Monastery Chronicles

The following is a selection of events that have occurred recently on Papa Stronsay.

23 March 2003
Mr & Mrs Gordon Stevenson of New Zealand visit Papa Stronsay. Their ancestors moved to New Zealand from Stronsay.

25 March 2003 - The Annunciation
The seawall begun last summer begins to be expanded by Br Dominic and Br Hohepa. Br Paul begins tilling the soil in our southernmost paddock overlooking Papay Sound, which will be used for planting tatties and neaps (potatoes and turnips). Fr Michael Mary and Fr Anthony Mary depart for the novice masters’ meeting at the Transfiguration Fathers’ house in Merigny, France. The conferences are attended by Mgr de Galarreta, the Dominicans of Avrille, the Capuchins of Morgon, the Benedictines of Bellaigue and the SSPX from Flavigny.

28 March 2003
The monastery laundry room, which until now has been operated out of St Cormac’s House on Stronsay, is transferred to Papa Stronsay.

1 April 2003
Fr Michael Mary unveils a new set of relics which have been acquired for the monastery: a piece of the Crib of the Nativity, a piece of the cloak of St Joseph, and a reliquary containing 13 relics of French martyrs (gift of the Dominican Fathers of Avrillé). The beautiful relics are venerated on the monastery altar on feast days.

13 April 2003 - Palm Sunday
Fr Michael Mary sings Mass at the Chapel of Our Lady on Stronsay this morning for a chapel full of locals and visitors. The procession with the palms proceeded down the main street of Whitehall as all sang the Lauda Jerusalem.

16 April 2003 - Holy Wednesday
Mr & Mrs Russell Dew of Nottinghamshire and their four children are visiting the monastery during Holy Week. Today they come across to Papa Stronsay for a picnic and family hike, taking the monastery dog, Papay, for a long walk around the island.

17 April 2003 - Holy Thursday
In the evening, Fr Anthony Mary celebrated the sung Mass in honour of Our Lord’s Last Supper at the chapel on Stronsay. During the Mass, Katarina Dew, aged 7?, made her First Holy Communion. Fr Anthony preached on the Blessed Sacrament, explaining to Katarina the beauty of the Holy Eucharist and the importance of the priesthood that Jesus instituted this night. After the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament was taken in solemn procession to St Magnus Priory, where everyone remained in adoration until midnight.

18 April 2003 - Good Friday
The Office of Tenebrae - Matins and Lauds - was sung on Papa Stronsay this morning. After the solemn afternoon liturgy, the effigy of Our Lord in the tomb was carried from the Holy Face Chapel to Stackaback, where a sepulchre had been prepared for it. The image was incensed and anointed, and then all withdrew.

19 April 2003 - Holy Saturday
The Vigil Mass took place on Papa Stronsay at 10:30 p.m. Nearly two dozen people came over from Stronsay to be present at the ceremonies. Fr Michael Mary preached about the ancient history of the Easter liturgy.

20 April 2003 - Easter Sunday
Fr Anthony Mary sang the Mass on Stronsay this morning, and preached about our spiritual joy in the completion of the work of our redemption.

21 April 2003
The community enjoys a hike across Stronsay and a picnic at Lamb’s Head.

July/August 2003 

Papa Stronsay 3003? While on pilgrimage to Mont Saint Michel, island monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael in France, the confreres picked up a few tips on building monasteries in inaccessible locations! This monastery took around 1000 years to build.   Fr. Michael Mary was able to celebrate a sung Mass at the convent of the Oasis in Spain during the brothers’ recent pilgrimage. Readers will be interested to see the beautiful convent church built by the nuns in honour of Mary Immaculate.

This August sees the 25th Anniversary of the Ordination of Father Michael Mary,C.SS.R. and his Golden Jubilee of life! Silver threads among the gold. God Bless you Father from your sons

2003 October 

2 August 2003
The first retreatant is able to make his retreat in the new hermitage at Stackaback in honour of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour and Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky. Though not yet finished, the hermitage is sufficient for us to be able to use.

