Sod turning ceremony for new monastic church in Stamullen
THE Most Rev’d Dr Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, inaugurated the construction of a new monastic church at Silverstream Priory in Stamullen.
Bishop Smith was first to turn the sod, followed by Dom Mark Kirby, OSB, Prior of Silverstream, Mrs Ann Corcoran of Dublin, Dom Elijah Carroll, OSB, and Adrian Buckley of Buckley Partnership Architects.
Neil Martin Construction & Project Management will undertake the work.
Among the clergy in attendance were the Very Rev’d Michael Cahill, PP of Johnstown; the Very Rev’d John Hogan, PP of Multyfarnham; the Very Rev’d Gerard Deighan of Dublin; Fr Kevin Heery of Navan, Fr Paul Murphy, and Fr Colm O’Mahony, OSA, both of Drogheda, and friends of Silverstream Priory from France, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, and Canada.
Sudden snow flurries did not keep the monks from filling the air with the uplifting sound of Gregorian Chants.
Silverstream’s youthful and growing Benedictine community looks to the completion of the new church early in 2019. A reception followed in the monastery’s entrance hall.
Silverstream Priory was founded in 2012 at the invitation of the Most Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, and canonically erected as an autonomous monastery of diocesan right on 25 February 2017.
The property belonged, from the early 15th century, to the Preston family, premier Viscounts of Ireland and Lords of Gormanston.
In 1843 Thomas Preston (1817-1903), son of Jenico Preston, the 12th Viscount (1775-1860), built what today is Silverstream.
The community undertake various works compatible with their monastic vocation, notably the development of the land and gardens, hospitality to the clergy in need of a spiritual respite, scholarly work, and publishing.