St. Kevin's Monastery

Round 110 ft tower, which called monks to prayer, stored their grain, and hid people during Viking raids.

We visited St. Kevin's Monastery on a cloudy, windswept day. According to Rick Steves, St. Kevin's, founded in the 6th century, is one of Ireland's most impressive monastic settlements. These monasteries served in the place of cities in Ireland, where they helped spread Christianity and the work of copying the canons of Western civilization.

Below are photos of the interior of the cathedral at the monastery.

As we walked around the grounds in the wind and grey, I couldn't help but remember what Thomas Cahill wrote in "How The Irish Saved Civilization" about St. Patrick. Kidnapped from England as a teenager, Patrick was sold into slavery in Ireland where he worked as a shepherd. Cahill says he has two constant companions, "hunger and nakedness and that the gnawing in his belly and the chill on his exposed skin were his worst sufferings, acutely painful presences that could not be shaken off." What fortitude and strength the Irish people had to not only survive these conditions but build the monasteries of their land.

St. Kevin followed in the path of St. Patrick. He lived for seven years as a hermit but attracted many disciples, including St. Lawrence, who wanted to learn from him. St. Kevin's 10 ft cross is pictured above. It is carved out of one piece of granite.

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 Here is St. Kevin's prayer.

Ever-living, loving God, long ago

You led the young man 

to the beautiful valley of Glendalough 

to follow his dream 

and grow in knowledge of himself

and union with You 

through presence, prayer, penance and silence.

Help us to treasure life as he did

accepting all its shades of light and darkness.

In our busy world help us to find a little space

to be still and know that You are God

calling us home to heaven

where you live and reign

with Jesus and the Holy Spirit,

one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Finding a Place of Peace in Glendalough

We decided to fly into Dublin because we could do so straight from Chicago. The other big airport in Ireland is in Shannon, and it services the less crowded but popular-with-travelers west coast of the country, where we do want to spend a fair amount of time. But you have to fly from Chicago to New York or Boston and then onto Shannon. So Dublin, with it's six and half hour nonstop flight from the Windy City, it would be.

We knew we didn't want to spend too much time in Dublin, especially with a car. We would be tired, so we looked around for places we could drive to easily on the first day. At first I thought we would go to Cashel, home of the Rock of Cashel,  where ancient Irish kings ruled, and where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus. Cashel is less than a two hour drive from Dublin. But then I saw the Xmas card below that I keep at my desk.

It was sent to my mother-in-law, Mary, in 2008 by her relative, Sister Patricia Sullivan, a Sinsinawa Dominican sister. Sister Pat also taught at St. Mark's for a few years. She was my sister Theresa's second grade teacher.

"Where is this in Ireland?" I wondered and flipped the photo over to see what Sister Pat had written. "I took this photo at County Wicklow in a town called Glendalough which means "Glen of the two Lakes" in Gaelic." County Wicklow is just south of Dublin so Glendalough it would be.

The area is gorgeous with mountains and ruins and lakes and everything that makes Ireland so beautiful. Today, after we toured the ruins of St. Kevin's monastery, we set out to see if we could find where she took the picture.

It's not perfect, but we got close.

Sister Pat also wrote on the card, "I know you already saw the photos I took in Ireland, but this is my favorite and it reminds me of the Peace we all wish for one another at this time of the year.

Greetings from the Ancient East of Ireland!

View from St. Kevin's

Those monks that St. Patrick was responsible for--they built monasteries in which to do their work as scribes and priests, converting more of their fellow citizens. Ireland didn't have cities; these monasteries were their centers of civilization instead. 

In the sixth century, St. Kevin built a monastery in Glendalough (Glen of Two Lakes). We will visit the ruins of this site tomorrow. Not far from the monastery is St. Kevin's Catholic Church, a continuation of this ancient community. The current church was built in 1850 during the famine. It is within walking distance of our bed & breakfast.      

St. Kevin's Catholic Church

On its beautiful grounds are meditative walks that are mini-pilgrimages themselves- a Golgotha pathway, a labyrinth, and a wide or narrow pathway walk. And the scenery also focuses one's mind on the grandeur of God's creation. 

One of the signs on the walk has this good advice for pilgrims:

Going to Pilgrimage

Without change of heart

Brings little reward from God:

For it is by practicing virtue

And not by mere motion of the feet

That we are brought to heaven.

         Book of Lismore 8th Century

A good-hearted pilgrim