Ardfert Friary

Like all ruined churches, there’s something slightly gloomy about the Franciscan friary in Ardfert, even more so when you leam what happened there in the year 1590: a venerable tradition, centuries old, was violently interrupted.

What happened to the religious houses of Ireland in the wake of the Protestant Reformation? We know what happened in England. When Henry VIII ordered the dis- solution of the monasteries there, the process was rapid and efficient. No communities survived in place. In Ireland it began a few years afterwards so many religious communities had advance warning, and it was only really in the Pale that the dissolution took place in a thoroughgoing way.

In the initial wave of suppressions, it’s estimated that only 40% of the religious communities in Ireland were actually shut down. 60% of communities were in areas more or less outside English control, where the real authority belonged to aristocratic families who were either Gaelic in origin, or Norman families who had become Gaelicised, such as the Fitzgeralds and the Burkes. Were these families indifferent to the fate of the monasteries and convents and friaries in their territories? Far from it. Especially in the case of the friars, aristocratic patrons were deeply devoted patrons.

This was partly because their own family histories were often intertwined with the histories of these houses of friars: their ancestors were often recognised as significant patrons, even founders, and their family burial places were often in prominent places in the sanctuary. That was the case with the Clanricarde Burkes and the Dominicans of Athenry; the O’Connors and the Dominicans of Sligo; and the O’Donnells and the Franciscans of Donegal. In Ardfert, the most significant relationship was with the Fitzmaurices, Lords of Keny, whose ancestor founded the friary in 1253, and whose leading members since then were buried in the family tomb in that place.

In all these cases, faith and fam ily pride together made a strong case for supporting these communities in the face of Crown oppression. One Franciscan friar writing in the seventeenth century, and looking back on the Elizabethan period, described the situation as follows: “Very many of the nobility throughout the kingdom held the monasteries of our Order as dear to them as their own personal property. They had been founded by their ancestors. There was the burial place of their families. There they hoped to rest themselves. The nobles were themselves united to the friars in most intimate friendship, and they could not imagine how they were to exist without them. The friars had therefore the chief men of the nation, in peace with the English or in war, ever active in their interests’.

The End of an Age Over the coming decades, though, as the Tudor conquest of Ireland proceeded, the screws were tightened on religious communities, and these great families had to play a careful political game. Some of them openly rebelled against the Crown, while others remained loyal, but all of them sought to protect their friars under the patronage as best they could Occasionally, English au thorities tumed a blind eye to the friars who persevered illegally. Ruin of Ardfert Friary, County Kerry Queen Elizabeth even gave explicit permission for some of these communities to continue in existence as a reward for loyalty in their patrons.

Eventually, though, the servants of the Crown began to take a harder line. Elizabethan military commanders often knew little and cared less about the longstanding relationships between the friars and families. In the case of Connacht, Sir Edward Fitton in 1570 reported to Elizabeth that he had succeeded in driving out the Dominican and Franciscan friars from their last two public communities in Connacht Athenry and Kilconnell and had bumed all their statues idols he called them in front of the local people.

Something similar happened in Ardfert. A man by the name of Colonel Zouch was military com mander in this region With rebel- lion in the air, he had no interest in compromise or moderation. In 1580, for example, he participated in the brutal massacre of hundreds of Spanish and Italian prisoners of war at Dún an Óir. Four years later he drove out the Franciscan friars of Ardfert and took over the friary, making it a barracks for his troops. Six years later again, Thomas Fitzmaurice, Lord of Keny was dead, after a career involving some loyalty to the crown and some association with the rebels.

Those who memorialised this man described him as the hand somest man of that age, whose strength was such that few in Keny were able to bend the bow that he used so easily. The Annals of the Four Masters described him as ‘the best purchaser of wine and horses of any man of his rank in the south of Ireland’.

How would this great man be buried, now that he was dead? All those who moumed him camed his body naturally to Ardfert. He was the 16th Lord of Keny, the 15th successor of the man with the same name Thomas Fitzmaurice who had founded the friars here over four centuries earlier. But Colonel Zouch would have none of it. It was a barracks now, and that was the end of it. The body of the Lord of Keny was sent elsewhere. It was the end of one age in Ardfert, and the beginning of another:

Mont Saint-Michel

It is very interesting how mountains can focus our minds on God. In the Bible, many of the stories of salvation use mountains for a backdrop, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Transfigur ation of Our Lord. Jesus died on Mount Calvary. The splendour of natural beauty speaks to the soul. Our destination for this month’s lesser-known place of pilgrimage is Mont Saint-Michel which rises majestically from the sea in Normandy, France. The island has captivated pilgrims for over a thou sand years, symbolizing both faith and the power of God.

The spiritual history of Mont Saint Michel began in 708 AD, when, according to tradition, the Archangel Michael appeared to Saint Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches, in a series of visions and instructed him to build a sanctuary on the rocky island known as Mont Tombe. Initially hesitant, Aubert built a sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael, transforming the island from a barren rock into a sacred pilgrimage destination dedicated to the Prince of the Heavenly Host.

In the 10th century Benedictine monks established an abbey on the island, further solidifying its status as a spiritual destination with pilgrims from all across Europe travelling there to seek Saint Michael’s intercession.

A pilgrimage to Mont Saint- Michel in the medieval period was not for the faint-hearted; pilgrims had to carefully time their joumey across the tidal causeway to avoid being trapped by the swift, unpredictable tides. This perilous approach became an essential part of the pilgrimage experience, symbolizing purification and the transient nature of life, reminding pilgrims they depended upon divine protection.

