20th Anniversary of our Foundation, Feast of St Alphonsus, 2008

Feast of St. Alphonsus, 2 August 1988

Monastery of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary

Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England

"In the Congregation each subject must live solely for eternity. Oh, how happy shall we be if we spend these few short days wholly for God! And he is specially called to do this who, perhaps has already given a good part of his life to the world. Let us keep eternity before our eyes, and we shall suffer every thing in peace and gladness. Let us thank God for giving us so much light, and so many means of loving Him perfectly, and for having chosen us, from the midst of so many others, to belong entirely to Himself in this Congregation by giving us the gift of his holy love. And let us make haste to advance in virtue, in order to please Him, with the thought that, perhaps as St. Teresa said to her daughters, we have already got over the chief difficulty in the way of becoming saints when we turned our back upon the world and all its good: that which is less difficult remains for us to accomplish and then we shall be saints. I am certain that Jesus has prepared a beautiful place in Paradise for those who die in the Congregation. In this world we shall be poor, despised, and looked upon as fools and imprudent persons; but in the next our lot will be far different.

Let us continually recommend ourselves to our most loving Redeemer, hidden in the most Blessed Sacrament, and to the Blessed Virgin; for the members of the Congregation are obliged to have a most special love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and for the Immaculate Mary. Let us have great confidence. Jesus Christ has chosen us to be the great ones of His court: a certain proof of this is the protection which He gives to the Congregation, and to every member of it: Dominus illumination mea et salus mea: quem timebo? (Ps. xxvi. 1)."

From The True Redemptorist

by Our Holy Father St. Alphonsus,

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Old Community Photos From 20 Years Ago

Outside the Monastery Chapel, Sheppey,

After the first Clothing Ceremony on 22 August 1988

Formal Photo after the Clothing

Fr. Michael Mary and Fr. Anthony Mary, the first novice

"At the Refectory Fire", Br. John the Baptist, our second novice, clothed October 16 1988, now, Rev. Fr. Dom Christopher Andrews, O.S.B. "At the Clothes Line" Novice Reverend Father Anthony Mary, F.SS.R.

"In Our First Kitchen"

Br. Gerard Maria our third novice, clothed 16 October, 1988, cooks the dinner

"... Perfect Thy work, O Lord and for Thy glory make us all Thine own; so that all the members of this Congregation, even to the day of judgement, may continue to please Thee perfectly, and to gain for Thee a countless number of souls. Amen, amen."

(Ibid.)