redemptorists
When the moment to depart had come, however, he no longer wanted to
go. One of the Fathers giving the mission came to discuss the matter
with the youth. On learning that the latter had changed his mind,
the missioner was about to leave, when he saw young Patrick. Something
moved him to ask the eleven-year old whether he might not like to
become a priest. Inspired by grace, Patrick answered in all simplicity
that he did. As a result, he was accepted, and went to the Redemptorist
Junior Seminary in Bishop Eton, Liverpool. Six years later he entered
the Novitiate in Kinnoull, Perthshire, Scotland. A year later he took
his first vows there on the feast of the Assumption - as was then
the tradition in the province - in 1934. He then studied at the major
seminary in Hawkstone, Shropshire. He was ordained a priest on 26
March, 1940
He worked in England for six years preaching missions and retreats
and also teaching at the Junior Seminary in Liverpool. He was also
permitted to make a second novitiate in Kinnoull in 1942
In 1946 he was appointed for work in South Africa. For the first four
years he was stationed in the monastery in Bergvliet. He did much
for the youth of the parish and also founded the St Gerard’s
Association for Women. In 1950 he moved north to work in the Rustenburg
area. He had not been there very long when the Redemptorists were
given a country property by the Archdiocese of Pretoria. Fr Ord, then
Superior of the Redemptorists in South Africa, asked Fr Cosgrove what
they could possibly do with such a remote piece of land. In his typical
enthusiasm, he replied that he could build a monastery, a convent,
a school, a hospital and a junior seminary. And with the help of some
of the Redemptorist Brothers he did just that. The area was given
the name Modimong, which means ‘God’s Place’.
In his labours his constant companion was Br Edmund Keighren, C.SS.R.,
who had been a childhood friend
He invited the Selly Park Sisters from England to run the school,
and in 1953 he travelled to Ireland to find candidates for a community
of Sisters he was to found under the patronage of St Brigid. In 1960
he went to the West Indies for a couple of years to give missions
and retreats with the late Fr Mark Flynn. He then returned to Rustenburg.
In 1969 he was appointed to work in what was then Salisbury in Rhodesia.
He was there for four years and was the first parish priest of what
is now the well-known mission of Tafara on the outskirts of Harare
before returning to South Africa
As the Church plunged into crisis, Fr Cosgrove remained faithful to
the Mass of his ordination. Only once was he lured into a concelebration
of the Novus Ordo Missae at the monastery. He returned from the altar
in a towering rage and berated his own superior with the words, “Never
pull that stunt on me again!” It was clear that he needed to
be removed from the public eye lest his example be too influential,
and so, in 1981 he was given a completely new mission. The Archbishop
of Cape Town sent him to work in the rather remote town of Lambert’s
Bay. He made a virtue out of necessity, and over the following 15
years he laboured to build up the parish and its outstations, which
were spread out over a huge area. He extended the church and built
a lovely sanctuary, a convent for the Holy Cross Sisters, and also
a magnificent parish centre with a fine nursery school.
In 1996 he retired to the Redemptorist Monastery in Bergvliet. He
remained active, especially in the confessional, and worked hard as
a prison chaplain, an apostolate which won him the respect of correctional
authorities and inmates alike. His superiors permitted him to continue
to say the Tridentine Mass, and these final years of his life saw
him travelling from one private home to another in the Cape Town region
to offer the Mass of All Time for a wide circle of Traditional Catholics
In the last few months his health began to deteriorate. On Monday,
6 May, at 2.30 am, he knocked on the door of one of his confreres
and asked to be anointed. The doctor was called and thought that he
should be taken into hospital, but before he could be moved, he died
peacefully. The day before, his superior had been talking to him in
the refectory and had asked him if there were anything he would like
to take with him when God might call him. After some consideration,
Fr Cosgrove said: “If I am going to Heaven, all will be provided.
If I am going to hell, I would not be able to use what I took, and
it would be a further persecution to me! All I ask is that, when Our
Blessed Lord comes to take me, He deals with me gently.
A great crowd of people attended his funeral Mass on Friday, 10 May.
Present in the congregation were parishioners from Lambert’s
Bay, three Sisters of St Brigid who had travelled all the way from
Modimong, a Sister from Selly Park and several Holy Cross Sisters.
The number of priests, sisters and people present was a tribute in
itself to a zealous and hard-working priest.
His relations with our community were always warm and enthusiastically
supportive. He followed our work of restoration of the Rule of St
Alphonsus and the expansion of our community with great enthusiasm,
and only ill health prevented him from visiting Golgotha Monastery
Island in person. We were privileged to inherit the Tridentine Missal
he used as a pledge of continuity and a memorial of this valiant son
of Our Holy Father Alphonsus. May his soul rest in peace!
