St Alphonsus High and Dry

On the eve of the feast of our Holy Father St Alphonsus the time and tide are just right to easily remove the Monastery barge, St Alphonsus, from the water in order to undergo some maintenance.

The trailer having been rolled down the slipway and under the St Alphonsus, both are slowly pulled back up the slipway.

 

 Whilest each tractor individually has the pulling power to do the job, they do not have the traction to pull the St Alphonsus's 20-plus tonnes, so the wheels spin.

 

 With both pulling in tandem, however, the objective is easily accomplished.

 Br Romuald checks with Fr Magdala if this is far enough.

Using a powerful jack, the vessel is lifted off the trailer.

Each pull of the lever lifts the St Alphonsus's bulk only a few millimetres, but by this an enormous weight is lifted with little effort.

With the weight lifted off the wheels by the jack, Fr Magdala and Br Edmund bring more blocks to place underneath.  The St Alphonsus is not sitting quite correctly on the trailer.  With the weight lifted, the trailer can be repositioned.

The trailer having been repositioned, Brother moves the slightly precarious support-blocks at the back of the boat further forward so that they are lifting both the boat and the trailer off the ground.

 

 The aim is to ensure that the massive weight of the boat is not resting on the wheels for longer than it needs to, in order to prevent damage to them.

Done.  The St Alphonsus and its trailer are held securely, just slightly above the ground.

We wish a very happy feast of St Alphonsus

to one and all!

Behold the birds of the air...

Fear not therefore: better are you than many sparrows. Matt. 10:31

This evening this small bird flew through an open window into the chapel.  After Night Prayer, Fr Magdala Maria managed to catch it, and bring it outside.  For a while it seemed content simply to sit on his thumb!

The Longest Day

Some photos of the second longest day of the year.

Sunset on Papa Stronsay:10:28 p.m.

Sunrise on Papa Stronsay: 3:58 a.m.

Although the sun does drop below the horizon for almost five and a half hours, we do not experience full darkness at this time of year.  You can see on the graph here that we do not have night, properly so called (true darkness), from the 24th April to the 18th August.  However, these dates would only apply when the sky was not overcast.

Replenishing the Stores

During the Summer months on Papa Stronsay we have the opportunity to take our little boat out to sea to catch fish to put in the freezer for the following months.  Some years are better than others.  This year, on the 4th July we took advantage of the fine weather and set out. On the way out, we prayed the Rosary and asked Our Lady to lead us to the fish.Having invoked Our Lady and had two Orca sightings, we were confident of a catch.

 We were not disappointed! We caught plenty of Mackerel...

 ...and cod.

 Br Edmund Maria brings Mackerel aboard.

 A puffin.

Sheep venturing close to the edge.

On the return journey we cleaned the 102 fish we had caught, providing a meal for the seagulls too!

 

Thanks be to God for His provident care, providing us with such food on our doorstep.

Happy New Year — Saving a Seal

Life on a small island can often be very interesting.  For example: Who expects that stepping outside their front door, they would find a seal sitting on their doorstep?  Well here on Papa Stronsay, that's exactly what happened.  Leaving my cell in the middle of the morning, I was confronted with a fairly large adolescent seal on the pathway which forms the small street between our monastic cells, called the Via Paparum!

The question was how to move it?  Seals can be quite aggressive when cornered and have the nickname "sea dogs".  This one was not interested in going back to its home, and we certainly couldn't have it staying too long in the Monastery!

With some of the brethren, a plan was formulated.

We put a blanket over the seal — which as you can see, it was not keen on — to stop it from being able to bite us.  It had a mouth full of very small, very sharp teeth.

Then, we took an old canvas mail sack which was cut down one side, and placed it over the seal, with its snout into the undamaged corner of the sack.

With some difficulty, the seal was put onto a sheep hurdle and transported back to the sea.

It was a great adventure!  For a light-hearted look at our experience, do watch the video below:


We wish you all a happy New Year!

The Advent Bells

If Advent, or the month before Christmas, is a season of fasting, so, after a kind, is it of gladness too.  Alleluia, that word of ghostly joy, is sung forth at Mass; at Matins, the invitatory chanted contains this exhortation:
Regem venturum Dominum, venite adoremus
The Lord, the King who is about to come, come let us adore.

In past centuries, as now, high personages, especially the sovereign, on nearing the town to be honoured by their presence, were greeted with a festive peal from the church bells. Knowing that after a spiritual way, the King of kings is then about to come in the flesh to see and save sinners, our fathers thought it well to do out of reverence from Him not less than they did towards the princes of this world.  Hence, upon most evenings for those four weeks, this land used to be all astir, not with sad, but joyful sounds; and the bells in every church steeple swung forth their peals of gladsomeness for hours through the damp cold darkness of the night, with the tidings that the celebration of Christ's first visit to us in the flesh was drawing near.  In many a place throughout our land, the Advent bells are yet rung, but the meaning of the custom is forgotten. — cf. Daniel Rock, DD, The Church of Our Fathers, Vol III, p. 293-294.

Following in the tradition of our fathers, on Papa Stronsay the Advent bells ring forth for half an hour every night of the novena of Christmas, joyfully proclaiming the imminent arrival of our King amongst us!

"The bells...swung forth their peals of gladsomeness...through the damp cold darkness of the night, with the tidings that the celebration of Christ's first visit to us in the flesh was drawing near."

Br Felix and Br Edmund ringing the Advent bells.

A Fresh day

A Fresh day in Orkney:

Growing Well Despite the Weather

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer wish you all a very happy feast of St Alphonsus!

This year we have had a poor summer in Orkney. But on Papa Stronsay the greenhouse, although a little slowed by the lack of sun, is continuing to produce wonders.