5 August 2003
A preached retreat for five young men from the United States of America, who have joined us for the summer, begins today.

25 August 2003
Retreats began today for two priests of the Society of St Pius X. This month good number of other people visited us from around the world. We were very pleased to have been able to welcome Fr Pierre-Marie, O.P. from the Dominican Friary at Avrillé, France, who came especially for Fr Michael Mary’s Jubilee

“Speed Bonnie Boat”
Eilean Bhearnaraigh becomes Monastery’s new boat

More than 250 years ago the heroic Flora MacDonald carried Bonnie Prince Charles Edward Stuart over the sea from Skye to Benbecula, an act which has been immortalised in the beautiful Skye Boat Song. What would Prince Charles Edward have thought of monks sailing these same waters all these years later in a little boat which would have carried him all the way to safety in France? What is more what would he have thought of the fact of the same Mass that he knew and fought for being offered in those very same waters?

In August the monastery aquired a new boat which will be used in the construction work of the monastery. Four confreres and three friends made their way to Eriskay in the Western Isles of Scotland to fetch the boat and bring it home to Papa Stronsay. Departing from Eriskay only about 100 metres from the spot where the Bonnie Prince had first landed on his ill-fated conquest, the voyage took somewhat the same route as the first monks who came to Orkney from Iona would have used, but was probably a lot more comfortable than were the coracles of those early anchorites. After sailing up the west coast of South Uist and Benbecula and crossing from North Uist to Lewis, the vessel crossed the Minch and headed around Cape Wrath in the north of Scotland. Having sailed along the coast as far as Scrabster they crossed the Pentland Firth, perhaps one of the world’s most volatile stretches of water, and reached land in Orkney. We reproduce below a copy of the article posted on the Western Isles Council website for the interest of our readers. Eriskay is a 100% Catholic, Gaelic-speaking island where the Faith was never lost throughout the Reformation. Our Fathers were very kindly welcomed by the parish priest and good people of this island.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Ag Obair Còmhla Airson Nan Eilean
Western Isles Council
Working Together For The Islands

ERISKAY, 18 August 2003- Two Comhairle nan Eilean Siar ferries, each chalking up over two decades of lifeline services to Island communities, have now left their Island homes for pastures new under different owners. Eilean Na H-Oige and Eilean Bhearnaraigh have had a long and illustrious history serving a generation of passengers in the Western Isles, providing invaluable links for their rural destinations.

Eilean Bhearnaraigh came into service in 1982 to provide the first vehicular link between Berneray and Otternish, North Uist, where she served until the 1998 opening of the Berneray Causeway. She was then used as a relief vessel for Eilean Na H-Oige during annual docking and continued to make annual livestock runs to Boreray in the Sound of Harris, transferring livestock for the Berneray crofters. After her annual docking in 2002 she remained in Eriskay and served as the secondary vessel for the Sound of Barra service.

The vessel is due to leave Eriskay on Saturday 16th August for Papa Stronsay in Orkney. She has been purchased, incidentally, by monks - the Transalpine Redemptorists - to provide a link and transport goods and materials for the building of Golgotha Monastery.

Both Eilean Na H-Oige and Eilean Bhearnaraigh will continue to provide their essential services in their new, and very different, roles further afield. Their past passengers will no doubt wish them every success.
[ Nigel Scott, www.cne-siar.gov.uk ]

Already the vessel has provided transport for several tons of building materials including all that is necessary for the erection of the monasteries new agricultural building.

Over the sea to Papay		The boat piloted from Eriskay by Mr James Neish (centre), Mr Gary Flett (L) and Mr Kenneth Bichan (R) of Mainland Orkney, with Brothers Yousef, Magdala and Fr Anthony

The Monastery and the Catholic office was visited recently
by The Right Honorable Mr James Wallace,
Member of the Scottish Parliament and representative for Orkney.