Hallowe’en tales of nuns and a ‘Grey Lady’ haunting a former Comberford home in the Monastery in Shutlanger

The Monastery in Shutlanger … the main house on the Parles and Comberford estate near Stoke Bruerne in the 15th and 16th centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Tomorrow is Hallowe’en, and in previous years I have entertained myself be retelling ghost stories associated with the Comberford family.

Frankly, I am a sceptic when it comes to ghost stories. I am much more in fear of the real spectres that haunt our world today, including wars and mass killings in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan and Yemen, the rise of the far-right across Europe and racism and antisemitism around the world, and the consequences of Donald Trump’s return to office as President in the US, or the run-down and neglect of the NHS, the institutional lack of compassion for refugees and asylum seekers, and the rise of an ugly far-right nationalism in both Britain and Ireland.

These are the real, living ghosts in my world today.

In previous years I have recounted three ‘ghost stories’ that remain with me from childhood: two from family stories – the three knocks at the door at Comberford Hall, and the ghost of Emily in the Moat House, Tamworth; and one from school days – the foxes baying at night on the lawn in front of Gormanston Castle.

In recent months, I have heard what has the semblance of a ghost story – should I say, I have heard the skeleton or bones of what may be another ghost story – that may have links with another Comberford family home.

Since moving to Stony Stratford, on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire over 3½ years ago, I have visited a number of places in Northamptonshire that have associations with the Comberford family, including Watford, Yelvertoft, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger and Wappenham. The shadow of a ghost story I heard in recent days comes from the small village of Shutlanger in Northamptonshire, which has a Comberford family connection dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.

William Comberford was entrusted with the Northamptonshire estates of Margaret Catesby, the widow of John Parles (1419-1452), when she died in 1459. Those estates included lands in Watford, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger and Wappenham, and her daughter Johanna Parles became William Comberford’s ward. Johanna was a wealthy heiress, and in time she married William’s son and heir, John Comberford (1440-1508).

This marriage added more land and wealth to the Comberford family estates. Their son, Thomas Comberford, sold much of the former Parles estates, including almost 400 acres in Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, Alderton and Wappenham, to Richard Empson of Easton Neston. But the Parles family had a lasting influence on the fortunes of the Comberford family, reflected even in the changes made to the Comberford family coat of arms over the generations.

The small village of Shutlanger is a mile west of Stoke Bruerne, half-way between Northampton and Stony Stratford. Shutlanger was neither a parish nor a lordship in its own right, and in the Middle Ages it had neither a church nor a manor house.

Two houses in the village became part of the story of the Parles and Comberford families and the history of the manor in Shutlanger: the Monastery on Water Lane has been identified as the home of the Parles family in the early 15th century, although it was first built in the 14th century; and the Manor House on Showsley Road has been a guest house until recently.

The entrance porch to the Monastery in Shutlanger has an ecclesiastical appearance (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Robert Parles of Watford, Northamptonshire, bought the estate in 1364 and their family continued to live in Shutlanger for almost a century, until John Parles died in 1452. The Manor of Watford and the Parles estates in Shutlanger and Stoke Bruene descended to his daughter Joan Parles, who married William Comberford.

The Comberford family continued to own these estates, including Shutlanger for over half a century until most them were sold in 1504, although the Comberford family held some its other interests in Northamptonshire for another 60 years, including the Comberford Manor in Watford and the advosom of Yelvertoft. When Thomas Comberford sold the Comberford Manor in Watford to Sir John Spencer in 1563, the Comberford family interest in Yelvertoft parish came to an end.

Sir Richard Empson’s purchase of the former Parles and Comberford estate from the Comberford family in 1504 was one of a number of purchases he made in Shutlanger as he built up a large estate centred on his mansion at Easton Neston.

The estate passed with Easton Neston to Richard Fermor, and Sir John Fermor of Easton Neston held a court for what was described as his Manor of Shutlanger in 1554. After his death in 1571, however, the family’s estate in Shutlanger ceased to be regarded as a manor. The ‘Manor of Shutlanger’ remained for generations in the hands of the Fermor family – later the Fermor-Hesketh family and Earls of Pomfret.

The 14th century house in Shutlanger later known as the Monastery is on Water Lane on the south-east edge of the village. It became known as the Monastery through a supposed association with the Cistercian nunnery of Sewardsley in Easton Neston.

The house become the capital messuage, the principal house or equivalent of a manor house, of the Parles estate, and was the home of the Parles family by the early 15th century.

The house has an almost complete medieval roof structure and a two-storey entrance porch. This seems to have been added to the main building, which appears to date from the first half of the 14th century, although the windows in the south elevation of the main range, and also the porch, perhaps date from the late 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century. The house was modernised in the 17th century by inserting a staircase in the cross-passage and a fireplace in the service bay.

A chapel licensed in 1411 was on the upper floor of the two-storey entrance porch to the Monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A chapel licensed in 1411 occupied the upper floor of the two-storey entrance porch to the Monastery that appears to be a later addition to the main structure.

The house was surrounded by extensive grounds, with fishponds and a dovecote, while an adjoining close formed a small park, described in the 1540s as 20 acres of coppice known as Parles Park. The family name was still recalled in the 18th and 19th centuries in a field known as Parles Park.

The Monastery later became a farmhouse on the Fermor estate. It was included in an exchange between the trustees of the 5th Earl of Pomfret and the 5th Duke of Grafton in 1844. When the Grafton estate in Shutlanger was sold off in 1919, the Monastery was bought by the sitting tenant and remodelled as a private house.