October
2002
1
August 2002
Mrs Margaret Crowe from Devon, England visits Papa Stronsay and gives
valuable gardening tips for arranging flowerbeds in the novitiate
cloister. The same day John Friel and Bohdan Dzhur give Stackaback
a coat of white paint, forever changing the grey and green Papa Stronsay
horizon. During the summer, several visitors with relatives who had
been born in Stackaback came to visit the island. Stackaback was built
c. 1825, and was inhabited until c. 1937.
2
August 2002 - Feast of Our Holy Father Saint Alphonsus
After the sung Mass today, the beautiful stone statue of Our Lady
of Golgotha was erected on a stone pillar in the novitiate cloister.
In the evening, Fr Michael Mary blessed the statue of St Alphonsus
on the monastery gate.
6
August 2002
Peter Chalmers of Stronsay finishes the stone dyke around the shrine
of Our Lady of Fatima. The shrine, which stands in the middle of the
island, predominates the rest of the rural landscape.
10
August 2002
M. and Mde Slavik, Br Gabriel Marie’s parents, come from Metz,
France with their eight children, including Remi, who is entering
his third year at the seminary in Ecône.
13
August 2002
A year's worth of candle soot and wax make a place dingy, so the novices
spend the day giving the monastery chapel a facelift with a fresh
coat of paint.
22 August 2002 -
Immaculate Heart of Mary
During the sung Mass offered by Fr Michael Mary today, Br Louis Marie
pronounces his final vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and perseverance
in the Redemptorist Congregation until death. We are privileged to
have Fr Innocent Marie, prior of the Dominican monastery at Avrille,
France with us. He preached on the meaning of a religious profession:
like a holocaust, the religious gives himself without reserve to God,
and the more he unites himself to God through the accomplishment of
the Divine Will, the more does he draw souls closer to God.
26
August 2002
Fr Michael Mary and Fr Anthony Mary leave for France, where they will
be present at the exhumation of the body of Br Joseph Mary, C.SS.R.
who passed away in Joinville on 19 August 1995. Meanwhile, the novices
are busy starting work on the cemetery on the Corn Graand, on the
northwestern peninsula of Papay. Land is marked, grass mowed, fences
laid, and the grave is dug.
31
August 2002
The Fathers return from France with the remains of Br Joseph Mary.
Due to gale force winds, the body was not able to be brought across
from Stronsay to Papa Stronsay in the morning, but had to wait until
the afternoon. The coffin was borne across Papa Sound on the Stella
Maris, accompanied by two bagpipers from Mainland Orkney. After the
sung Requiem Mass, the confreres, workers, faithful and bagpipers
processed out to the new cemetery that overlooks Sandy Sound to the
north of Papay. There the earthly remains of Br Joseph Mary are laid
to rest. The Salve Regina is sung and the pipes are played as the
sand is piled on top of the grave. A beautiful wooden cross, made
by Hans Bok of South Africa, marks the final resting-place of Br Joseph
Mary.
2
September 2002
The Work Camp this summer has been an enormous success - already sixteen
cells are up, and 24 are planned to be completed; Stackaback is finished,
and Mill House is underway to restoration; sewage systems have been
installed and toilets built; the novitiate cloister is concreted and
the monastery wall is begun. Some thirty men (not including the 12
local men from Stronsay and Mainland Orkney) from nine countries and
five continents have come to help with the building, and they have
profited from the spiritual exercises provided for them: Mass each
morning, Rosary, benediction and conference each evening, and weekly
confessions. We look forward to our next Work Camp in 2003!
November 2002
6
September 2002
The twenty fourth foundation is laid. Before long all the cells will
be constructed and our confreres will be able to move from Stronsay
to Papa Stronsay.
9
September 2002
John Friel and Bohdan Dzhur are hard at work on St John’s Mill
House, one of the old derelict cottages on Papa Stronsay. They are
enlarging the house, adding a second storey and a kitchen and bathroom.
11
September 2002
A 48 kilowatt generator which was used for back-up electricity at
Swanney Cheese on Mainland Orkney is lowered by JCB into a new generator
shed on Papa Stronsay. This generator - seven times the size of our
present one - will eventually run the entire monastery: dairy shed,
cheese parlour, kitchen, laundry, etc.
Also, a beautiful gilt crucifix of Our Lady of La Salette is erected
near St Michael’s House (Big House).