Mont Saint-Michel attracted pilgrims to its stunning Gothic archi- tecture and its reputation as a place of miracles and divine favour. It also had great symbolism. During the Hundred Years’ War, a long period of fighting between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England, the island acted as a fortress. Despite multiple English attempts to capture Mont Saint Michel, the island remained unconquered, further cementing its legacy as a place of divine protection.

Line Of Saint Michael

The Reformation and, later, the French Revolution, disrupted its religious role, when it was closed as a pilgrim site. By the 19th century, it was used as a prison. In 1874, how ever, Mont Saint-Michel was designated an historic monument, prompting restoration efforts to preserve its architectural and spiritual heritage.

In 1966, marking the 1000th anniversary of its Benedictine foundation, monks and nuns retumed, reestablishing a monastic community and renewing the island’s religious significance. In 1979 it was dedared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, the abbey is served by the Monastic Community of St. John.

Interestingly, Mont Saint-Michel shares a spiritual connection with the famous Skellig Michael, off the Kenry coast, Ireland. The Skellig Rocks were home to an early Christian monastery first established in the 6th century. High on the diffs, in their beehive huts, the monks devoted themselves to solitude and penance. This connection between Mont Saint-Michel and Skellig Michael is part of a larger phenomenon known as the “Line of Saint Michael”a symbolic alignment of seven sacred sites across Europe which can be traced from Ireland to Israel, passing through sacred locations associated with Saint Michael, including Monte Saint-Michel and Monte Sant’ Angelo in Italy. The line is believed by some to represent the sword of Saint Michael, tracing his protective presence across Europe.

Married Saints

On October 18th, 2015, Louis Martin and Marie Azèlie Guerin, the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux became the first married couple to be canonized together. They were both particularly dedicated to God and had tried to enter religious life. Louis wanted to be an Augustinian monk but was rejected because of his inability to leam Latin. Ha than danidad to harnma a watchmaker and studied his craft in Rennes and in Strasbourg.

Zelie hoped to become a nun but was turned down on the grounds of illhealth. She embraced instead the art of lacemaking and proved so successful that she went into business on her own. Although she never lost the attraction to religious life, she was inspired with a new matemal mission to bear many children and consecrate them to God. Little did she know then that she would raise five daughters who would become nuns and one of whom would be canonized a saint and Doctor of the Church.

It was Louis’ mother, who was leaming lace making from Zèlie, that introduced the couple to one another. However, before that Zèlie herself had noticed him crossing the bridge of St Leonard and heard a voice saying, “This is he whom I have prepared for you.” Theirs was quite literally a match made in Heaven. The connection between the two was immediate and they were manied a few months later. They would go on to have nine children, four of whom died in childhood.

The Martins went daily to Mass and regularly to Confession and Communion and were very charitable. They visited the sick and elderly and even welcomed passing vagabonds to their table. During the first year of their manage they took in a young boy, one of ten children whose mother had died. Both were diligent workers, so much so that Louis was concerned about Zèlie’s health. While on a business trip to Paris he wrote, “You are working too hardtiring yourself out. My dearest, do not be over anxious. With God’s help we shall build up a good little business.” Zelie died on August 28, 1877, aged 46 after 19 years of marriage. Thérèse, their youngest was only 4 years old. She developed a special relationship with her father and formed her image of a loving God from him. Louis died on 29 July, 1894. He and Zelie had succeeded in their shared resolve to bring their children up for Heaven.

The Evolution Of The Wheel

Patricia Hope

One of the most important inven- tions of all time has to be that of the wheel. It is often considered one of the most important and transfor- mative inventions in human history. While seemingly simple, the wheel has shaped the course of civilisation Its importance lies not just in its immediate practical uses but in its role as a foundation for the countless advancements that have defined human progress. There are very few mechanical systems that are possible without it. Everything from the earli- est forms of transport such as carts, chariots, coaches, to practically ev- ery machine that has been invented since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Before The Wheel

Before the invention of the wheel, the only way to move heavy objects over long distances was to drag them This was difficult to do over rough terrain and required immense physical effort. However, humans are ingenious by nature and it wasn’t long before the problem was solved. First by the use of a platform dragged over rollers made of a number of smoothed out logs. As the platform was dragged forward the end log would be released and would then be moved to the front allowing the platform to be moved distances even heavily laden. Over time the platform would wear grooves in the rollers and at some stage it was noticed that grooved rollers actually carried the load further and required less energy to create a tuming motion. Once this had been discovered grooves were cut into the logs deliberately, creating a form of axle. These methods, while effective to a degree, were laborintensive and inefficient. The wheel’s invention, around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia, changed this dynamic forever.

The Potter’s Wheel

The wheel is such a simple idea that it could be assumed that every culture that had reached a level of sophistication would have discovered it, but that is not the case. There is nothing to suggest that highly developed civilisations such as the Mayas, Incas, Aztecs and other native peoples of the Westem Hemisphere, ever used the wheel until their contact with Europeans.

Who actually did invent this wonder is still clouded in mystery. No one individual, culture, or civilisation can take sole credit for it, although the general consensus is that the ancient Sumerians had a hand in it.

It is believed that the Sumerians, invented a wheel around 3500 BC. Ancient wheels found in modem day Iraq are the earliest examples. However these wheels were not designed for transportation but were used in pottery making. Early potters would use mats or large leaves to tum the pots while coiling sausage like strips of clay to form the vessel. The potter’s wheel a flat disk that could spin freely developed from this process. The invention of the potter’s wheel revolutionised the production of pottery and served as the precursor to the wheel as we know it.