The Monastery extended to 3½ bays, including a two-bay hall, with a half-bay below the spere truss containing the cross-passage and a service bay beyond. An east solar or parlour bay was demolished.

The Monastery was first listed Grade I in 1951 and was restored in 1965. In recent years, it was the premises of Monastery Stained Glass, dealers in antique stained glass and panels of glass from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. But when I visited it recently it seemed to have returned to use as a family home.

Whether the house was every a monastic house or the residence of nuns and linked with the Cistercian nunnery of Sewardsley in Easton Neston is a matter of conjecture or even speculation. But it has given rise to this evening’s Hallowe’en story.

Norman Barford Ridge and his wife Lilla (nee Underwood) inherited the Monastery and the surrounding lands from his aunts in the 1950-1960s. Before Norman and Lilla moved in, a fire had ruined the roof and they set about renovating the house.

Their youngest son, who was away at school at the time, stayed with his parents at the Monastery during school holidays, and later when he was working he would stay with his parents in the Monastery on family visits. His bedroom was at the top of the staircase in the former chapel above the front entrance. Later he would describe how he had heard steps on the broad stone stairs in the middle of the night.

There were other stories too about the hauntings in the Monastery, from an underground tunnel that supposedly ran between the nuns’ residence and the main house, to a ‘Grey Lady’ who appeared before and often wreaked havoc with a number of people who visited.

After Lilla died, Norman moved to Bury St Edmunds, and the Monastery was bought by Charles Henry Wigley and his wife. Charles Wigley was a Dan Air pilot who flew out of Luton. His hobby was working with stained glass, and when he retired he worked full-time with stained glass, selling his works all over the world.

Norman Ridge’s daughter and sons continued to visit the Wigleys regularly and all three returned to the Monastery in association when their father’s funeral about 30 years ago. The Wigleys generously showed the Ridge children and grandchildren around the Monastery and the stained glass studio.

Hallowe’en is the eve of All Hallows or All Saints Day (1 November) and two nights before All Souls’ Day (2 November). They both celebrate the lives of holy people and faithful Christians. There is nothing spooky and shiver-inducing about either feastday or its commemorations.

But it is good to remember family members from the past, to give thanks for them and to remember the Comberford family links with some of the villages near here 500 years ago.

A reminder at Lichfield Cathedral this week of the true meaning and symbolism of Hallowe’en (Photograph: Hugh Ashton, 2025)

Saint John’s College was founded to train priests in 1555 and has since become Oxford’s wealthiest college

Saint John’s College, Oxford, was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas White to train or educate priests (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Before visiting the Lamb and Flag at the end of a day in Oxford earlier this week, I also visited Saint John’s College, which has owned the pub next door for hundreds of years.

I have visited the chapel in Saint John’s College before, but this was my first time to stroll through the quads and gardens and to admire the architecture of the college buildings.

Saint John’s, on the east side of St Giles’ in the centre of Oxford, has over 400 undergraduate students, up to 250 postgraduate students, over 100 academic staff, and about 100 other staff members. The college was founded 470 years ago in 1555. Today it is the wealthiest college in Oxford, with assets worth more than £790 million, largely thanks to the 19th-century suburban development of land it owns in Oxford.

Saint John’s College on the east side of St Giles’ is said to be the wealthiest college in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Sir Thomas White, a former Lord Mayor of London, was granted a royal patent on 1 May 1555 to create a charitable institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford. White was a Roman Catholic, and his original vision was for a college that would train or educate Roman Catholic clergy who would support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary. Saint Edmund Campion, a Roman Catholic martyr, was one of the first students.

White acquired buildings on the east side of St Giles’, north of Balliol College and Trinity College, that had belonged to the former College of Saint Bernard. It had been founded as a Cistercian monastery and house of study in 1437 and was closed in 1540 during the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor Reformation. White’s grant also included half of the grove of Durham College, which had also been suppressed and whose buildings had become Trinity College.

White was the Master of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, and he established a number of educational foundations, including the Merchant Taylors’ School.

Saint John’s initially had a strong focus on educating future priest … Front Quad and the Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Initially, Saint John’s was a small college and was not well endowed. But the endowments it received at its foundation and during its first 20 years have since served it well.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, the fellows lectured in rhetoric, Greek, and dialectic, but not directly in theology. However, Saint John’s initially had a strong focus on educating future priest, and in its earlier years produced a large number Anglican clergy. White also included the patronage of the parish of Saint Giles in the endowments, and for centuries the Vicars of Saint Giles were either fellows or former fellows of the college.

In the second half of the 19th century, Saint John’s benefited, as ground landlord, from the suburban development of Oxford. The college also it became a more open society in those decades, and it later earned a reputation for degrees in law, medicine and PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).

The Front Quad incorporates buildings built for the Cistercians of Saint Bernard’s College, dating back to 1437 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint John’s is on a single 5.5 ha site, and most of the college buildings are organised around seven quadrangles or quads.

The Front Quadrangle mainly consists of buildings built for the Cistercians of Saint Bernard’s College. Construction began in 1437, but much of the east range was not complete when the site passed to the crown in 1540 at the dissolution of the monastic houses. Christ Church took control of the site in 1546 and Thomas White acquired it in 1554. He made major alterations to create the current college hall, and designated the north part of the east range as the lodging of the president, for which it is still used today.

Front Quad was gravelled until the college’s 400th anniversary in 1955, when the current circular lawn and paving were laid out. The turret clock, made by John Knibb, dates from 1690. The main tower above the Porters’ Lodge has a statue of John the Baptist by Eric Gill.

Inside the chapel in Saint John’s College, first built in 1530 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The chapel at Saint John’s was first built in 1530, when it was dedicated to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was rededicated to Saint John the Baptist in 1557.

