Category: Christmastide 2017

Adoring the Silence of the Word

December 31, 2017

Mother Mectilde de Bar (1614-1698) belongs to the family of great mystics who, like Saint John of the Cross, are content to remain in darkness,...

The Passion of the Infant Christ

December 28, 2017

The Child in Egypt The name Egypt occurs three times in today’s gospel. “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt” (Mt...

Innocence Restored

December 28, 2017

For the Feast of the Holy Innocents Those for whom I wrote and prayed this prayer will understand it. Many people suffer well into adulthood...

Wreathe the Door of Thy Heart

December 26, 2017

December 26 Saint Stephen the Protomartyr The painting is by Blessed Fra Angelico (1400-1455). Blessed Fra Angelico’s paintings are theological; they are a holy preaching...

The grace of the mystery is not past

December 25, 2017

Mother Mectilde de Bar (1614-1698) gave this Chapter conference on 17 December 1671. I share it for those who may be looking for a text...

Situated amidst pasture land and forest in the eastern reaches of County Meath, Silverstream Priory was founded in 2012 at the invitation of the Most Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, and canonically erected as an autonomous monastery of diocesan right on 25 February 2017. The property belonged, from the early 15th century, to the Preston family, premier Viscounts of Ireland and Lords of Gormanston. In 1843 Thomas Preston (1817-1903), son of Jenico Preston, the 12th Viscount (1775-1860), built what today is Silverstream Priory. Silverstream Priory is a providential realisation of the cherished project of Abbot Celestino Maria Colombo, O.S.B. (1874–1935), who, following the impetus given by Catherine–Mectilde de Bar in the 17th century, sought to establish a house of Benedictine monks committed to ceaseless prayer before the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar in a spirit of reparation. The community of Silverstream Priory holding to the use of Latin and Gregorian Chant, celebrate the Divine Office in its traditional Benedictine form and Holy Mass in the “Usus Antiquior” of the Roman Rite. Praying and working in the enclosure of the monastery, the monks of Silverstream keep at heart the sanctification of priests labouring in the vineyard of the Lord. They undertake various works compatible with their monastic vocation, notably the development of the land and gardens, hospitality to the clergy in need of a spiritual respite, scholarly work, and publishing.