Seven times a day in St Mary’s Abbey, set in the Blackwater Valley’s lush countryside, the Cistercian Sisters gather in their church to pray.

They attend Mass daily and also devote several hours a day to the Lectico Divina, their traditional practice of Scriptural reading, meditation and prayer.

Rising at 6 am and devoting a large part of their day to prayer as well as fitting in household duties and the work needed to generate an income makes for a long day. “It takes discipline” Abbess Mother Marie Fahy agrees.

The famous abbey in Glencairn, Lismore, has been home to Ireland’s only Cistercian monastery since 1932.

The sisters are engaged in several enterprises to generate income to support daily living costs. They farm in partnership with the monks of nearby Mount Melleray, raising calves from six weeks old for Mount Melleray’s dairy herd. They grow some crops, have a garden and orchard. They recently started growing miscanthus, a type of sub-tropical perennial grass, to burn for heat, to cut down on the expense of heating the abbey.

They make and supply Eucharist bread, white and brown, to churches, monasteries and other places all over Ireland and to some in England too. They produce a range of greeting cards for all occasions, make wedding invitations and have their own range of Christmas cards.

Their income doesn’t however provide for the major works required on their beloved home. The famous abbey, which dates back to the early 17th century, is in need of building repairs and upgrading. “It’s been renovated and redone over the years, bits were added every century,” Mother Marie explains.

A fundraising campaign has been underway and is continuing, to generate the money needed for the repairs. As a listed building, the sisters are, for example, obliged to repair rather than replace the windows and must follow other strict criteria in refurbishing. “It’ll be worth it,” Mother Marie says.

They received planning permission to upgrade the accommodation wing in the abbey enclosure, construct a new facility for their expanding greeting card business and to improve fire safety, accessibility and general services to the monastery buildings.

They’ve also received planning permission for the refurbishment of their monastery guesthouse and for the provision of a new visitors centre but that’ll have to remain on the back burner for a while as the more urgent works take precedence from the monies raised. They are now ready to begin phase one of the building project.

The guesthouse currently has provision for three visitors. “We’d love to have more,” Mother Marie says. There is great demand, she believes, for such a place for people to come and be able to spend quiet time in simple surroundings in reflection, meditation and prayer.

St Mary’s Abbey is home to over 30 sisters. Two are out at present, working in nursing homes, another is working abroad. A much loved long time resident, Sr Claire, died recently. Their newest sisters come from Cork and Dublin. They hold vocations weekend three to four times a year.

Asked what qualities are needed to become a good sister, Mother Marie says “What makes for a good marriage. It’s the same here; it’s how you relate to others.” Living daily life in close contact with the other sisters requires give and take and consideration. Those entering come initially for a six-month period after which time they return home to their families to reflect. If they decide to continue they return for two and a half years, renewing their vows every year for three years. After that there’s the profession of their solemn vows.

Families are encouraged to visit the sisters in St. Mary’s, they are also allowed to return home particularly for special occasions or if a parent or family member is ill.

Mother Marie, who has been Abbess since 2001 and is currently serving her third six-year term, having been re-elected earlier this year, has seen many sisters join over the years and can now tell, if the new entrant is suited to the life and will stay. It’s nothing to do with a crisis of faith, she says, that’s something she’s never witnessed, but rather difficulty living the cloistered life. Theirs is a life of prayer, work and study of the Lectico Divina, balancing monastic solitude and silence with living as a community in close quarters.

St. Mary’s enjoys tremendous goodwill from the people of the region. They value the sisters hospitality and outreach work and support their authentic life of prayer. “We are so grateful for all the support we receive. We feel we have a place in the community,” Mother Marie says. That is fostered by the sisters opening their church to the public to come to Mass, Benediction and prayer services.

There was very tangible evidence of that support recently, at two very successful fundraisers. The first was a concert of sacred song and music in the church in nearby Tallow which featured renowned singers Noirin Ni Rinn and Liam Lawton as well as local singers and a choir of schoolchildren from Scoil Mhuire. Over 300 people attended.

A cookery demonstration with celebrity chef Neven Maguire at the Park Hotel in Dungarvan was similarly well supported. During the interval the Cistercian sisters gave a recital of Christmas carols. There were artisan stands for those who attended to browse and the evening finished off with an auction and a raffle for the abundance of prizes kindly donated by local businesses and artists.

Both events gave the abbey’s building project a welcome boost.

Anyone who’d like to learn more about the life of the sisters at St Mary’s Abbey will get a chance to do so when they are featured in a programme in the ‘Would You Believe’ series on RTE which will be broadcast on Easter Sunday.

If you wish to support the St Mary’s Abbey building project, helping to sustain the future Cistercian monastic life for women in Ireland, you can make a donation via PayPal by visiting www.glencairnabbey.org or donations can be made through Bank of Ireland, Lismore, Co Waterford. The St Mary’s Building Fund account number is 72511504 and the sort code is 90-60-80. All support is greatly appreciated.

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