Wheels for Transport These first wheels were used in Mesopotamian pottery for eons to create various globular containers. It wasn’t until nearly 300 years after its inception that these pottery wheels were adapted to a wheeled vehicle. Who actually came up with this important invention is also not known, however one story, which may or may not be true, is that an enterprising Mesopotamian citizen lay a potter’s wheel on its side one day and had the ingenious idea of attaching a few to a platform, thus producing the first cart type vehicle with a fixed axle.

Around 3000 BC the potter’s turn- table was adapted and became closer to what we think of as the potter’s wheel today. This is only a theory of course, and some modem scholars have suggested Egypt and China as other possible places of origin, but some of the earliest evidence of such carts and other wheeled vehicles do appear in Mesopotamia from around 3200

Whether they were first developed in Mesopotamia or almost simultaneously in several other places, there is no doubt that the invention of wheeled vehicles took the transportation of goods and people to a level of mobility not known before.

Early wheels were very simple wooden disks made from planks of wood with a hole for the axle to fit through. The carts they were attached to were heavy and very slow. Their weight meant that they had to be pulled along by large, domesticated animals such as oxen and bullocks, not known for speed!

However, when the bending of wood by means of applying heat was discovered and carpenters’ skills increased, wheels with circular rims made from bent wood, held in place by spokes emerged. These wheels were much lighter and could be attached to less sturdy vehicles which could be pulled along by faster, more agile animals such as the horse.

The horse had been domesticated for centuries before. However, it wasn’t until these lighter wheels emerged, that domestic horses could be used for this purpose. Lighter wheels together with the horse gave humanity its first concept of fast personal transport in the shape of the chariot.

The Chariot Revolution

Chariots are the earliest and simplest type of horse drawn-camiage. The first chariots are believed to have been developed around 2000 BC in the ancient Eurasian steppes, particularly in the region of modem day Russia and Kazakhstan. These early vehicles were likely created by Indo European peoples and were primarily used for warfare and hunting.

The Sumerians and Mesopotamians are credited with advancing chariot design around 1900 -1800 BC, creating lighter, two wheeled chariots pulled by horses.

These chariots played a significant role in warfare and influenced the design of later vehicles across the Egyptian, Hittite, and Indo Aryan cultures.

By 1200 BC, the chariot had spread to the north-western Indian subcontinent, China, Scandinavia and all of continental Europe. Many different versions of this fast, light, open, two or four wheeled, horse drawn conveyance have come and gone in the intervening years but since its invention the wheel itself has changed little. Apart from the materials they are made from and the different types of wheels now available, after thou sands of years, the essential has remained the same.

A Turning Point

Over the centuries the wheel’s role has expanded beyond transportation. Water wheels and windmills, which used rotating wheels to generate mechanical power, became widespread in Europe and the Islamic world. These technologies revolu- tionised agriculture and industry by automating tasks like grinding grain and pumping water.

The invention of the wheel was a tuming point that propelled humanity into a new era of progress. It revolutionised transportation, facilitated trade, transformed agriculture, and laid the foundation for the industrial and technological advancements that grew during the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With the advent of machinery and new materials, the wheel under went dramatic changes laying the groundwork for the mechanised industries of today.

Famous Converts Joseph Dutton

Most people, especially most Catholics, have heard of Damien of Molokai, the Catholic priest (and saint) who worked on a leper colony in Hawaii for sixteen years, eventually contracting the disease himself. But how many people have heard of his assistant, Joseph Dutton, whose own cause for sainthood has recently been opened?

Known as “Brother Dutton” (although he was never a professed member of any order), this fascinat- ing man spent forty four years on Molokai exactly half his life, since he died at the age of eighty eight.

But even before he stepped foot on Molokai, “Brother Dutton”” had experienced a most unusual path. He was a highly effective soldier in the American Civil War, being appointed a quartermaster sergeant for the Union ammy at eighteen years of age. After the war, he had the unenviable job of locating the bodies of thousands of the soldiers who had died in that conflict.

He manied a woman who was repeatedly unfaithful to him, who ran up enormous debts, and who eventually left him for another man. After this, he went through a period of alcoholism. When he eventually made his way to Molokai, he did so (in his own words) as a penitent.

In fact, it was his sense of being a penitent that led him to the Catholic Church “I decided that the penitential system of the Catholic Church was best suited to my condition”, he wrote. He had been raised in a rather ambiguous Protestantism, having attended both Baptist and Methodist Sunday schools as a child, but he became a Catholic at the age of forty. He even tried to enter a Trappist monastery, although after twenty months he realized he was made for a life of action rather than a life of contem plation.

He Could Do Anything He was not bom Joseph Dutton. He took the name of Joseph after his conversion to Catholicism. He was bom Ira Dutton in Vermont, in 1843, the son of a prosperous shoe maker. The young Ira was very close to his mother, so much so that he had to be dragged to school at the age of twelve!

He was certainly not lacking in enterprise, however. Ira began to support himself at the same time he began school, working for a news- paper and a bookstore. He was a very active youth, joining many clubs and working as a volunteer firefighter:

When the Civil War began, he enlisted in the Union Amy and proved himself to be a very talented soldier. Although he didn’t experience much combat, he did important work in supplies and logistics. A general described him thus, “The handsomest man I ever met, and one of the bravest and best officers in the Amy. He could do anything.” In one operation, the young Ira was in charge of “about two thousand teams and wagons, and perhaps five thousand horses and mules”. As well as his competence, he was noted for his agree able nature.

From Marriage To Ministry

Ira met his wife, a woman from Ohio, before the end of the war. She had a bad reputation, and many of his friends tried to wam him against the maniage. Dutton was oblivious, however, saying: “If she does have the faults you mention, I will make her better”. This optimism was illfounded, and after about a year of mariage, Ira’s wife left for New York with another man He sent her money and pleaded with her to come back. After fourteen years, he finally sued for a divorce.

