Mount Melleray staff member Christina O’Flynn’s tone was tinged with cautious optimism as she expressed hopes for the return of the Cistercians to their rightful home.
She was speaking as Mount Melleray Abbey in Co Waterford prepared to close its doors after one final mass on Saturday morning. News of the closure sparked a wave of sadness across the country when it broke, with hundreds of pilgrims making a final trek to Waterford, reliving fond memories.
The closure comes almost two centuries after the abbey was founded in the 1830s by an Irish-born monk who returned to Ireland from the Cistercian monastery in Melleray in France. The monk, Vincent Ryan, was the first abbot of the monastery in Mount Melleray in the Knockmealdown mountains.
Its closure was first proposed by the monks last November after a decision was made to form a union with Mount St Joseph Abbey in Roscrea, and Mellifont Abbey in Louth. The group, known as the Abbey of Our Lady of Silence, will be relocated to Roscrea on a temporary basis on Sunday.
But the monks have not ruled out a possible return to the iconic landmark, according to Christina, who for the last seven-and-a-half years has been running the gift shop singlehandedly, as well as assisting the monks with other duties.
“A lot of hotels are being acquisitioned for refugees,” she said. “It means that people automatically think this is going to happen here too but that is just not the case. This is the monks’ home. They love it.
She was keen to allay fears that the monastery would lie idle, or this was the end for the monks in Waterford.
“It’s not going to be a derelict building. It is not being sold. The government can’t touch it. Some staff are being kept on to look after the grounds. It belongs to the monks. Anything else is just rumours.”
"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."
During the week, an endless stream of visitors made the trek, from all across the country, many of them mourning what they consider to be the end of an era.
“We don’t see it as closing down. 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. In a statement,
The plan, according to the Abbey of Our Lady of Silence, is to remain in Roscrea for “at least a year, to begin the life of the new community”.
During this time, a decision will be made on where the full-time location for the new community will be.
According to Christina: "They are restructuring. They are battening down the hatches for a while. These are stormy waters but it is the jubilee year of hope. They are going to rebuild, go back to basics and find out who they are as Cistercian monks.
"New men are being invited to join. They want a year-and-a-half to be left alone and in peace. Then they will make a decision about where to come back to. It would be wonderful if this did come to pass.”
She said that many feel a strong personal connection with the abbey.
“People come with heavy burdens including alcoholics, people with addictions or those suffering with the loss of a child. They want a monk to listen to them so that’s the big loss for the people here. You wouldn’t find a monk in another monastery so easily but we have an outreach here.”
And while many locals are keen for the bells to keep chiming as a call to prayer for the entire community, that sound won't be lost entirely.
“They are hoping to have an angelus bell twice a day which is great. Mount Melleray is unique among all the over monasteries in that there has been a huge outreach to the local community, probably because the local community helped to build Mount Melleray in the first place.
"There’s a great sense of ownership among the locals which is why it is so sad for them to see the monks going but this is not a permanent thing.”
Despite Christina's optimism, there was a sense of nostalgia in the air as pilgrims travelled the length and breadth of the country to mark the end of an era.
Fergal Savage was one of those who visited. “It is extraordinarily sad to see the place going,” he said. “We used to come here as children. We cycled here with my father from Midleton in East Cork.
"We would stay with the monks but it was only boys that were allowed so our two sisters had to stay at home. We stayed here for several days at a time. The expectation was that you would pray and worship but our greatest memories from our childhoods was playing here.
"There was a priest there at the time from Little Island named Lawrence Cantillon. I checked for his grave. This was the only time the graveyard has been open so I wanted to see if I could find his grave. I never did but it still brought back a lot of memories.”
He recalled the monks fondly. “They loved conversation even though it was supposed to be a silent order They were very devout and did their utmost to teach the children who came here about peace and tranquillity.”
Fr Raphael O’Halloran opened up about his own connection to the location. “I spent six months here in 1988,” he told the . “In that time there were 74 monks. I’m going through the graves today and realising that I knew most of the people buried here.
"I lived with the monks while I was discerning my future. It was a really special time. We would get up at 3.45am when we were called for prayer. They went to church seven times a day and worked very hard.”
Bernadette Delaney gave a tearful account of what the institution meant to her. “I’m coming here 30 years for confession to light candles and to have masses said for people. I always liked meeting the priest and having a little chat. My grandkids always got the blessings here.
"This is so sad because I am coming here so many years. It is so special to me and my family. I feel like breaking down and crying just thinking about it today. I’ll still come to the grotto because my memories are all there.”
Eileen Maher had been coming to Mount Melleray since she was a little girl. “I had an uncle Brother Bartholomew here who died in 1993. He had been here since the late 40s. This was our regular visiting place but I’ll never forget coming here at the age of seven.
"It was the first time my uncle and Fr Kevin Fogarty — who also lived in Mount Melleray — were able to speak to each other. In all the years leading up to that point they had never done so, despite both being from the same area in Portlaw.
"In those days the monks used sign language to communicate because talking was never allowed, with the exception of that day in 1952. My uncle had the job of going out to buy the cattle and it was only then that he was able to speak.
"When my uncle got sick he died in the Bons in Cork. All the nieces and nephew used to do a night there with him. There was always a man from Mount Melleray there.
"The night my husband and I were there with him It was Fr Kevin Fogarty. It was the first time I ever got to speak to him as we had only ever been up visiting my uncle.”
Tallow man Andy Cunningham’s memories of Mount Melleray date all the way back to the 50s.
“I was a young lad at the time. An aunt of mine living in England used to come over to see us. She knew one of the monks here so I always brought her here. It was always a part of her holiday. I wanted to come back one last time.”
Catherine Reidy said that, as a child, Mount Melleray was the highlight of her week.
“Children today get to go everywhere but this was our only outing. We were as excited back then coming here as today’s children are about going to the cinema. Mount Melleray was a big deal.”
The newly formed Abbey of Our Lady of Silence is made up of 26 members, including three novices, with others 'interested in joining'. The Cistercian order said that its two other abbeys in Ireland — in Moone, Co Kildare, and in Portglenone, Co Antrim — will continue to operate autonomously.
The final word goes to Christina O’ Flynn.
"Nobody will ever decide they want to be a monk if they don’t know the option is there. They lament the loss of this life, but this life will be extinguished if we don’t fan the embers again.
"This is a powerful moment for people to look at and reflect on what they believe in. I have a sadness in me but I also have great hope. I don’t believe we will be abandoned. We are seeing three communities come together. There is strength in numbers.”