FROM MOUNT MELLERAY TO MOUNT ST. JOSEPH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 27, 3 April 1891, Page 27

FROM MOUNT MELLERAY TO MOUNT ST. JOSEPH.

{Continued.) (From the Irhh Catfvohc.)

The interval tf these three years was employe 1 ii internal arrangements, erecting altars, fitting up a stair, etc., and in reraode'ling The tumble-down out-jffices into a temporary monastery to admit of ea<y access to the church iv the email hours of the morning, when the community assemble tnere for the Divine Office. The tottering walls of the stables were repaired, and in some caa's raised a storey. The western walk of the clusters was built from the foundations, and fanned the connecting link between the church and ;ha rtßt of the monastery. The old out-offices lormed a sort of courtyard, a perfect square, the northern side or which was removed to make room for the church which enc.oacheii on it. Two sides of this square having been roofed, the lofts were used as a dormitory, and the ground-fljor as dairy, bake-house, laundry, etc , while tha old barn, then roofless, was covered in and made to pass muster as a refectory. On St. Patricks Day, 1881, the community moved into their new quarters, and the old mansion was given over exclusivel to the use of guests who wished to make a Retreat at the monastery. In the same year a diocesan subscription was authorised by the late Dr. Hyan, the most faithful friend of the monastery, and nearly every parish in the large diocese contributed most generously. With this the loan that was raised for the completion of the new church was marly cleared off.

Hitherto ladies who wished to pass a few days on retreat at the monastery weic prevented fiom availing themselves of so precious an advantage by want of accommodation in its vicinity ; so, at the mrgeut request of many who eagerly wished for it, a handsome building, with comfortable rooms for their special u,e. was erected just outside the avenue gate. A very facile lady writer thus dilates on the interior, no doubt as an encouragement to visitors to go and see for themselves :—" Two exquisitely-furnished reception rooms open off a tiled hall— the one dining-room style, rnby carpet and morocco chairs, the other an .esthetic study in olive green. The bedrooms, seventteu in number, open off two corridors running pira lei to one another, and m truth they are very great contrasts to anchorius' cells." Though tre Irish Trappists resemble very much the old Columbian mook3 in their manner of life, yet when theie is que6ii n of receiving the ''devout sex" at their monasteries they widely differ, m. Columlkille would admr. no black cattle into his island home in lorn, " for, ' Baid tho '•auit, " win nvr there is ft cow there must be a woman to milk her, aud whtMVtr there is a wuman

tbere is mischief " Not so the Trappists at Mount bt. Joseph ; tbey are welcomed there quite cordially, and waited on by devoted Brothers, who look to their creature comfortß during their stay. Sicciil rooms are prepared for their use dur.ng the day, and in too evcniDp 'hey lettre to the ladies' retreat described abovo. A line is drawn, beyond which ladies are not permitted to enter, but the day rune plranantly between a 'tendance at the Masses and offices in the chu-cb, a turn on the ' Mound," a pretty knoll, crowned wth evergreens and intertecttd by gravel wilks through fragrant shrubs, »nd provided with rustic sea's, whereon to rest and listen to Ue myriad songsteis of the grove. Some more adventurous souls set out in company with a lady companion for a quiet stroll through the hedgerows, or to climb the hills at the rear of the bouse, and from their summit to catch delightful views of the distant Devil's Bit Mountains on one side, or Slieve Bloom on the other. Many are the regre's uttered at departure that their Bojourn in this quiet restingplac^ for body and soul should necessarily be bo short.