Thomas White, William Laud and William Juxon are buried beneath the chapel. All three were presidents of the college, abd Laud and Juxon became Archbishops of Canterbury. To the south of the chancel, a hidden pew is directly accessible from the President’s Lodgings. In the past, it allowed the only woman in college, the president’s wife, to worship without being seen by the men present.

The Baylie chapel in the north-east corner was added 1662-1669 and refitted in 1949. The interior of the chapel underwent major changes in 1840, involving the gothic revival pews, roof, wall arcading and west screen, and the chapel as we see it today is largely a result of reordering by Edward Blore in 1843, with later alterations by Sir Edward Maufe in the 1930s.

The chequerboard floor is said to date back to the Restoration period, but most other features are 19th century: the altar rails installed by Archbishop William Laud were moved to the parish church in Northmoor, west of Oxford, and the remains of the 17th-century screen are in Painswick House, Gloucestershire.

The wooden reredos behind the altar was made by Charles Eamer Kempe in 1892. Kempe also designed the east window, with figures including Sir Thomas White and Henry Chichele, the founder of Saint Bernard’s College.

The reredos in the chapel was designed by Charles Eamer Kempe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

At the reordering, the majority of the monuments were placed in the small Baylie Chapel to the north of the altar. These include a monument to William Paddy, the physician to James I, surrounded by the snakes of Asclepius; a black urn with the heart of the antiquary Richard Rawlinson; and a marble relief of the baptism of Christ that commemorates William Holmes, a benefactor of the college.

William Laud endowed the college richly during and after his presidency, and the fine pre-Reformation ecclesiastical vestments that he gave are displayed every term. Laud’s friendship with Orlando Gibbons led to the composition of ‘This is the record of John’ for the choir of Saint John’s, and this setting of a text from Saint John’s Gospel is sung regularly in Chapel. It is now recognised as one of the supreme English anthems.

The eagle lectern was carved by John Snetzler in 1773, and the silver candlesticks date from 1720. The altar cross of 1945 commemorates the 300th anniversary of Archbishop Laud’s execution in 1645.

Archbishop William Laud, Richard Baylie and Archbishop William Juxon are commemorated in the window in the Baylie Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

White left instructions for services to be sung by a choir of men and boys. Laud gave the college its first pipe organ, but the original organ was removed in 1651. Nevertheless, Saint John’s continued to have a boys’ choir until the late 1960s.

A new organ was made for the chapel in 2008 by Bernard Aubertin, who also built the small chamber organ at the end of the choir stalls.

The Revd Dr Elizabeth Macfarlane is the Chaplain of Saint John’s College. Morning Prayer is said every weekday in full term at 8.30 am. Sung Evensong at 6 pm on Sundays includes an address by the Chaplain or a guest preacher, an anthem and three hymns. The Eucharist is celebrated on Mondays at12:15 pm and Choral Evensong is at 6 pm on Wednesdays.

The college choir today sings evensong services on Sundays and Wednesdays during term time, and sings the grace at Sunday formal hall. Since 1923, the choir has been directed by student organ scholars. The present three-manual organ by Bernard Aubertin was installed in 2008.

The chapel also houses significant pieces of contemporary art. A small triptych of the Life of John the Baptist is by a local artist Nicholas Mynheer. The Baylie Chapel has a modern Coptic icon of the Baptism of Christ, made in Egypt. Two windows in the chapel by the stained glass artist Ervin Bossanyi depict scenes in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Canterbury Quad, completed in 1636, is the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Canterbury Quadrangle is the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford. It was substantially commissioned by Archbishop Laud and completed in 1636.

The college library there consists of four connected parts: the Old Library (south side, 1596-1598), the Laudian Library (1631-1635, above the east colonnade, overlooking the garden), the Paddy Room (1971-1977) and the new Library and Study Centre, designed by Wright & Wright Architects (2019). Until it moved to the Kendrew Quadrangle in 2010, the Holdsworth Law Library was in the south-west corner of Canterbury Quadrangle.

The college holds Robert Graves’ Working Library and in 1936 it acquired the AE Housman Classics Library' with 300 books and pamphlets, many with hand-written notes by Housman in the margins or on loose leaves.

The Holmes Building (1794) is a south spur off the Canterbury Quad, with fellows’ rooms.

The North Quad is the irregular product of a series of buildings built since the college foundation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The North Quadrangle was not designed as a whole, but is the irregular product of a series of buildings built since the college’s foundation.

The college cook, Thomas Clarke, built a college kitchen in 1612 with residential rooms above. The college bought this building, just north of the hall, from Clarke in 1620 and expanded it in 1642-1643 to produce the current Cook’s Building.

The first part of the Senior Common Room was built in 1676, immediately north of the chapel. Its ceiling, completed in 1742, features the craftsmanship of Thomas Roberts, who also worked on the Radcliffe Camera and the Codrington Library at All Souls’ College.

Various additions and renovations were made in 1826, 1900, 1936 and 2004-2005. The latest renovation and extension to the Grade I listed building were made in 1996 by MJP Architects and received two awards: the Design Partnership Award and an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Dolphin Quadrangle is on the site of three houses that stood at 2-4 St Giles’ where they once formed the Dolphin Inn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Property was bought from Exeter College in 1742 and from 1794 to 1880 it was known as the Wood Buildings. It was replaced in 1880 when today’s St Giles’ range was built. What is today thought of as a single building was built as several distinct sections. The first part (1880-1881) consisted of the gate tower and the rooms between it and Cook’s building to the south. The second part, built in 1899-1900, forms the north half of the St Giles’ range. The Rawlinson Building (1909) formed the north side of the quad. More rooms were added by Edward Maufe in 1933.

