Farmer Michael finds inspiration in Glenstal

MICHAEL Drea is a retired dairy farmer from Kilcarrig, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. Michael (76) is a former prominent member of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) at Carlow and national levels and a past member of the National Dairy Council (NDC).

He is married to the former Mary Delahanty from Kilkenny. The couple have three children: Edmund, who works for the child and family agency Tusla in Carlow/Kilkenny; Barry, who farms at Kilcarrig; Rose, a history teacher at Tyndall College in Carlow; and Brendan, Baltinglass, employed by the drinks company Diageo.

Recently, Michael took time out to spend two days with the monks at Glenstal Abbey in Co Limerick. He penned the following article from that experience. At this festive time of the year, it is appropriate to share Michael’s memories from his visit to this holy place.

Michael writes: ‘I was an unlikely visitor to Glenstal Abbey. When my wife and family got over the shock of me deciding to stay with the Benedictine monks for two days, it turned out to be an inspired decision.

I set off on a cold November day on the two-hour drive from Bagenalstown. There was a stop at the Barack Obama Plaza for a tea break and a McDonald’s. It was on then to the abbey, which is located beside the pretty village of Murroe, still festooned in the county’s green and white colours marking recent All-Ireland victories for the Treaty County.

The abbey is set back at the end of a long tree-lined avenue.

A large herd of dairy cows grazed the lush grass of the Golden Vale – I guess that’s part of St Benedict’s guide to the monks being self-sustainable.

I checked in and was directed to the order’s guesthouse and to the parking area behind the church and away from the monastery and school. The guesthouse has 12 en-suite rooms, modestly and simply furnished. Here, I met Fr Christopher, who is the guest master. He organised a cup of tea for me in the small kitchen leading into a large sitting room. Fr Christopher mentions that he is always available over the next two days, if I wished to talk.

As a guest, you are expected to share the monks’ prayers. But if you choose not to attend, there is no problem and a number of people made that choice.

The first impression is of a well-run abbey and school.

The school is one of the most expensive boarding schools for boys in the country – it is completely separate from the guesthouse and its visitors.

My first visit to the church is for evening prayers read in Latin with 25 priests present on the altar. The altar is very open and designed to let one have a sense of being very close.

Following prayers, the guests were invited to an evening meal, in silence, with the community of Benedictines for 30 minutes while one of the monks reads. During my stay, it was a reading about India, and the content was not very complimentary to the British Empire and not at all on a religious theme.

Having had time to settle in, it was then back to the church for a service called Compline (night prayers) before returning to the guesthouse to meet some of the guests, which included a married couple from South Africa. Most of the guests were Irish, and a number had previously been to Glenstal.

The most notable aspect of the experience for me was how quiet and peaceful the abbey was and, surprisingly, being left to my own devices. I had anticipated being involved in everything.

It was Matins and Lauds (morning prayer) at 6.35am on a cold, dark morning for the 14 of us as we again availed of Fr Christopher’s hospitality and his famous porridge.

The remainder of the morning I spent walking the grounds and meeting some of the monks working with timber at the farm sheds. The dairy herd and land is leased to a young farmer.

I would nominate the daily Mass at 12.10am as the highlight of my visit. A total of 22 priests celebrated the Mass together. One could not be but impressed by the life-long commitment of the monks to their religious calling; some of them have been in Glenstal for 50 years.

Fr Columba McCann is the new abbot at Glenstal, having been elected by the monks on 17 July 2024 for a term of eight years. Fr McCann is the seventh abbot of Glenstal and holds the place of Christ in the monastery where, as a shepherd and teacher to the monks, he is to arrange everything ‘so that the strong have something to strive for and the weak do not fall back in dismay’.

Having studied music at University College Dublin, Fr Columba is now the organist for the abbey.

The guests, accompanied by Fr Christopher, have lunch, which provides another chance to chat to each other and the afternoon is then free for further checking out of the abbey.

I was surprised to see that famous Glenstal students included horse racing trainer Henry de Bromhead, Irish business magnate John Magnier and the late politician John Kelly, a former minister for trade.

Locals derive great value out of the beautiful grounds for the pursuit of leisure activities.

Glenstal was previously owned by the Barrington family. It was built in 1830 and the monks purchased it in 1927, so the religious community can look forward to celebrating its centenary in two years’ time.

I visited Mount Mellery in Waterford last year, which is now empty of its Cistercian monks, who apparently have moved to join their colleagues in Roscrea.

The situation in Glenstal is the very opposite: the Co Limerick monastery is thriving, beautifully maintained and is operated in a highly impressive manner.

My last morning was an early rise and I was to leave for home after Mass.

Before leaving, I visited the monastery shop on-site, which stocked all the memorabilia one would expect relating to Glenstal, but also had a great selection of gifts and produce, all made at the monastery. There was a beautiful selection of cards and Christmas gifts, jams, chutneys and honey, to name a few – true to the Benedictine motto of self-sufficiency.

So it was that I had ticked off one of my bucket list of things to do.

I was so impressed with the privacy accorded me during my two-day stay in Glenstal. I guess by observing the monks living their Christian lives and praying for all of us for hours every day, they don’t have any need to talk.

If any of your readers have a day or two to spare, Glenstal is well worth a visit.

Glenstal Abbey is a place where prayer is the foundation of the monks’ daily round of worship, consecrates the course of the day and night as these holy men gather in the still of morning at the setting of the sun and the closing of the day.’