After the war, Ira was employed by the Amy in locating the graves of dead Union soldiers, He esti- mated that he examined about six thousand corpses at this time. Following this, he spent five years doing clerical work for a railway company, then another eight years back working for the Amy, inves tigating claims of damages against citizens during the war. During these years, he was based in Mem phis, Tennessee.

At this period of his life, Dutton succumbed to alcoholism for some seven years, partly due to the pres- sure of paying off his wife’s debts. But he took a pledge of abstinence on Independence Day, 1876, and never drank again. Although he admitted that his alcoholism had never harmed anyone but himself, Ira felt an enduring sense of guilt. This guilt was much of the motiva tion for a spiritual journey he embarked upon at this time, visiting different churches to compare their teachings. He finally settled on the Catholic faith. “After a daily study of the Catechism for a month at St. Peter’s Church, Memphis”, he wrote, “I was received into the Church on my fortieth birthday, April 27, 1883.”

After spending twenty months in the Trappist monastery of Gethsemane, Kentucky, Joseph (as he was now known) read about Father Damien’s work with lepers and offered his services. He was Father Damien’s companion for the last three years of the saint’s life. Although their temperaments were very different (Damien was impatient and often brusque, while Joseph was methodical and extraordinarily placid), the two men became close friends. “There was love between us”, Joseph recalled.

Joseph Dutton remained on the island of Molokai for the rest of his life. His work on the island became so celebrated that he received a per- sonal letter of admiration from US President Warren Harding, among many other tributes. But he remained a humble man, whose fav- ourite work was cleaning the sores of those suffering from leprosy. He died in 1931.

Redeeming The Family Tree

Saint Joseph had every right in world to boast about his family tree. He could trace his lin eage directly to Abraham, the ‘father of many nations’ (Genesis 17:5), and even further to Adam. Both Saints Matthew and Saint Luke show that God’s favoured blood ran through Joseph’s veins. Joseph could claim regal authority from his ancestor David, to whom God promised a kingdom that would be ‘made sure for ever’ (2 Samuel 7:16). Joseph could also daim divine wisdom from his fore father Solomon, to whom God gave ‘wisdom and understanding beyond measure’ (1 Kings 4:29). In an era that divinised the Davidic line, Saint Joseph could boast of himself as the renowned offspring of Israel’s most illustrious ances try, glowing as the light of its Patriarchs before first-century Israelites.

Despite these daims to fame, Joseph most patently knew better than to boast about his stock; Joseph the faithful must have surely been scandalised by his predecessors’ sins. Did not Amon promote idolatry and encourage pagan- ism throughout Judah? For all of Solomon’s wisdom, wealth, and piety, he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines’ (1 Kings 11:3), whilst king David before his conversion committed adultery and murder. If Joseph were to examine the lives of those who comprised his family tree, then he would quickly discover that he was the final offspring in a dynasty of liars, cheats, thieves, slavers, idolaters, blasphemers, fomicators, adulterers, and murderers. According to God’s dispensation, however, it was into this man’s prudent care that God the Father would send his Son to ‘save his people from their sins’ and redeem, along with the whole human race, Joseph’s own sinful, but Messianic, family tree (Matthew 1:21).

Ancestral Sin

We know that when Joseph leamt that his spouse was pregnant with the ‘child of the Holy Spirit,’ he resolved to ‘send her away quiet ly.’ Plagued by his familial history, he perhaps ‘considered that the sins of his ancestors were now coming to haunt him (Matthew 1:18 20). Joseph surely remembered God’s promise that the ‘iniquity of the fathers would be dealt ‘upon the children’ for successive genera tions to come (Exodus 20:5).

But Joseph could also draw an important distinction: although God had punished all of Judah on account of one king’s transgressions (such as kings Amon and Manasseh), those Judeans could not surely be culpable of their kings’ sins; rather, they could only suffer the consequences of sin. Joseph knew how his father David had poetically penned that humanity was ‘conceived in iniquities’ (Psalm 50:7). Saint Joseph could see the effects of original sin through- out human history from the time of Adam, his first forefather. Keeping everything in mind, then, Joseph the valiant certainly consoled him- self with God’s words spoken through the prophet Ezekiel that the just and sinless son ‘shall surely live,’ and not incur the guilt and culpability of his father’s fault (Ezekiel 18:19).

Indeed, Joseph was a ‘just man’ and, as proven by his next course of action, he quietly chose life. The Bethlehemite and model craftsman esteemed the world’s salvation as greater than any sin his forefathers committed. Comforted by an angel and confident in his own diligent behaviour before God, Joseph ‘took his wife’ in hopeful obedience, and he lived a most chaste life in Nazareth (Matthew 1:19, 24).

The Josephine tree of grace When Joseph consented to the angel’s wish, he counted his Adamic and Abrahamic family tree as less than the spiritual tree that his foster Son would plant through grace: ‘Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven,’ the Lord exclaimed, ‘is my brother, and sis- ter, and mother (Matthew 12:50). It was by being grafted onto Christ’s divine family tree that Joseph thus won his own salvation and redeemed his spotted bloodline; two gracious consequences of his own righteous deeds in following the heavenly Father’s providential plan.

