LIFE AT MOUNT MELLERAY
out the window at him to see him off.
On arriving at the Lodge steps at Mount Melleray Abbey, Tom’s said his final goodbyes to his parents with a burning loneliness in his heart as they set off for home. However, the story goes that Tom’s father told Tom Mahony to drive slowly towards the gates of the monastery as he was expecting to see his son running down the lane after them to come home but Tom Leddy stood his ground and entered into the Franciscan order that day, just as he said he would.
Tom never saw his father again and was not allowed to return home for his funeral 6 months later in 1915. Thankfully, when his mother was dying in 1939 he was granted permission to return home to be with her in her final days. This was the first time he had been outside the gates of the monastery in 24 years.
Br Gerard began working on the lands in Mount Melleray just days after entering the order. The work was tough and the hours were long but his devotion to God was unwavering.
“During the first two days while I stayed in the guesthouse, I made many visits to Our Lord in the Tabernacle to pray for strength to persevere. The grace of God supported me and helped me to overcome the loneliness,” he wrote.
On Thursday, October 1, 1914, Brother Leddy entered the cloisters, changed into his strong working boots, hung up his new suit and was handed a spade by Fr Celsus. They walked down a half-mile of road into a mountainy piece of land and started digging.
Life inside the monastery was challenging with the day beginning at 2am followed by prayers, meditation, reading and Mass before breakfast which was a 6am daily. The next job of the day was to milk the cows before the divine office prayers at 8.30am. Then, the monks went to work in silence in the fields all day. They stopped for dinner at 2.30pm and returned to work until holy reading and Compline at 5.30pm, retiring to bed at 7pm nightly.
Over the years Br Gerard worked on the land reclaiming sections of the mountain, working on the farm and more. However, he also worked in the guesthouse and the lodge and started making beads for the giftshop which he continued to do up until his final days.
ILL HEALTH
On the occasion of Br Gerard’s 90th birthday, the abbot recalled that Br Gerard had suffered a serious stroke in his mid 70s which left him paralysed and unable to speak. However, he managed to return to full health through determination and by the grace of God.
“About fifteen or sixteen years ago I went to Cork with Fr Sennan. We called to see Br Gerard in hospital. He had suffered a serious stroke and could not speak. He was in serious distress. Indeed, he was near to death and the hospital staff held out no hope for his recovery. We said goodbye, convinced it was the last time we’d see Br Gerard alive but Br Gerard willed to live.
“He returned here and we watched his great fight, as he refused to lie down and kept going till all signs of paralysis disappeared. Like one who had found the secret of Tír na nÓg, he then started the beautiful stone-wall work opposite our church and around the garden area,” as written by the abbott of the time.
GONE BUT NOT
FORGOTTEN
Br Gerard left this world on May 20, 1992 in Dungarvan Hospital aged 99 having served as a Cistercian monk at Mount Melleray for 77½ years. He lived through two world wars, the founding of the state and arrived at Mount Melleray just two years after electricity had been installed there.
As mentioned in the homily at his funeral on May 22, ‘He was a man who lived in the spirit of the Rule of St. Benedict. He was never idle or aimless but always purposeful and directed either working, praying or reading, so that as the rule says, ‘in all things God might be glorified.’’
He has been described as a man with strong and clear views and is said to have used the phrase ‘Glory be to God’ when he was angry, surprised, shocked or in wonder. He is remembered with great affection by all who knew him and many members of the Araglin community recall with fondness his annual visits to his homeplace in the later years.
“All of us who were privileged to share this part of his life with him know that it ended with a peace, calm and serenity whose source can only be God. While his feet were firmly planted in this world, he had no doubt but that it was passing and heaven was where the glory was,” said the abbot of the time of his funeral.
Lay me to rest where the sun beams play;
And the moon shed its silvery lights;
Where the shadow of the cross will creep oe’r my
grave
As the hours steal their course through the night; Where the footfall of friends, I loved during life Shall be heard by the Angel who keeps
His lone faithful watch oe’r the grave of the dead Now slumbering my last silent sleep.