With the completion of the Beehive (1958-1960), made up of irregular hexagonal rooms, the quad took on its current appearance. The Beehive was designed by Michael Powers of the Architects’ Co-Partnership and is clad in Portland stone. This east part of the quad previously held the old Fellows’ stables.

Dolphin Quadrangle is on the site of three houses that stood at 2-4 St Giles’ and formed the Dolphin Inn. When they were demolished in 1881, the houses were known as the South Buildings, and used as college accommodation. The college built the neo-Georgian Dolphin Quadrangle, designed by Edward Maufe, on the site in 1947-1948. There was a shortage of building materials in the aftermath of World War II, but the college built the new quadrangle with its own timber from Bagley Wood.

In the gardens in Saint John’s College, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Sir Thomas White Quadrangle or Thomas White Quad was built in 1972-1975. This is not so much a quadrangle, but an L-shaped building partially enclosing an area of garden. The upper floors are predominantly student residences, but the ground floor also has communal facilities including the college bar and the underground areas include the Games Room and Erg Room for rowing.

The Prestwich, Larkin and Graves rooms are multi-purpose rooms used for a variety of events.

The building is an early design by Philip Dowson of Arup Associates and won both the Concrete Society Award (1976) and the RIBA architectural excellence award (1981). It became a Grade II listed building in 2017.

Saint John’s College now owns almost all the buildings on the east side of St Giles’, including the Lamb and Flag (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Garden Quadrangle is a modern (1993) neo-Italianate design from MJP Architects that includes the college auditorium, student rooms and kitchens. The complex structure is very unlike a conventional quadrangle. It won five architectural awards in 1994-1995, and an Oxford Times poll in 2003 it was voted the best building built in Oxford in the preceding 75 years.

The site was previously occupied by the Department of Agriculture, and the Parks Road frontage of this building survives today, separated from the quad by a detached building with three music rooms.

The Kendrew Quadrangle, the most recent quad, was completed in 2010, and was also designed by MJP architects. The quad is named after Sir John Kendrew, former president of the college, Nobel Laureate and the college’s greatest benefactor in the 20th century. The construction has been dubbed ‘the last great quad in the city centre’ and is notable for its attempt to provide energy from sustainable sources.

As the first phase of the Kendrew Quadrangle project, Dunthorne Parker Architects were commissioned to refurbish three Grade II Listed buildings fronting on to St Giles’. Works were carried out to No 20 St Giles, which became alumni residential accommodation, the Black Hall, a 17th-century building that became teaching accommodation and the Barn, which became an exhibition and performance space.

St Giles’ House at No 16 has been described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the best house of its date in Oxford’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The college now owns almost all the buildings on the east side of St Giles’. They include the Lamb and Flag pub, which the college once used to fund graduate scholarships, and Middleton Hall, north of the North Quad and beside the Lamb and Flag.

St Giles’ House at No 16 dates from 1702, and has been described by the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the best house of its date in Oxford’. It was previously known as the Judge’s Lodgings, because it was used from 1852 to 1965 by judges visiting for Assizes. Today it is used for college dinners and receptions, and the upper levels include rooms for tutors.

The college also owns a stretch of the west side of St Giles’, including – until its sale in 2023 – the Eagle and Child pub. It was previously owned by University College and was known as the place where JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and their literary circle known as the Inklings once met. It has been undergoing a refurbishment porject for many months now.

Saint John’s College porperty portfolio the west side of St Giles’ once included the Eagle and Child pub (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint John’s offers on-site accommodation to undergraduates during their time at the college. This includes accommodation in the Thomas White Quad, the Beehive, and college-owned houses on Museum Road, with some postgraduates in Blackhall Road.

Saint John’s College Boat Club (SJCBC) is the largest of a number of college sports clubs.

Prominent fellows and alumni of Saint John’s have included two 17th-century Archbishops of Canterbury, William Laud and William Juxon, the poets AE Housman, Philip Larkin and Robert Graves, the novelist Kingsley Amis, the historian Peter Burke, the biochemist Sir John Kendrew, and the former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

After more than four centuries of the college being a male-only institution, women were first admitted as students in 1979. Elizabeth Fallaize was the first woman to become a fellow of Saint John’s in 1990.

Saint John’s maintains the largest endowment of the Oxford colleges, and these include the Oxford Playhouse building and the Millwall FC training ground. Students occupied the front quad for five days in January 2020 to protest against the endowment fund’s continued investments in fossil fuels.

The current President of Saint John’s is Baroness Black of Strome (Professor Dame Sue Black), a Scottish forensic anthropologist known for her work on identification in criminal convictions.

Richard Baylie (1585-1667) was twice President of Saint John’s College, in 1633-1648 and 1660-1667 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 102, Wednesday 20 August 2025

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard’ (Matthew 20: 1) … at work in a vineyard in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IX, 17 August 2025). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (20 August) remembers Saint Bernard (1153), Abbot of Clairvaux, Teacher of the Faith; and William Booth (1829-1912) and Catherine Booth (1829-1890), founders of the Salvation Army.

I hope to be involved in a choir rehearsal in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, later this evening. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right’ (Matthew 20: 4) … vines in the vineyard at Aghia Irini Monastery, south of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 20: 1-16 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 20 ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4 and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7 They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” 13 But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

‘I will pay you whatever is right … Call the labourers and give them their pay …’ (see Matthew 20: 4, 8) … the 1911 Lockout memorial in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Covid, a stroke and personal problems meant I missed out on my regular visits to Greece … not just for the blue skies and blue seas, but also the vineyards and the olive groves, and especially my friends there. So, after an absence of more than two years, it was good to get back to Crete last year and once again this year.