By following the commands of the Father in our own life and by faithfully fulfilling his designs that he has for us, Christ grafts us onto himself as branches are grafted to the olive tree. If we, the branches, remain in Christ’s holiness and grace, then we shall be holy, since Christ the ‘root is holy’ (Romans 11:16). If we chose to cut ourselves from Christ’s bloodline of the heart through sin, then we will have cut ourselves from Christ’s ancestral tree and condemn ourselves according to the flesh. The Jews had done so, Saint Paul wamed the gentiles, and God had ‘broken [them] off, because of their unbelief’ in Christ Jesus as his Son (Romans 11:20).

Our pedigree is that of Christ’s grace through baptism As such, we do not ‘occupy [ourselves] with myths and endless pedigrees’ that brood over our ancestors’ sins or prove our fleshly familial worth over another (1 Timothy 1:4). Saint Joseph did not occupy himself with such vanities; instead, he chose to strive after his own salvation by virtuously managing his own thoughts, words, and deeds as pillar of the Holy Family. In doing so, he secured the world’s salvation and silently nourished the soil in which Christ Jesus would plant his own family tree of everlasting life. For Christ’s family tree is the only lineage which promises the inheritance of God the Father’s heavenly kingdom to all of us who are chosen through grace to be counted among its etemal progeny.

The Crimean War

Marie Therese Cryan

The Crimean War, (1853-1856) is remembered for the heroic work of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modem nursing, as well as the setting for the famous poem of Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade’. This effectively depicts the bravery of a British cavalry unit that suffered homific casualties when it made an illadvised attack on a heavily defended enemy position.

The war, which is seen in many ways as one of the first truly modem wars, was fought between an uneasy alliance of the forces of Britain, France, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire against the Russian Empire. While seemingly a religious dispute, the war’s roots lay in deeper geopolitical tensions and a clash of imperial ambitions.

The immediate cause stemmed from a centuries-old conflict: the “Eastem Question.” This referred to the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the scramble for influence in the Balkans and the Middle East. Russia, with its large Orthodox Christian population, saw itself as the protector of Orth- odox Christians within the Ottoman Empire. This led to a dispute over control of holy sites in Jerusalem, particularly the Church of the Nativity.

In 1853, after a series of diplo- matic manoeuvres and ultimatums, Russia demanded special rights for Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman Empire. When the Turkish Sultan, Abdulmecid I refused, Russia invaded. This move, how ever, was not merely about religious rights. It was a strategy designed to expand Russian influence in the Black Sea and gain access to the Mediterranean.

A Wider Conflict

The Crimean War quickly escalated beyond a local conflict. Fearing that the Tsar was looking to dismantle the Ottoman Empire a weak regime he called the “sick man of Europe” Britain and France cast their lot with the Turks and declared war on Russia. They viewed Russia as a threat to the balance of power in Europe and sought to contain its ambitions. The French who still re membered Napoleon’s defeat by the Russians, also saw a chance to take revenge. Sardinia-Piedmont, eager to gain recogni- tion as a major European power,
also joined the alliance.

The war was fought primarily on the Crimean Peninsula in southem Russia, with key battles at Sevastopol and Balaklava. The conflict was marked by logistical challenges, disease, and high casualties on both sides.

While most of the war’s most famous battles would eventually take place in Crimea, naval actions and intermittent fighting also erupted in such farflung places as the Cau casus, the Black Sea, the Baltic and the White Seaon the Northwest coast of Russia In August 1854, French and British Forces even launched an unsuccessful attack on Petropav lovsk, a port city on Russia’s Pacific coastline near Siberia.

Consequences Of War

The Crimean War had lasting consequences for the region and the world. It fuelled nationalist sentiments across Europe, particularly in the Balkans, where various ethnic groups sought independence from Ottoman rule. The weakening of Russia allowed for the rise of other powers in the Balkans, ultimately leading to the Balkan Wars and the creation of new nation-states. The war contributed to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, paving the way for its eventual collapse.

The Allies were the ultimate victors when the fighting ended on March 30th, 1856. Russia had suffered significant military and economic losses. The war exposed weaknesses in its military and administrative systems, hindering its expansionist ambitions.

Her shock defeat forced Russia to adopt a programme of sweeping internal reforms and industrialisation under Tsar Alexander II who came to the throne in early 1855. Elsewhere, Russia’s de feat facilitated the unification of Germany under Prussian control. While France became the dominant military land power in Europe, this was a temporary situation and one that Prussia (Germany) over tumed in 1870-1871.

The Crimean War laid the foundations for two new nation states Italy and Germany – states that would be united and secured in short, limited conflicts. The new six-power European system proved less stable than its predecessor, while the expectation that political and diplomatic aims could be satisfied by war led the states to adopt even closer alliances.

A New Era

The war spurred advancements in military medicine, with figures like Florence Nightingale pioneering new nursing practices. It also saw the introduction of new technologies, such as rifled muskets and exploding naval shells. For the first time soldiers used rifles that were mass produced in factories and landed on coastlines in armoured assault vessels. British and French forces communicated between the Crimea and headquarters in Paris via tele graph lines and built railroad lines to transport supplies and ammunition. None of these had existed during the Napoleonic Wars.

Thanks to new technologies such as the steamship and the electric telegraph, the Crimean War was also the first major conflict where civilian joumalists sent dis- patches from the battlefield.

Leo Tolstoy spent several months serving in defence of the city of Sevastopol as an artillery officer, and was one of the last people to evacuate during its fall on September 9, 1855 which also happened to be his 27th birthday.

In between skirmishes and bom bardments, the young writer penned a series of unflinching accounts of the siege that were published under the title “Sevastopol Sketches.” Though partially censored by the govemment, the gritty despatches gave readers a first hand glimpse of the horrors of combat, and their popularity helped vault Tolstoy to literary stardom after the war ended. A decade later, the great author would once again draw on his Crimean War experiences while writing one of his most famous works the epic novel, War and Peace.