12
September 2002 - Holy Name of Mary
The Orkney Family Heritage Society hold a “Papa Stronsay Night”
at the Kirkwall Town Hall. Nearly one hundred people attend. Three
guest speakers give presentations about the island: Mrs Anne Brundle
of the Orkney Museum gives a slide presentation about the ancient
past of Papa Stronsay; Rev. Thomas Stout, who was born on Papay, recalls
the way of life in Orkney in the pre-War years; and Fr Alphonsus Maria
speaks about the present and future of the island monastery. Afterwards
everyone is regaled with Papay cheese and Fatty Cutties made by Margaret
Dennison, who was also born on Papa Stronsay.
14
September 2002
Two Zimbabweans, Elliot Mushore and Hugh Batchelor, arrive.
17
September 2002
In the evening the long-awaited barge Eynhallow comes with the drilling
rig.
18
September 2002
Eureka! Captain Magnus Flaws and his workers find water at 145 feet.
After our old well having run dry three times this summer during the
Work Camp, this is welcome news indeed!
19
September 2002
During this week, a total of five wells are drilled by Captain Flaws
on Papa Stronsay. Pumps are now all that is needed. These should be
sufficient to secure all our future water needs on Papay.
After the welcome excitement of the new wells, some unwelcome excitement
comes as John Friel, while working on the roof of St John’s
House, misses his footing on the scaffold, tumbles twenty feet down
and lands on his head on a rubble floor. News travelled quickly and
soon Dr McKay from Stronsay is coming to Papa Stronsay pier in the
Stella Maris; he is met and transported by tractor to the scene of
the accident. The doctor judged that there was a serious possibility
of back or spinal injury. Under these circumstances it would be dangerous
to carry the patient by stretched on the tractor’s trailer,
transport him across the bumpy fields and then lower him on his stretcher
down the Papa STronsay pier-steps to the boat; then to take to the
sea for Stronsay, before hauling him up from the boat onto the Stronsay
pier only to load him into a vehicle again bound for the airstrip.
There would also be certain difficulties loading him into the airplane
and more movements, which could be critical to spinal injury, would
be involved in bringing him to the hospital. Under these conditions,
Dr McKay ordered a helicopter to airlift the patient to the Orkney
Mainland. John was unconscious. It was thought best to administer
the sacrament of Extreme Unction. Meanwhile, 70 miles over the sea
to the North a Coast Guard helicopter had left the Shetland Islands
and was making its way to John on Papa Stronsay. The helicopter was
expected within forty minutes. Close to the time of the helicopter’s
arrival we were directed to go outside the building and form a large
circle wearing high visibility jackets in order that we would be seen
from the air. Minutes later, right on time, the large aircraft was
above us, following our landing directions. The paramedical team went
straight into action. In minutes John had been given pain relieving
gas and slowly placed on a stretcher designed for airlifting spinal
injury patients. Within twenty minutes he had been admitted to Balfour
Hospital on Orkney Mainland. After two x-rays, John was found to have
not even a cracked bone, nor wound nor even an external bruise. Some
may say, “John was very lucky!” Perhaps. In the monastery
we look at this differently. We remembered that John had been wearing
the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Giving the scapular
in 1224, Our Lady said of it: “This will be for you a protection
during life and salvation in death.” John has joined the ranks
of those other people who, wearing the Scapular, have been miraculously
preserved from dangers during life. John fell twenty feet onto rubble,
he landed on his head, then bounced 180 degrees in direction and was
left unconscious. We believe that had he not been protected by his
Scapular, then, like Humpty Dumpty, “all the King’s horses
and all the King’s men” would never put John back together
again. Instead, on the following day, although still feeling very
sore, John came home to Stronsay on the evening ferry, walked off
the boat and into his house. We make public thanksgiving to Jesus
and Mary for protecting John and keeping him from death and such injuries
as paralysis, broken back or broken neck. We publicly express our
gratitude to Dr McKay, the Shetland Coast Guard, the paramedical officers,
the doctors and nurses of Balfour Hospital, Mr W. Miller and all others
for their concerned assistance. We hope this detail of Papa Stronsay
news is an encouragement to our readers to wear the Holy Scapular
at all times. We also expect this news to be a consolation for our
parents and friends who sometimes think that being on an island means
being without the assistance that the modern world can offer. It should
be noted that if you need help on Stronsay, you receive the very best
help with the shortest possible delay!
21
September 2002
Captain Flaws and crew take the drilling rig over to our property
on Grice Ness (the northeastern extremity of Stronsay) to dig a new
well there.
22
September 2002
Two Belgians, Mr Paul Vandenberg and a friend, arrive to spend the
day with us.
December
2002
4
October 2002
Being so far north (we are on the same parallel as St Petersburg,
Russia and Anchorage, Alaska), Orkney frequently sees bright displays
of the aurora borealis (Northern Lights - known locally as “Merry
Dancers”) during the winter months. It can extend through half
of the night sky, and can vary in colour from green and yellow to
blue and red. Tonight, we were treated to a particularly colourful
display.
