Day two in Virginia, County Cavan, Ireland.  I spent several hours yesterday in conversation with some Norbertine priests at the Holy Trinity Abbey in Kilnacrott, a village down the road from Ballyjamesduff, which is down the road from Virginia. 

It remains cold and rainy, ugh!

The Holy Trinity Abbey is being bought by Anne's apostolate. There are only a handful of Norbertines still at the Abbey, and they are excited at the prospect of a vital and growing ministry taking over the 46 acres they have owned since 1924. 

The Norbertines were in Ireland from the 1400s until Henry XIII dissolved the monasteries.  They were invited back after WWI by Bishop Finnegan of Kilmore.  They built their original priory on land belonging to the "O'Reilly clan."  The original community came from Tangerlo, Belgium and Manchester, England.  They grew enough in size to be designated an "abbey" in 1954.  Fr. Oliver Martin told me about the "moonlight procession" of eccesiastics that marked the "elevation."  Fr. Martin first entered the community in 1952. Fr. Gerald Cusack, who I also interviewed, is the present prior and entered in 1960. 

Holy Trinity Abbey never grew much beyond the 25 or so members of the community who participated in the moonlight procession.  Although two foundations were created in the late 50s, one in Western Australia, the other in Scotland.  The Norbertines at Holy Trinity gradually declined to the seven members of the community who remain in residence today (one, however, is permamently disabled in a local hospital). 

Though the community has been small in size over the past several decades there has been an ongoing vitality at the Abbey due to its devotion to Fatima and the Divine Mercy, as well as its Eucharistic adoration.  Since the early 90s, Holy Trinity has attracted a national following for a warmth of hospitality and traditional spirituality that, I am told, is unusual for the Church in this country. 

Anne worshiped at the Abbey for many years before the Norbertines knew who she was.  She was one of the many Irish Catholics who were attracted to their Divine Mercy and Fatima devotions.  When the Norbertines learned of her interest in purchasing the Abbey for her ministry they were "amazed" -- several members of the community resisted the idea -- but an agreement was reached in January, 2008. 

That's enough of the story for now. I am about to leave for Mass at the Directions for Our Times mission. Afterward I will meet with Anne for our interview and lunch.