The Cloister Garden

Frater Fiachra

The Common Wallflower

The common wallflower, erysimum cheiri is not the most glamorous of garden plants and when we say ‘wallflower’ we are inclined to think of shy people who shrink from social gatherings and away from crowds. But we have all been wall flowers at some point in life, so perhaps now is the time to give these delightful plants a second look.

A true wallflower is an old world perennial herb of the genus Cheri- ranthus. The synonym Cheiranthus, meaning hand flower, is a more fitting name, as it was used in ‘nose gays’, small hand held bouquets of fragrant flowers, held close to the nose to mask unwholesome odours inmedieval city streets. These bright, dustered flowers often take root in the cracks and gaps of walls. When mature and flowering, they look like they are growing out of the wall, hence their name.

A native of Southem Europe, the wallflower has been cultivated in European gardens since at least medieval times and probably long be fore, its first record as a wild plant dates from 1548. A medieval gardener and botanist around the time of Chaucer, Fr Henry Daniel, O.P. knew wallflowers well, describing them in one of his manuscripts as ‘fayre and yelwe’. The first wall flower seeds are said to have anived in the British Isles with the movement of Caen limestone that William the Conqueror imported from Normandy to build his castles.

The first Irish wallflowers are probably the direct descendants of these ancient plants growing from seed scattered by birds crossing the Irish sea from some medieval parent plant, blooming in a comer of a cloistered monastic garden in Britain, or perhaps even from a Roman villa courtyard We could even imagine the seeds hitchhiking on some monk or cleric’s habit as he travelled back to Ireland from Rome.

One old Scottish legend tells of a beautiful maiden, who fell to her death from a castle where she was imprisoned. Where the maiden’s fair body was gashed on the walls the wallflower appeared to comfort her beloved below in his bereavement. The wallflower is known therefore by traditional herbalists as ‘Heart’s Ease’ for an infusion made from the flowers is said to relieve headaches and broken hearts.

One of the pleasures of being out and about in March is looking out for the glorious flashes of their yellow and orange flowers which are sweet smelling and a magnet for bees and other insects.

Once they settle, they hang on for years, getting scrawnier with each succeeding season, like most of us humans but they send seedlings to colonise other places, even rooftops, walls or footpaths, Fortunately, cuttings root easily.

They were traditionally associated as a backing group for tulips, as part of the colourful show in the spring border. Plus, their masses aid the support of tulip stalks and shelter them in the winds. All of us are wallflowers at times in life; we feel forgotten or cling to a wall unwanted; we fear taking risks or live with the memory of missed opportunities. When asked, “Are you happy?” many people respond with the same two answers, “Yes, but…” and “I’ll be happy when…”

There’s always a caveat, a condition, one more thing that could hap- pen to make that person truly happy. By projecting the achievement of our true happiness into a certain unknown point in the future based on the realization of a certain condition, also in the future, we are denying the existence of it in our present moment.

True happiness exists right now. It’s here, while you’re reading these words. It’s real, in this moment. Inside, where it matters. Perhaps when you look on the marvel of a wallflower this spring, clinging to a wall, unwanted and not among the other flowers, remember this, the wallflower is the first of flowers to brighten a winter garden with its magnificent colours, and the wafts of scent no rose or violet could ever achieve. We all have our colour even when stuck up against the many walls of life, and we all have our place in the garden of God.

Lorica Of St Patrick

I bind to myself this day, The strong virtue of the invocation of The Most Holy Trinity, The virtue of The Most Holy Trinity in unity, The Creator of the elements.

I bind to myself this day, The power of the Incarnation of Christ and His Baptism, The power of His Crucifixion with His Burial, The power of His Resurrection with His Ascension, The power of His Coming to the sentence of the judgment.

I bind to myself this day, The power in the love of the seraphim, In the obedience of angels, In the hope of resurrection unto reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In the predictions of prophets, In the preaching of apostles, In the faith of confessors, In the purity of virgins, In the deeds of holy men.

I bind to myself this day, The Power of God to guide me, The Might of God to uphold me, The Wisdom of God to teach me, The Eye of God to watch over me, The Ear of God to hear me, The Word of God to give me speech, The Hand of God to protect me, The Way of God to lie before me, The Shield of God to shelter me, The Host of God to defend me, Against the snares of demons, Against the temptations of vices, Against the lusts of nature, Against every man that meditates injury to me,

Whether far or near, Whether alone or with many. I have invoked all these virtues, Against every hostile, savage power warring upon my body and my soul, Against the enchantments of false prophets, Against the black laws of heathenism, Against the false laws of heresy, Against the deceits of idolatry, Against the spells of witches, magicians, and druids, Against all knowledge which binds the soul of men.

Christ protect me this day, Against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, That I May receive abundant reward. Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ be after me, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself this day, The strong virtue of the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, The virtue of the Most Holy Trinity in unity, The creator of the elements, Salvation is The Lord’s, Salvation is from Christ, Thy salvation, O Lord, be with us for ever. Amen.

The Angels

Innumerable passages of Holy Scripture clearly speak of the existence and the protection of the holy Angels. In the Book of Exod us (23:20-22) God promises to Moses the protection of an Angel in the wildemess, saying, “Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place I have prepared. Take notice of him and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be con- temned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him. But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.” This is a text applicable to ourselves as we joumey through the wildemess of the world on the way to our heavenly home.

The patriarch Jacob commended his grandsons to the protection of his holy Angel, “The Angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys.” (Gen. 48;15-16). King David frequently mentions the faithful protection of the holy An- gels in his Psalms. In beautiful words full of comfort and hope he says of each one of us, “He hath given his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone,” (Ps. (90: 11-12).

