Monks pronounce vows at Stamullen
BROTHER Finnian Joseph King and Brother Elijah Maria Carroll pronounced their solemn vows as Benedictine Monks of Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The ancient ceremony, marking more than five years of prayer, study, and work under the Rule of Saint Benedict, took place, in the course of the Assumption Day Mass celebrated by the Very Reverend Dom Mark Kirby, Prior of Silverstream, under a spacious tent set up for the occasion on the monastery grounds.
Present, together with the Most Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Meath, were clergy of Meath, Armagh, Dublin, as well as family members, religious, and lay friends of the monastery.
Dom Finnian King, 38, is a native of Bohermeen, Co. Meath. He entered the monastery after working abroad for many years in the technical and industrial sectors. Dom Finnian is a gifted artist and wood turner, using timber harvested from the monastery’s own land.
Dom Elijah Carroll, 30, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, converted from Lutheranism after intense searching, and was received into the Catholic Church in 2007. Dom Elijah holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Tulsa; he currently directs the monastery’s projects of renovation and construction, collaborating closing with architects and engineers, while pursuing his theological studies.
In his homily for the occasion, Prior Kirby said: ‘ There is a madness in monastic profession; the madness of an irrepressible hope in “things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart conceived, the welcome God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). . . . Monastic profession is a second Baptism, a going down into the tomb, a coming out of the womb. You have come, then, not only to the hour of a new participation in the death of Christ, but also to the hour of a new participation in His resurrection. “For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory” (Col 3:3–4). While you lie prostrate and altogether hidden, like the grain of wheat buried and dead in the ground (cf. John 12:24), the Church will raise her voice on your behalf in a solemn priestly prayer, begging God to do in you all that you . .. cannot do in yourselves, or by yourselves, or for yourselves.’
The Benedictines of Silverstream Priory celebrate the Divine Office and Holy Mass in Latin and Gregorian Chant.
They undertake various works compatible with their enclosed monastic vocation, notably the development of the land and gardens; raising poultry; hospitality to the clergy in need of a spiritual respite; scholarly work; and publishing.
Silverstream Priory was founded in 2012 and currently numbers thirteen members, twelve of whom are men in their twenties and thirties, representing Ireland, the U.S.A, Australia, and Spain, .