Of course, it was sad to see a small vineyard I have known for almost 10 years in Platanias, east of Rethymnon, has been uprooted and turned into a site for a development close to the beach. On the other hand, it was good to meet old friends in Rethymnon, Platanias, Panormos and Iraklion this year.

Last year, I also went to meet Manoli, who I have known for 30 years. When my sons were small children, he was like an uncle to them. Early one summer, he was excited when he rang me and realised I was returning to his village in the hills above Hersonissos, to the east of Iraklion. Gushing with enthusiasm and delight, he told me how I must come and see what he had done with the ‘graveyard’ in Piskopianó.

‘The graveyard?’

Now, I am interested in visiting churches and churchyards, and graveyards and gravestones provide rich material for social, local and family history. But a graveyard is not the first place you think your friends want you to visit on a holiday in the Mediterranean.

I asked again: ‘The graveyard?’

‘Yes, you’re going to be delighted to see how the vines are growing with new life. You remember how I trimmed back the vines and the branches and how I built new trellises. Now there is a rich crop in the grapeyard this year.’

The grapeyard! Of course. Now it makes sense.

I had shown an interest in his vineyard and his grapes … and a healthy interest in wine.

Now a new lesson awaited me on how to grow grapes, how to trim the vines, and how vines, like people, only make sense in clusters.

We are all workers in the vineyard, and Christ even refers to himself as the true vine. But unless we have worked in a vineyard, some of the illustrations in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 20: 1-16) may not fully resonate with us. And this helps to understand how some of the people who are depicted in today’s parable, and many of the people who first heard it, may have missed some of the subtle points Jesus was making as he told it.

This Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, despite being well-known, is found only in Saint Matthew’s Gospel.

As the story unfolds, the landowner (οἰκοδεσπότης, oikodespotés), the head of the household or the owner of the land, is revealed to be not merely the owner of the vineyard, but as the Lord (ὁ κύριος, ho kyrios).

The labourers (εργάτες, ergates) are called at five different times in the day: early in the morning, at 9 o’clock, at noon, at 3 and at 5.

There are different tasks in the grapeyard, in the vineyard. Those who come early in the morning, at sunrise, can suffer from literal burnout later in the day as the heat of the sun becomes intense.

A variety of skills is needed: those who look after the soil; those who look after other plants such as the olive trees or lemon trees that help to protect the vines; those who watch the roses for the first signs of any disease that might hit the vines; those who prune the vines; those who pick the grapes and sort them out; those who tidy up in the vineyard at the end of the day – each and everyone plays a role in producing that bottle of wine as it makes its way to the shelves of shops and to our tables.

To some of the workers – and to us, at our first reading – the landowner appears to be unfair in the way he rewards those who work on his behalf. But did you notice how this passage begins ‘… the kingdom of heaven is like …’ and that the wages stand for God’s grace?

God chooses to give the same to all: the landowner pays ‘whatever is right’ – there is no social discrimination or class distinction in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I was living in Askeaton, in Co Limerick, for five years. For those five years I was there, although I was a late arrival, I was a ‘blow-in’, although the term was used for me affectionately, and I knew I was welcome. People understood I had arrived there late in the day, and I understood the parishioners had been there far longer than I ever knew.

Good partnerships mean mutual understanding, and can produce good fruit, not just in the vineyard, but in every aspect of life.

As people are more mobile these days, moving from city to countryside, and from provincial towns to the city, the term ‘blow-in’ may be beginning to die a slow death in many smaller towns and communities in Ireland. But I wonder whether the attitude it encapsulates is still prevalent in other aspects of Irish life.

Are newcomers to the Church equally as welcome as long-standing members of the Church, whose parents were regular parishioners before them?

How difficult is it for new churchgoers to find an invitation onto church committees, to read lessons, to be counted in, and to be seen to be counted in?

Sorcha Pollak’s column in The Irish Times, ‘New to the Parish,’ has shown how new arrivals are regularly treated rudely, from the moment they show their passports at the airport, to taking up jobs, constantly being asked, ‘But where are you really from?’

Over the past two years or so, we have seen far-right riots and protests across England, in Belfast, Ballymena and Dublin, the fear that has been created in the Indian community in Dublin, and the shocking attacks on places housing and sheltering asylum seekers and refugees, and there have been deeply disturbing reports of racist abuse suffered by people throughout these islands.

How early do you have to have arrived in the vineyard before your labour is valued fully?

God is generous to all. This is God’s free choice. As the Lord of the vineyard asks in this morning’s Gospel reading, ‘Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

Jesus begins this morning’s parable saying, ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like …’

The kingdom of God is like a place where all are welcome, where no-one is treated rudely or abusively because they are new arrivals or treated favourably because they have been here since the early days.

In the Kingdom of God, there is no discrimination, no racism; in the kingdom of God, there are no late arrivals or blow-ins.

Grapes past their harvesting time at the Hedgehog Vintage Inn in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 20 August 2025):

The theme this week (17 to 23 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Tell the Full Story’ (pp 28-29). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections from Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 20 August 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord God, inspired by the work of abolitionists from around the world, we pray that those of us who have been able to sit in positions of comfort and privilege may be moved into places of discomfort to reflect on our own agency for change.