Similarly, the Scriptures of the new Testament contain many references to the holy Angels. Jesus himself said to his disciples, “See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my father who is in heaven.”

St Paul frequently refers to them in his Epistles. When threatened with shipwreck, he encouraged his fellow travellers with the promise that there would be no loss of life among them, saying, “For an Angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, stood by me this night, saying, “Fear not, Paul… God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” (Acts 27:23-24).

The teaching of the Church about the Angels is most beautiful and consoling and yet many Christians seldom think about the Angel world and have only scant knowledge of same. It is very different in the case of the Saints. There are countless books about them which are constantly revised. There are also pictures of all sizes, large and small which feature these holy men and women, which we hang on our walls, place upon our desks at work or slip between the pages of our prayer books. We thus live, as it were, in the presence and company of the Saints.

However, pictures of the Angels are few and to a certain extent misleading because the Angel is very often represented as guiding little children. This should not fool us into regarding them as cute, or cuddly when they are in fact quite fearsome and formidable.

An Angel For All Catholic tradition has affirmed that God gave each human person a Guardian Angel to accompany him/her through life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (336) says that “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by [angelic] watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an Angel as a protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

Some people might think this tradition “childish”, but we need to remember that Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children (Matt. 19:14) and that un- less you become like one you won’t enter it (18:3). The idea that God surrounds people with spiritual support, with guardian angels is not just a nice pious thought, or a childish projection.

God wants our salvation even more than we do and knows what we are up against. Ephesians 6:10 makes clear that the fight for salvation is a cosmic one, involving “spiritual forces (fallen angels) that control evil.” Since they are intelligent creatures with freedom, angels have the capacity to reject God as do we. Those angels which have rejected God are portrayed as demons in league with Satan. To those who dismiss the guardian angels as childish let us point out the following truths. We live in a world in which so many people are dying of loneliness, who feel alone and abandoned. So many others are even tempted to suicide. Awareness of our guardian angel should give us the comfort to realize that we are not alone, that we have a shepherd, guide, coach and friend who sees our struggle, shares our cross and does not leave our side. Why then would you not talk to such a person, even when that talk is through the medium of prayer remembered from your youth.

A Branch And A Star

Dom Aelred Magee ocso

The branch from Jesse’s root has blossomed, the star has risen out of Jacob, for the Virgin has brought forth the Saviour. God of ours, we praise you!

The antiphon in honour of Our Lady which Cistercians sing at the hour of Sext is a beautifully balanced lyric. We might recall, in the first place, that Sext is the sixth hour of the day, calculated by the ancient Romans from dawn (the night was divided up in to watches), and so roughly around about noon. The sixth hour for Christians is forever the hour at which Christ took up his cross and began his ascent to crucifixionavery apt moment to stop and pray!

The Marian antiphon for Sext draws deeply on Old Testament imagery, reaching back into that ancient history when the first way-markings were being put in place to announce the coming of the Messiah. Not read fully at the time, they are received and interpreted completely only with Christ. In his mystery all the pieces finally fall into place and achieve their full meaning. Christ is the key which unlocks every door and allows light to shine in the dark places of ignorance, and Mary is the hand which holds the key out to us.

With the mention of Jesse we are transported back to what will be a defining age for Israel. The people of Israel, getting all too full of themselves, had demanded that the judge Samuel find themaking, “so that they should be like other peoples”. In their dumsy self-centred ness they had forgotten it was their special privilege not to be like other peoples! Who else had the Lord God as their faithful ally! But they were grown tired of that special relationship and wanted to live according to their own desires. The upshot of that unfortunate demand was the first king of Israel, Saul, said by Sacred Scripture to tower head and shoulders above other men. And yet the folly of the adventure with a king would soon be exposed Saul, after a good beginning, would collapse and become a tragedy in himself, piti- ful, divided, crushed by his own jealousies and self doubt.

The Line Of David

Into this scene of abject failure comes Samuel visiting a man called Jesse, among whose sons the Lord God has planted a successor to Saul. Heeding the advice that” God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances, but God looks at the heart”, Samuel passes over seven of Jesse’s sons, choosing instead the youngest who is out with his father’s sheep. David, a mere boy, is anointed with oil and so set apart for the ruling of Israel. And it will be from David’s line, as Son of David, that the Messiah will be revealed.

The curious image of the starrising from Jacob is to be found in the Book of Numbers. The prophet and seer Balaam offers the image as part of his far-seeing declaration about one who will lead Israel to great victories over their enemies I see him but not in the present, I behold him but not close at hand: a star from Jacob takes the leadership, a sceptre arises from Israel.

Of course, the immediate resonance of this prophecy cannot be overlooked it spoke to a struggling wandering, warming rag-tag collection of nomadic tribes who were joumeying from their miser- able slavery in Egypt to a land which they could call their own. They were the sons of Jacob, the descendants divided into twelve tribes, each bearing a name of a son of that patriarch, who himself was called at once Jacob and then Israel after his own life-changing encounter with the Lord.

The word of the Lord which Balaam and others before and after him would hear could not be confined to an historical moment but was simply a seed waiting for growth and blossom- a star about to rise. And in these beautiful images one thing above all remains clear all of Sacred Scripture points towards and finds its fulfilment in the Christ-event, the Lord not simply of Israel and God’s People, but of history.

Perhaps the third phrase of the antiphon leads us to the essential fulfilment of these prophecies, and our only response. God of ours, we praise you! With Mary, in whom these prophecies took flesh, praise becomes incamate. Praise of our God cannot simply be a muttered word, a once-in-a-while gesture: it’s the surrender which makes us say, My soul magnifies the Lord!