The Holy Angels have arranged for some good weather for St Alphonsus' feast day.
The greenhouse on Papa Stronsay.

Br Alfonso Maria, F.SS.R.has been the labourer in the greenhouse this year, and he has kept the community supplied with fresh lettuce every day.

Juicy peaches!

The tomatoes have missed the sun the most.  They are in flower now, an we hope they will get enough sun to ripen.

Cabbages and apricots.

The Kiwifruit are starting to form nicely.  They won't be ready till later on in the year though.

"Our Lady's Garden": the statue of Our Lady stands in the centre of the greenhouse.
Br Alfonso is growing various kinds of kale.  One variety can be seen here between the cabbage and the tomatoes.

The beetroot are not too far from being ready to harvest.

Also growing at the moment, although not ready to harvest, are pears, apples, plums, nectarines, raspberries, figs, grapes and other things besides.  The cherries have already passed.  They were delicious, but smaller than in  past years — probably due to lack of sun.

Thanks be to God for His wonderful providence towards us, his children.

A Sign for the Isle

Papa Stronsay now proudly displays its own sign!  Under the Papa Stronsay Arms can be read the three ancient names of Papa Stronsay:
Papey Minni.
Papey Minor.
Papey in Litla.

A Great sight as you approach the Papa Stronsay Pier!

Very Rev Fr. Michael Mary and the brothers erect the new sign on the pier wall.

Fr. Magdala Maria handles the drill and is assisted by Br Alfonso Maria and Very Rev Fr Michael Mary.

Stronsay Pier View

Today marks the longest day in the year.  Here as I write, it is wet and foggy, but if the skies were clear one could watch the sun make its slow descent through the evening, and finally hide itself below the horizon at about 10:26pm.

Midsummer's night sunset 2012 on Papa Stronsay (more photos here)

By the time midnight came around, one could still read a book outside without too much difficulty.

Midsummer's night midnight 2012 on Papa Stronsay (more photos here)

The winter brings with it the excitement of storms and rough seas!  If you missed it we took some great footage of a winter storm back in 2013:

But wouldn't it be interesting and exciting to be able to view these events yourselves, live as they happen, wherever you are in the world?

Today we have begun to stream Stronsay Pier View over the internet.  It works much like the many other live stream cameras which can be found online, allowing you to view the Stronsay pier in almost-real-time.

This idea was first conceived as a tool for the inhabitants of Stronsay.  It allows us to easily see what the weather and sea condition is at the harbour or whether-or-not the ferry is on time.

I have just started the stream, which can be viewed on this post, on the sidebar of our blog, and eventually on our website too.  We are currently using Ustream.tv to stream the video, so you can also view it directly on our Ustream channel here.

The Stronsay Pier View stream.

In His Great Goodness

God in His great goodness

 through the prayers of Our Lady and St Joseph

 has given Holland Farm in Stronsay

 into our possession. 

We give Him our humble thanks

 that such a great gift should be added

 to our monastery in Papa Stronsay. 

We also offer our loving thanksgiving to Our Lady, Most Holy Mary,

 who never ceases to watch over Her children's 

spiritual and financial necessities. 

Countless are the times that She has prayed for us

 and we have experienced so many miracles

 as a result of Her prayers. 

If all men and women would accept Holy Mary as their Mother

 how happy the world would be! 

She is always looking out for us and Her prayers to God

 in our behalf are always heard, even with miracles. 

This is the reason that through the centuries Her countless children

 have given Her so many loving titles such as:

Star of the Sea

Mother of Perpetual Succour

Flower of Carmel

Mother Most Loving

Refuge of Sinners

Mother of the Afflicted and so very many more.

Her titles are humble expressions of love from Her grateful children.

Today we too publicly offer our humble thanks to so loving a Mother. 

To God alone be all Glory!

Our Thanksgiving is offered  to Jesus through Mary.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

Rector Major

Holland Farm, Stronsay

Spring is in the air

It feels like spring is finally upon us, what with the calm wind, the sunshine and God's creatures rearing their young.  Two calves and two goslings have come to join us on Papa Stronsay so far.  We hope that by God's grace there will be plenty more to come as the spring weeks roll onwards into summer.

 This calf is two days old.  It always amazes me how fast they are up and going!

 The goslings are one and two days old.

 Despite their small size, the new arrivals have quickly made themselves a part of the group!

A dairy calf.  She is a few weeks old now and is growing up fast.

Black-headed Gulls nesting in the irises.

A Welcome Visit from Fr Hunwicke

For several years we have been friends with Fr John Hunwicke. That he might consider travelling to us all the way from Oxford, considering the fall he had when in Rome in 2012, seemed almost too much to expect. But to our delight we were privileged to welcome him to Papa Stronsay last week, where for four days he gave us conferences on the holy Liturgy: the Sarum rite, the missal of Stowe, and the history of Papal Anglicanism culminating in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham during the reign of Pope Benedict XVI. 

Of course we did not simply receive conferences; there is nothing like having a friend to stay; it was super! And yes of course, we are hoping he will return again. 

 Fr Hunwicke's lively and engaging deliveries!
Every word clearly articulated and set to make its mark.

 One afternoon during his visit some of the brethren accompanied Father on a walk around the island.

Father has a keen interest in early monastic archaeology.

 Father examining the ruins of the 11th century chapel of St Nicholas on Papa Stronsay
which is built over an earlier one from the 7th century.

Again in the ruins of St Nicholas's chapel.

The neighbouring island of Stronsay in the background.

Not an easy walk along the beach on the eastern side of Papa Stronsay.

Our Desert in the Pathless Sea.

In Father's Mutual Enrichment blog
 he wrote about his time with us.

Many thanks Father for coming all this way!
Wonderful days!
Haste ye back!