The Collect of the Day:

Merciful redeemer,
who, by the life and preaching of your servant Bernard,
rekindled the radiant light of your Church:
grant us, in our generation,
to be inflamed with the same spirit of discipline and love
and ever to walk before you as children of light;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Bernard to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Grapes on a vine in Aghios Georgios in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Grapes ripe for harvesting in Panormos, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Peter’s Church and the ruins of a Venetian-era Dominican monastery on the seafront in Iraklion

Saint Peter’s Church, a former Dominican church and monastery close to the Venetian walls and harbour in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Peter’s Church is an imposing Gothic church set amid the ruins of a former Dominican monastery, close to the Venetian walls and old Venetian harbour of Iraklion, looking out towards the blue waters of the Sea of Crete and the Mediterranean.

Saint Peter’s Monastery (Μονή Αγίου Πέτρου) was built in the 12th century in the early years of Venetian rule in Crete (1211-1669), and it was one of the most important and largest Latin churches in Iraklion. It is located next to the sea wall, between the Venetian port and the Dermata gate, on the corner of the coastal boulevard, Leoforos Sofokli Venizelou, and Mitsotakis street, at the west end of the old Venetian city.

The site is much older than the arrival of the Dominicans with the Venetians, however. During recent excavations in the wider Kastella area around the church, graves from the second Byzantine period in Crete (961-1205 CE) came to light and an extended dwelling dating back to the Arabic period (824-961 CE) was unearthed underneath them.

The archaeological site at Saint Peter’s close to the seafront in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Peter’s was first a Cistercian monastic foundation in the early 13th century, and it later passed to the Dominicans or Order of Preachers.

Some sources say the church was dedicated to Saint Peter of Aragon, but this is most unlikely: Saint Pedro Armengol died in 1304 and was not canonised until 1687, while Saint Pedro de Arbués died in 1485 and was not canonised until 1867. As the church long predates both men, and neither was canonised until after the Turkish conquest of Crete, it seems in all probability that the church was dedicated to Saint Peter the Apostle.

Saint Peter’s and Aghios Nikolaos in Splantzia Square, Chania, are regarded as the two most important Catholic institutions Crete, with their Gothic character and their bold architectural innovations.

The west end of Saint Peter’s Church, on the corner of Leoforos Sofokli Venizelou and Mitsotakis street, at the west end of the old Venetian city (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Peter’s Church has a rough-hewn stone exterior with Gothic windows, stone buttresses, stone trim, barrel-vaulted chapels, and a gabled roof. It has a long aisle with a sloped roofed that leads up to a sanctuary or chancel with two vaults, with side chapels.

The church was later extended to the north and west and the Venetians gradually added four chapels side-by-side at the south side, each with tombs. Although Saint Mark’s in the centre of the city was the Catholic cathedral during the period of Venetian rule, many prominent members of the Venetian nobility in Crete were buried at Saint Peter’s, including four Dukes of Crete in the 14th century: Marco Gradenigo (1331), Giovanni Morosini (1338), Marino Grimani (1348) and Fillippo Orio (1357).

Frescoes from the 15th century survive in one chapel, and another chapel has an extra entrance. Some of the features identified during the restoration works have been compared with similar churches in Silvanes, Venzone and Rieti in France and Italy.

The middle aisle had large dimensions: 54 m long, 15 m wide and 12m high. This, combined with the absence of buttresses, seems to have contributed to the partial collapse of the church three times in earthquakes in the 14th, 16th and 18th centuries.

Yet, despite severe damage in the earthquake that hit Crete in 1508, many of the early frescoes have survived and have been recovered.

The monastery was partly destroyed during the Ottoman period and the church was converted into a mosque (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Dermata Gate west of the church was completed between 1590 and 1595, between the San Andrea bastion and the Sabbionara bastion. It was also called Giudecca or Judaica or Jewish Gate because it was beside the Jewish quarter of Chandax. The imposing façade of the Gate of Dermata and its entire southern part have since been demolished and Skordilon Street was built in its place.

During the Ottoman period, the monastery was partly destroyed, the church was converted into a mosque dedicated to the memory of Sultan Ibrahim, additional windows were inserted in the north and south walls, and a minaret was added at the south-west corner of the church.

An earthquake in the 18th century destroyed the roof, most of the north wall, the north-east chapel from the 14th century, the southwest chapel from the 15th century, the east cross-section with part of the three-light window, the north-west outer pillar and the upper part of the west wall of the church.

The restoration of the church, its side chapels and the annexes was completed in 2012 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

After Turkish rule came to end in Crete in 1898, the former church became a cinema but later fell into ruins, and for a time it appeared like a crumbling eyesore on the seafront, between the Venetian Harbour and the Dermatas Gate.

It was acquired by the parish of Agios Dimitrios Limenos for use as a church, and was renamed Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Eventually, the Ministry of Culture decided to restore it as historical monument, to open it to visitors and to declare the grounds a Byzantine archaeological site.

The restoration of the church, its side chapels and the annexes was completed in 2012. The restoration project uncovered many Ottoman elements, including the mosque’s mihrab, pebbled floors and a ceramic kiln. Many of the finds from the excavations are exhibited in the Historical Museum in Iraklion.

Since its restoration, the church has hosted a number of religious conferences and exhibitions, and the Ministry of Culture allows the church to hold a service each year on the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Part of my childhood fades as the last monks leave Mount Melleray Abbey near Cappoquin at the weekend

Mount Melleray Abbey … founded in 1833, 6 km outside Cappoquin, Co Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Part of my childhood came to an end at the weekend when Mount Melleray Abbey, near Cappoquin, Co Waterford, closed its doors after Mass on Saturday morning (25 January 2025).

The abbey has closed almost two centuries after it was founded in the 1830s by an Irish-born monk, Dom Vincent Ryan, returned to Ireland from the Cistercian monastery in Melleray in France, first settled in Rathmore, Co Kerry, and then became the first abbot of Mount Melleray in West Waterford.