9
October 2002
Every summer many people come from around the world to visit the birthplaces
of their Orcadian relatives. As a terminus of their expeditions, Papa
Stronsay is no exception. Today, William Rendall, from Australia,
visits Papay with Annie, Megan and Betty Chalmers. William’s
great-grandmother was born on Papa Stronsay in the Big House in 1871.
10
October 2002
Friends of the monastery also visit Papa Stronsay from different parts
of the world. Today we were visited by Fred Lardeaux, who lives next
to our monastery on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. To give Fred a taste
of real Orkney weather, the wind - which has been calm all summer
- picks up to 35 knots. We are having belated autumnal gales, which
usually arrive around the third week of September. The gales will
last about two to three weeks, and reach 75mph. Fred and his wife
Vivian are planning to move to Stronsay after the New Year.
12
October 2002
Our boat Stella Maris has served us well since we came to Papa Stronsay
two years ago - but with the frequent trips which we daily make across
Papay Sound, we realise that a second boat would be very useful. The
St Nicholas is acquired from Bill Peace of Stronsay as the second
boat in our fleet. She is named after the patron saint of sailors
(see box below left).
14
October 2002
Britain has been hit recently with a particularly potent form of stomach
virus. Now it is Orkney’s turn at it! Within ten days, eight
confreres are sick, as well as our cook. Fortunately, none of the
workers come down with the virus, and work continues on as before.
15
October 2002
As winter fast approaches, the long summer days are quickly turning
into long nights. At our longitude, we lose about five minutes of
light each day. During the summer months, we were able to do without
any outdoor lighting. Now it becomes imperative. Just in time for
the long winter nights, new lights have been installed, ensuring safety
on the pier and footpaths.
1
November 2002
For the first time in eight years, all the Fathers and Brothers are
together in one monastery. The Monastery of the Sorrowful and Immaculate
Heart of Mary on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England has been temporarily
closed down. Fr Rolf, of the SSPX, has kindly agreed to offer Mass
there until our return. As the Fathers are all together now, it will
be easier for them to prepare for their work of preaching parish missions.
December 2002
4
October 2002
Being so far north (we are on the same parallel as St Petersburg,
Russia and Anchorage, Alaska), Orkney frequently sees bright displays
of k the aurora borealis (Northern Lights — known locally as
"Merry Dancers") during the winter months. It can extend
through half of the night sky, and can vary in colour from green and
yellow to blue and red. Tonight, we were treated to a particularly
colourful display.
9
October 2002
Every summer many people come from around the world to visit the birthplaces
of their Orcadian relatives. As a terminus of their expeditions, Papa
Stronsay is no exception. Today, William Rendall, from Australia,
visits Papay with Annie, Megan and Betty Chalmers. William's great—grandmother
was born on Papa Stronsay in the Big House in 1871.
10
October 2002
Friends of the monastery also visit Papa Stronsay from different parts
of the world. Today we were visited by Fred Lardeaux, who lives next
to our monastery on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. To give Fred a taste
of real Orkney weather, the wind — which has been calm all summer
- picks up to 35 knots. We are having belated autumnal gales, which
usually arrive around the third week of September. The gales will
last about two to three weeks, and reach 75mph. Fred and his wife
Vivian are planning to move to Stronsay after the New Year.
12
October 2002
Our boat Stella Man's has served us well since we came to Papa Stronsay
two years ago -but with the frequent trips which we daily make across
Papay Sound, we realise that a second boat would be very useful. The
St Nicholas is acquired from Bill Peace of Stronsay as the second
boat in our fleet. She is named after the patron saint of sailors
(see box below left).
14
October 2002
Britain has been hit recently with a particularly potent form of stomach
virus. Now it is Orkney's turn at it! Within ten days, eight confreres
are sick, as well as our cook. Fortunately, none of the workers come
down with the virus, and work continues on as before.
15
October 2002
As winter fast approaches, the long summer days are quickly turning
into long nights. At our longitude, we lose about five minutes of
light each day. During the summer months, we were able to do without
any outdoor lighting. Now it becomes imperative. Just in time for
the long winter nights, new lights have been installed, ensuring safety
on the pier and footpaths.
November
2002
For the first time in eight years, all the Fathers and Brothers are
together in one monastery. The Monastery of the Sorrowful and Immaculate
Heart of Mary on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England has been temporarily
closed down. Fr Rolf, of the SSPX, has kindly agreed to offer Mass
there until our return. As the Fathers are all together now, it will
be easier for them to prepare for their work of preaching parish missions.
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