The Life Of Saint Martin

Mantin had early recognized that he was suffering from cany on as usual, but this time he that was typhoid fever, and he knew by divine revelation that this illness would be his last. The Holy Spirit, who all during Martin’s long medical career had frequently revealed to him the outcomes of the illnesses of his patients, made known to him now the end of his own illness. When he told Fr John that he had only a little time left the priest’s reaction was one of disbelief. Martin showed no signs of imminent demise and was just as quiet, as serene and as self possessed as ever in spite of his 60 years.

When the rest of the Community heard about the disturbing conversation they were in a state of shock. Each of them waited uneasily to see if the words would come true; after all Brother Martin had been right about so many things in the past.

Near the end of the month Martin was attacked by an acute fever. As was his habit he tried to fight the illness on his feet and to carry on as usaual, but this time he was forced to give way. He took to his ‘bed’ as he called the few rough boards laid on the floor that had served him as a resting place for many years, but daily his condition worsened. He wished to be left as he was but the Prior refused Martin was forced to yield to orders and consent to the comforts normally accorded the sick and to enjoy what had always seemed to him a great luxury. He was brought tenderly to the infirmary, laid in a proper bed and looked after with care and concem.

A slow dawning sense of horror now crept over the Community. They came to visit Martin and when many of them expressed their hope of a speedy recovery he shook his head. The Viceroy of Peru sent his own doctor to attend the patient – it was probably the first time in all the years that had passed since his infancy that Martin permitted anyone to wait upon him.

Now that approaching death meant the end of all desire, what a little thing his whole life seemed to him. How brief his 60 years seemed viewed at the end! And the labours which had filled these years seemed very inconsequential, now that it was time to draw the line and sum them up. So, he used the presence of his brethren around him to make reparation for what seemed to him to have been lacking.

He accused himself of having wasted his life, of having been careless in the service of God. He begged all of them to forgive him for the bad example he had given, and to pray for him. They could not restrain their tears. They were tom between their admiration for such great humility and their own knowledge of his heroic virtues, between their memory of all the good they had received from him and their sorrow over the loss facing them. They were filled with compassion for the man who had been like a father to them.

Dr Francisco Navano, in an attempt to ease the sufferings caused by the fatal fever ordered the application of a poultice made with the blood of freshly killed young roosters. But Martin restrained those who were hastening away to carry out the orders. He knew that relief would ensue but only temporarily and he had no desire to sacrifice the lives of the poor fowl. They gave in to his wishes; this was Martin’s last act of love for animals.

And as in his love for all created things, so also in everything else, Martin in death was what he had been in life. His whole life had been in preparation for death. Now that death was near, there was nothing to change. He did not change anything but concentrated all his energy on being faithful to the end, while his physical forces began to desert him.

Saint Martin Replies

Cork: I found myself in quite a predicament when my window blind collapsed and left me com pletely exposed to the road (I have no garden in front). My land lady was away, and I did not know what to do. It was the week- end and a company I rang said they could not do anything at the present time. I offered a prayer to St Martin and then remembered a small family business who had helped me before. I contacted them and within a half an hour their son came out and fixed everything. St Martin can always be called on for help.
Scotland: Etemal gratitude to St. Martin for always being there for me and my family, especially with health scares. Also, for looking after my nephew when we were worried about him. We are etemally grateful for answers to our requests over the years and for having such a good friend.
Kerry: I want to express my sincere thanks to St Martin among other for keeping us and our property safe during serious storms. At one point my brother became quite ill. I prayed that we could manage without having to seek outside help. Thankfully bar one phone call for advice I was able to cope. The problem was resolved and my brother is well
again.
Leitrim: Please publish my thanks-giving to St Martin for interceding on behalf of my grand- daughter when she was trying to find a job. She was successful; I am also grateful for the intercession of St Pio.
Galway: I want to thank St Martin among others for numerous favours granted particularly for my son whose herd went down with TB, but is now getting back to normal. Thank God for clear test results. My daughter who is rearing her family alone was also helped with repayments. There are others too numerous to mention.
Devoin, England: Please publish my sincere thanks to my best friend St Martin for all he has done for me over the years. I will always support the missions and the poor for his sake.
Dublin: My cat who is mostly a house pet goes out every evening for a ramble for about twenty minutes. However, on this occasion he did not return, and I was very anxious as he is quite timid and there are a number of cats around the area who fight a lot. I prayed to St. Martin to keep him safe. A week to the day he left he came home and was in no way traumatized or injured I believe this was a miracle and that my prayers were heard.
Anon: Grateful thanks to the Sacred Heart, Our Blessed Lady, Saints Martin and Pio for my daughter’s recovery from depression. It has been a long struggle but thank God there is a great improvement. I am continuing to spread devotion to St Martin through your booklet.
Herts., England: Please Publish my thanks to Our Blessed Mother, St. Martin and St Anthony. For 3 years my son has been trying to find a place for our grandson in a school for special needs. That period of time with- out a school was hard work for our son who is a single parent. Thanks to our faith in St Martin and others a Special Needs School was found. Have patience and he will come to your aid.
Co Dublin: Many thanks to St Martin for recent answers to prayers, good health results and also many other favours granted. I look forward to his magazine each month.
Offaly: I wish to give thanks to the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Martin and St Thérèse for many favours received. My daughter passing her driving test the first time and myself recovering from a bad bout of anxiety. I have been praying to St. Martin for over thirty years since my mother first gave me his Novena and Relics. I will continue to ask for his intercession for me and my family.