The monks decided to close the abbey last November and agreed to form a union with Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and Mellifont Abbey, Co Louth. The group, known as the Abbey of Our Lady of Silence, began to relocate to Roscrea on a temporary basis yesterday (Sunday 26 January 2025).

Throughout my childhood years, I was very familiar with Mount Melleray, which was the neighbouring farm to my grandmother’s farm at Moonwee.

The abbey bells rang across the farm and fields throughout the day. As children, we regularly traipsed through the fields at Moonwee, across brooks and stiles, to the farm and monastery at Melleray, feeling free to explore the abbey churches, buildings and farmyard, and to silently listen to the monks singing the daily offices.

I remember Moonwee and Mount Melleray, the fields around them and the streets of Cappoquin as my childhood idyll. In fact, Mount Melleray was even part of our postal address. However, I have been back to Mount Melleray only a few times since those childhood days, and my last visit was in August 2020. Twenty years earlier, I had decided against the idea of a pre-ordination retreat there in 2000. So, it was emotionally moving to return to Mount Melleray that summer five years ago and to reconnect with a spiritual tradition and monastic buildings I had once been familiar with more than half a century earlier.

Inside the monastic church at Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

For almost two centuries, Mount Melleray Abbey has been a community of Cistercian or Trappist monks on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, about 6 km north of Cappoquin, Co Waterford. It was founded in 1833 on land donated by the Keane family of Cappoquin House at a nominal rent.

James Joyce mentions Mount Melleray in ‘The Dead,’ the final short story in Dubliners (1914), in which the monks of Mount Melleray are noted for their exceptional hospitality and piety. The poet Seán Ó Ríordáin’s celebrated the abbey in his poem ‘Cnoc Mellerí’ in Eireaball Spideoige (1952).

The Cistercian order was founded as branch of the Benedictines by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century, and the Trappists date from the mid-17th century. After the French Revolution and the suppression of monastic houses in France, some dispossessed Trappist monks arrived in England in 1794 and established a community in Lulworth, Dorset.

The symbol of the abbot’s crozier in the choir stalls Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Following the restoration of the Bourbons, these monks returned to France in 1817 to re-establish the ancient Melleray Abbey in Brittany. During the July Revolution of 1830, the monks were forced to flee France once again and were sent by Dom Antoine, Abbot of Melleray, to found an abbey in Ireland.

The monastery was founded on 30 May 1832 at Scrahan, near Cappoquin, by a group of Irish and English monks from Melleray who had come to Ireland under the leadership of Father Vincent de Paul Ryan.

After many efforts to locate his community, he accepted an offer from Sir Richard Keane of Cappoquin House to rent 500 acres of mountain land, and this later increased to 700 acres.

The high altar and the sanctuary in the monastic church in Mount Melleray (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

William Abraham, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, blessed the foundation stone of the new monastery on the feast of Saint Bernard 1833. The monastery was named Mount Melleray in memory of the mother house. It became an abbey in 1835, and Father Vincent was unanimously elected abbot. He received his abbatial blessing from Bishop Abraham, the first abbatial blessing in Ireland since the Reformation.

A small group of monks was sent from Mount Melleray to England in 1835 to found Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, near Coalville, Leicestershire. Abbot Vincent vigorously undertook the work of completing the abbey, but he died on 9 December 1845.

His successor, Dom Joseph Ryan, resigned after two years, and Dom Bruno Fitzpatrick became abbot in September 1848. Dom Bruno consolidated the initial work and the abbey and also devoted his energy to missionary work. During its earlier years, the monastery was directly subject to the bishop of the diocese, but in 1848 it came under the jurisdiction of the general chapter.

The life of Saint Bernard in a window by the Harry Clarke studios (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The seminary at Mount Melleray began as a small school formed by Abbot Vincent in 1843, and was developed by Abbot Bruno and his successors.

When the Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle visited Dromana House near Cappoquin in 1849, he also visited Mount Melleray and described the abbey in some detail, noting particularly the huge vats of ‘stir-about’ or porridge the monks prepared for the large number of Famine victims.

Abbot Bruno died in 1893, and was succeeded by Dom Carthage Delaney, who was blessed in 1894 and presided over Mount Melleray for 13 years. His successor, Dom Marius O’Phelan, was solemnly blessed by Bishop Sheahan of Waterford in 1908.

Dom Marius is credited with resuming the building programme at Mount Melleray in 1925. He bought the great cut limestone blocks from Mitchelstown Castle, 42 km west, after it was burnt by anti-treaty republicans on 12 August 1922. The owners of Mitchelstown Castle dismantled the ruins in 1925 and the stones were transported by steam lorry in two consignments a day over a five-year period.

The foundation stone laid by Cardinal McRory in Mount Melleray Abbey in 1933 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Dom Marius died as the abbey was being laid out, and his successor, Dom Celsus O’Connell, continued the monumental task. The monks ended up with far more stones than they needed and these were eventually stacked in fields around the monastery.

In March 1932, the community of English Cistercian nuns of Stapehill, England, moved to Saint Mary’s Convent, Lismore, which was bought and prepared for them by the monks of Mount Melleray.

The monastery celebrated its centenary in August 1933. Cardinal John McRory, Archbishop of Armagh, laid the foundation stone of a new abbey church on 17 April 1933, just 12 days after Dom Celsus was elected the seventh abbot and a few months before the abbey celebrated its centenary.

The public church and the monastic church are the main elements of the church building project undertaken by Dom Celsus, and building work began in January 1935.