After the consecration of the church in '84, the Most Rev. Dr. Ryan, late Coadjutor Bishop of Killaloe, in his paternal solicitude for the promotion of the welfare of Mount St. Joseph, expressed his desire to have it caaoaically erected into an abbey, and in the following year signified his wish io that effect by letter to the Lord Abbot of Mount Melleray, who presented it to the General Chapter of the Order, wben the application was sanctioned and submitted to Rome for approval. Hia Holiness was graciously pleaßed to order a brief to be expedited raising the monastery into an abbey, and conferring on it all the honours, rights, aDd privileges of abbeys of the Cistercian Order. Accordingly in August, 1887, the community of Mount St. Joseph proceeded to elect an abbot, and their choice fell on the Bight Eev. J. C. Beard wood, who was solemnly consecrated on the 30th October following in the abbey church by Monsignor Persico, the Papal Envoy, in the presence of a vast assemblage, who thronged to witness bo novel a spectacle, the like of which had not been performed in public since the days o£ Queen Mary. Since the accession of the new abbot very material progress has been made, and a fresh impulse given to the whole system under his immediate inspection. Gifted as he is with rare powers of organisation, his professional knowledge of building enhances considerably hia natural talents, and eminently fits him for a position where they can have full scope, and can impress themselves on the works that are yet to spring up. His attention was arrested at the outset by the want of suitable farm offices ; the old ones, being crowded round the monastery proper, and occupying the site of a portion of it, they should of necessity be removed. So he drew up a plan of a few plain buildings as a beginning, and, limiting the outlay to his means, he employed <i few men, who constructed a barn, a stable, and byres for cattle at a convenient distance from the main buildiaga. Next a large reservoir for damming up a plentiful supply of water was elected, and machineiy of divers kinds procured and set in motion by a turbine wheel. The concern which contains all of these may well be termed a hive of indubtry, for thence issue the hum and whirr of many monsteis that crash and labour each at its respective work. Witain a very liaoitel compass, y^t sj as to give ample space to each, lave been collected a saw-bjucb, a mortar mill, threshinsr and winnowing machines, an 1 grain elevator, thtse three latter working in harmony and simultaneously ; a crushing mill, a general joiner for planing, moulding, etc., lathes, chaff-cutter, and turnippulper. On the arrival of the new abbot, the church only and a portion of one walk of the cloister were built, and, as already stated, the community were temporarily housed in the rem -delled out-offices ; but their numbers increasing, fresh space was demanded, and could only be provided by a new building. Where were the funds/ "God knows my wants, I shall go ahead trusting in the Lord. Ho will furnish th> means." Such are the thoughts that stimulate every religious superior who essays an important undertaking deminding an outlay which his financial condition does not in human prudenca warrant him to m<ik ;. Therefore, in April of last year the abbot laid the foundation stoae of a new refectory after the style of the old Cistercian buildings and which he imitated in the plan, with one single exception, that whereas the old refectories bad rows of columns supporting the floor of the dormitory in the upper 6torcy, ne dispensed with these columns '> using the modern rolled girders for that purpose. It is a plain building with high pitched gables and pointed mullmned win jowp, in keeping with the des.gn of the church vwth which it runs parallel. The work is far from completion, but depending on Providence and the alms of tbo devout clients of Mary aud St. Joseph, he Lopes to be enabled to carry it on without accumulating fresh debts. It is often said, aud truly, that the work of God progresses slowly, and that every religious undertaking ot magnitude must strike root under the shadow of the Cross. That twenty years hence Mount St. Joseph's Abbey will be a flourishing institution is even now predicted by those who vis-it and observe the peculiar advantages it possesses* Now the traveller who has not seen this house of God duriug the intervening years since its foundation, and since the spot was known as Mount llea'uu, will pau3<_ with wonder when at the bend in the

avenue the massive, many-gnbled church attracts his attention, with the venerable mansion crowning the height at a little distance beyond. Let him pursue his course and approach. At his left is n hedged enclosure, with low, metal croß.«es bearing the names of the Brothers who repose underneath, and the dates of their death?. That is the cemetery of the monks. Over the principal entrance to the church is a mural tablet, statloy that the sacred edifice in dedicated to God under the invocation of His Immacula'o Mother. The church is about 220 feet long, by 60 feet wide and 70 feet high. It has aisles and transepts like all the old Cistercian churches, but differs in the provision for the tower, which will rise over the southern transept, and to which access will be obtained by a spiral staircase. This latter was built with the church, but the tower is a part of the programme for the future. At present the two magnificent bslls, named respectively after St. Cronan and St. Kieran, are placed on an elevated platform, and surrounded with louvred framing. In the old churches the tower rose over the crossing, that is where the nave and transepts intersect. It was also called the lantern. Standing at the western door the sight of the church is imposing, with its rows of pillars and Gothic arches ; its clerestory windows, and maoy altars. Of the lattr there are three in that portion allotted to the U6e of the people who frequent it for the Sacraments and to hear Mass. Three priests attend in the confessionals from early morning till night, according as their services are r^qu'reJ ; and the convenient situation of the abbey readers it quite possible for inhabitants of the neighbouring towns to g > there by rail, hear Mass, approach the Sacramentp, and return homa by midday. To the rear of the altars is the rood-screen, and over it, supported by a beam resting on corbels, is the rood itself. Beyond the rood-loft is the choir of the monks, where seven times each day they chaut God's praises. (To be concluded.)