Greg Daly
Greg Daly & Mags Gargan
Members of two of Ireland’s best-known monastic communities followed in their forerunners’ footsteps on Monday night when Storm Ophelia left the monks without electricity and praying by candlelight.
“We were lucky, really,” Roscrea Abbey’s Bro. Malachy Thompson told The Irish Catholic, explaining that the Offaly Cistercian community had been on retreat when the storm struck, and had already had the day’s main meal when power was lost.
“For some of the older men, the worry for us would have been heating – we’ve had a bad dose of flu going through the community over the last week or two,” he said, adding that as the light faded the monks lit candles around their cells and along the cloister leading to the church, where they prayed Vespers by candlelight.
“There was something about it – the shadows dancing from the candlelight, it can’t help but affect you. Candlelight or natural light, there is something spiritual about it,” he said, adding that the abbey’s traditional Cistercian cloisters “looked amazing” by candlelight.
Candlelight
While Roscrea’s power returned late on Monday night, the Benedictines of Limerick’s Glenstal Abbey were less fortunate. Bro. Martin Browne told The Irish Catholic that with electricity gone from early Monday afternoon, the monks “filled the church with candles and had Vespers by candlelight”, doing the same for morning prayer. “Vespers by candlelight was lovely but once was enough!” he said, adding that the monks had prayed Compline – night prayer – around the fire in their common room.
Meanwhile, various churches around the country suffered damage to their roofs during the storm, with St Nicholas’s Church in Kilcorney, Co. Cork, being especially badly damaged.
The roof of the church in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, suffered some major damage in the high winds, with slates being stripped off two sections of the roof and thrown around the area, one slate even making its way to the wall surrounding the library.
Ophelia also caused damage to the roof of the church in Allenwood, Co. Kildare. “A number of slates became dislodged, but the storm was not as bad here as in other parts,” Fr Willie Byrne PP told The Irish Catholic. “There were some trees down in the area and powerlines came down, but the damage was minimum compared to other parts of the country.”