The words of the canticle Magnificat carved on the wooden screen at the west end of the monastic church in Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The monastic church, where monks of Mount Melleray celebrated the Divine Office every day until last week, was completed and solemnly blessed on 26 November 1940. Later, a high altar and some 20 lesser altars – all in marble and the gifts of benefactors – were installed, and a magnificent stained-glass window was erected behind the high altar.

President Séan T O’Kelly paid a state visit to Mount Melleray in June 1946. However, it was not until the 120th anniversary of Mount Melleray that the abbey church was solemnly consecrated by Bishop Coholan of Waterford on 20 August 1952. During the consecration festival from 20 to 29 August 1952, over 100,000 people visited Mount Melleray, including President Séan T O’Kelly.

The abbey church is Gothic in architectural style and cruciform in plan. Although extended, it follows mainly the lines of the original chapel built by the first community.

In the Cistercian tradition, a massive crucifix was suspended over the nave and contained relics of Saint Bernard and many Irish saints. However, this was removed during the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms.

The east window in the monastic church in Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The east window is the work of the Harry Clarke studio. The central panel represents Christ the King crowning the Virgin Mary at the Assumption. Each evening at the Office of Compline, the lights of the Church were extinguished and, according to Cistercian tradition, the figure of the Virgin Mary was illuminated for the singing of the Salve Regina.

To the right of the central panel are Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Carthage of Lismore; to the far right are Saint Robert, one of the three founders of the Cistercian Order, and Saint Patrick of Ireland.

To the left of the central panel are Saint Brigid of Kildare and Saint Columba; to the far left are Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church and the founder of the Cistercians, and Saint Malachy of Armagh, who invited Saint Bernard to send Cistercian monks to Ireland, leading to the foundation of Mellifont Abbey in 1142.

At the west end of the church, the words of the canticle Magnificat are carved in large letters on a wooden screen.

Inside the public church in Mount Melleray Abbey, facing the east end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The public church was consecrated at the same time as the monastic church, with Dom Benignus Hickey, Abbot of New Mellifont, consecrating the High Altar.

The public church was dedicated to the Assumption and Saint Philomena, and was once the National Shrine of Saint Philomena. Her statue was removed when her name was removed from the Roman Calendar.

The interior of the public church has five bays consisting of aisles on either side and double lancets above. The sanctuary is decorated in mosaic, both in the nave and the aisles. The walls surrounding the side aisles are decorated with angels.

The walls of the sanctuary have the instruments of the Passion in quatrefoils on the lateral walls, the east wall has images of the Sacred Heart on the north side and Saint Joseph on the south side, each with a monogram in the quatrefoil beneath.

Inside the public church in Mount Melleray Abbey facing the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The east window of the public church is in two levels. Above, in the central panel is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary with angels. Below, from left to right, are Saint Brigid, Saint Malachy of Armagh, who introduced the Cistercians to Ireland, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, founder of the Cistercians, and Saint Patrick.

The seven main panels of this window were originally in the east window of the old monastic church.

Many of the stained-glass windows in the side aisles are also the work of Harry Clarke or the Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul in a two-light lancet window by the Harry Clarke Studio in the public church in Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

From its early days, the school at Mount Melleray educated both clerical and lay students until the boarding school closed in 1974. Another local landmark that is part of my childhood memories, the ‘Cats’ bar, also closed a number of years ago.

The Abbot of Mount Melleray, Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, became the first Irish Abbot General of the Cistercian Order in 2008. He returned to Melleray in 2022 after 14 years in Rome as abbot general.

The last abbot, Dom Richard Purcell, was elected the Abbot of Mount Melleray at the age of 33 in 2017. He had previously been Abbot of Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, and had already received the abbatial blessing in 2009.

In the past, Mount Melleray was involved in founding New Melleray Abbey, near Dubuque, Iowa, Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and the Southern Star Abbey in New Zealand.

In recent years, the number of monks living in the community at Mount Melleray had dwindled from almost 60 in 1991 to six last week – and two of those six were away last week. Two had died within the space of two years, and another was living as a hermit near Saint Mary’s Abbey of Cistercian nuns in Glencairn, near Lismore, where he celebrated Mass once a week for the sisters.

The farm is now leased to a neighbouring farmer, while the monks hire contractors to fell trees from its extensive forestry. The monastery’s apiary, which once yielded an abundance of heather honey, has also disappeared, its hives long dismantled and the bees long gone.

The Lamb of God depicted in a Harry Clarke window in the public church in Mount Melleray Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Despite last week’s closing and move, the monks have not ruled out a possible return to Mount Melleray, according to Christina O’Flynn, who has been running the gift shop for the last 7½ years.

‘It’s not going to be a derelict building. It is not being sold … Some staff are being kept on to look after the grounds. It belongs to the monks. Anything else is just rumours,’ she told journalists. ‘They built a whole new wing that the order could walk right into it. Refurbishments are being carried out while they are away. If they do come back it will be different to how it was but we don't care about that. This is not about structures or buildings. What matters to us is having the liturgy back.’

‘We don’t see it as closing down,’ she said. ‘After 18 months they will make a decision about where they are going to live permanently. The hope is that it will be back here. All the monks want to come back.’

However, the present plans involve the monks from Mount Melleray remaining at the newly-formed Abbey of Our Lady of Silence in Roscrea for at least a year. The new community has 26 members, including three novices, with others interested in joining.

Meanwhile, the Cistercian order says its two other abbeys in Ireland – Bolton Abbey in Moone, Co Kildare, and Portglenone, Co Antrim – continue to operate autonomously.

The fields between Mount Melleray and Moonwee were my childhood idyll (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)