"In Coenaculo" - Silverstream Priory (November-December 2015) | Page 2

Visit of the Bishop
of Meath & the
Abbot of Flavigny

Within the monastery, a significant amount of
work was done to give our living spaces a fresher,
cleaner, and more monastic appearance. The
room where we study and do lectio divina (called
the scriptorium) was fitted out with handsome
oak bookcases and now accommodates approximately 1500 volumes. The central staircase
was painted, a lighting fixture of wrought iron
suspended, and a beautiful carved wood crucifix,
the gift of the Christian Brothers in Baldoyle,
hung on the large staircase wall.
On 6 August, feast of the Transfiguration of
the Lord, Dom Benedict Maria Andersen, a native of Denver, Colorado, professed his solemn
vows and received the monastic consecration.
On 15 August, feast of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Dom Finnian Joseph
King, a native of Bohermeen, County Meath,
and Dom Elijah Maria Carroll, a native of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, professed their triennial vows.
Dom Basil Mary McCabe of the Abbey of
Saint-Joseph-de-Clairval in Flavigny (France)
was among us for the better part of August. Dom
Basil shared fully in our life, and helping in ways
too many to be counted. Dom Ildebrando Wehbe and Federico Allegri, from the Olivetan Benedictine community of San Miniato in Florence
(Italy), spent several days among us on the occasion of the profession of D. Finnian and D. Elijah.
At the end of August, the Father Abbot of
Flavigny, Dom Antoine-Marie Beauchef, passed
five days at Silverstream. Father Abbot’s presence in our midst was an immense blessing,
strengthening the bonds of fraternal charity
that already unite us to the community of Flavigny. On 20 August, our own Bishop of Meath,
His Lordship, Dr Michael Smith visited Silver-

stream to greet the Abbot of Flavigny and spend
a few hours with the community.
During the same month, Silverstream’s extended family grew with the reception of five
Oblate novices on both sides of the Atlantic: Filip
[Athanasius] and Natalia [Katherine of Alexandria] Lajszczak (Co. Meath, Ireland); Slaveck
[Bartholomew] Matacz (Co. Meath, Ireland),
Clarissa [Mectilde] Kwasniewski (Wyoming,
U.S.A.), and Kim Patrick [Pius] and Sallie [Maria
Giovanna] Catalano (North Carolina, U.S.A.).
On 9 September, an excellent young convert
to the Catholic faith, Mikkel Rahbek Pedersen, arrived from Denmark to share our life for
one year. Also in September, Dom Elijah began
his four years of theology under the wise and
learned aegis of the Dominican Fathers at St
Saviour’s Priory in Dublin. Dom Elijah will be
in residence at St Saviour’s during the week,
returning home to Silverstream on weekends
and during holiday recesses. On 18 September
the community attended the Mass of the Holy
Ghost that marked the opening of the academic
year at St Saviour’s Priory.
Dom Benedict is keeping the Gatehouse
bookstore in good supply of current publications, icons, rosaries, and Saint Benedict medals.
The Gatehouse continues to be appreciated as
one of the best Catholic bookstores in Ireland.
It is open daily outside of the hours of Holy
Ma ss and the Divine Office.