Footage prepared (after a beautiful summer's day yesterday) as part of our collaboration for the welfare of wader birds, of which we have a considerable number. How true the words of St Augustine: "There is a certain great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, Whom you wish to discover, wrote not that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made."
#TransalpineRedemptorists #PapaStronsay
https://t.co/fZJhKYLmXh
Last week our Fr Anthony Mary, https://t.co/7k1J09SHpz.R. was interviewed by Alexandra of Mass Conversions. We share the episode which may be found here: #TransalpineRedemptorists#PapaStronsay
Dear Friends,
https://t.co/T2TgwIev4e
We share with you here the excellent two part documentary prepared by Fr Carlos Zepeda in which Father interviews Dr Eberhard Heller about the events surrounding Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục's consecrations. For anybody who has heard these matters casually dismissed, this long but insightful interaction portrays the care expended and the suffering endured by the Doctor for love of the Church. Likewise, he tells the story of these years of Archbishop Thục's life which casts light on the preparations, the events and a kind of charming interaction between the two men whose friendship still endures in the Doctor's description today. Well worth watching for anybody who has heard Mgr Thục cynically dismissed and detracted. Thank you Father for telling this so-important story with great respect, fairness and compassion.
PART 1: The Truth about Archbishop Thuc - Interview with Dr. Heller, witness of the Consecrations.
Ahoy! The St Alphonsus launched and in the water again. Crossing at evening. We hope you enjoy a site and sound from the daily life of the monastery.
#TransalpineRedemptorists#PapaStronsay
@contrathuc Please excuse us, we are so busy with the summer works. Here winter is always coming when no man can work. Today, a long one has been posted! Sending you kindest wishes friend.
Sr Bruna kindly comments further on our declaration in the second part in her series (in Polish).
Thank you Sister.
https://t.co/Pwr69GFjdI
#TransalpineRedemptorists#PapaStronsay
Thank you Edie, God bless you. It was the least we could do and our honour. If Brother had been in our place he would have carried our to the grave thus too. They say that friends are people with whom one has eaten a bag of salt, so to speak, thank God we eat a lot of it in the monastery and live amongst true friends.
On Tuesday, 12 May, 2026, our Br Ignatius Maria, https://t.co/7k1J09SHpz.R., whose body the sea had at last given up some days before, returned home to Papa Stronsay.
5 May, 2026:
Dear Friends,
On 12 April, 2026, we tragically lost our Br Ignatius Maria to the sea. We, the police and the coastguard have not been able to find his body. It has been a time of unparalleled tragedy for Brother, his family (three others of whom are members of our Congregation) and us all. Brother had just made his First Profession on 19 March, and was a true example of a good and holy monk. He had been to confession just hours before his death.
At the time we removed the recent footage from our social media out of respect for Brother's family. On 28 April, which would have been his 25th birthday, Brother's family from New Zealand were able to join us here for his Requiem and on 3 May, the erection of a memorial cross in honour of the Holy Face of Jesus (a devotion much loved by Brother whose full religious name was Br Ignatius Maria Angelus a Vultu Sancto, https://t.co/gn6I6x9VTv.R.).
Today it seems a respectful moment to repost Brother's profession video, some others and some images of the funeral. He was a beloved son, brother, uncle, confrere and friend and we hope these images may be of consolation.
Please pray for Brother Ignatius. Amidst this tragedy quite a number of souls have recommend themselves to his prayers and have been heard.
May he rest in peace.
Dear Friends,
After the last two terrible months we are slowly returning to life and works. Thank you to all of you who so kindly wrote to Br Ignatius' family and to ourselves - from the most unexpected quarters. Brother, in his self effacing way, would have been so touched too, and would have most of all hoped that his death and holy example brought you yourself somehow closer to Heaven. Once again, written words seem very inadequate to express all we would want to say. Your lovely cards stood at his place in the refectory that remained set and with us with a lighted candle for the 30 days of his Gregorian.
***
In these past weeks our Rector, Fr Anthony Mary, https://t.co/gn6I6x9o3X.R., has spent many hours in the depths of the boat, fixing cables and engine in very unpleasant surroundings, and from there he has moved to the roof of the library. Here he has begun to install the solar panels we bought last year in a bid to get heating into the library and to reduce the ever rising generator diesel costs. Thank God that in our Congregation we have such wonderful confreres who sacrifice themselves at these practical tasks to keep this Holy Work up and running. Thankless, dirty, grueling work - crawling around in an engine cavity or on a roof. What a difference the boat is going to make to the summer's works!
Please may I, as Procurator General, by means of this little note, let you know that if you were able to help us with some of these works in any way at all - we would at present be very grateful for that help.
Some of the needs:
- Materials to further repair the boats, building blocks, some bricks, cement, and all sorts of things for the summer's works. Electrical fittings. In many cases replacement for many of our heater boilers that after nearly 25 years are giving up the ghost. Paint for boats, as well as for the interior and exterior of the monastery. We have at least three completely rotten doors that need replacing. We need to buy and ship a large quantity of fuel now that that boat is working and the summer is here. We have limited manpower and an absolute plethora of maintenance to do and small improvements to make.
- Thankfully over the winter your kindness was enough for the diesel we needed. The other burners you have helped us with likewise kicked into action.
- We need to wall the cemetery. Eventually we need to build something larger than our two little churches into which we are pretty much crammed at present, but this seems a bit of a way away.
- Thankfully we have some food supplies and thankfully you are so generous to us via the Benefactor's Page, but likewise our daily bread takes some providing too.
- We have always tried to help any soul at no request for any remuneration, for God always provides. There are many souls for which your kindness does and would provide our ability to go to and help.
We are always very much aware that in the world at this moment it would be extremely unfair to request of you help to provide the superfluous. On the other hand the necessities are so very mundane it likewise feels silly to request them, especially when those kind souls who help us are often working hard to support themselves and their own family.
In this spirit please may I make known to you that if you are able to help us at this point we would very much appreciate it, and a lot could be done with anything you may be able to spare. We are alright, thank God we are not in trouble, so please make sure first that you are alright. But, if after that you would like to help we would thank you very kindly. Many good things could be done for God's glory.
I have put up our new Wise bank details in a prominent place at https://t.co/5MqAns1lGQ. There is also information and links to many other things there.
Likewise there are other possibilities here https://t.co/KzVH8uy0eD to make a gift.
With many thanks and our kindest wishes. You are every day in our prayers before our lunch when we say the Litany of Loreto, "pro eis", "for them" for all those who help us. May God repay you and give you the Kingdom of Heaven.
I am always very respectfully yours,
Br Nicodemus Mary, https://t.co/gn6I6x9o3X.R.
Procurator General
#TransalpineRedemptorists #PapaStronsay
20 May, 2026: Fixing our Eyes on the Lofty and Exalted
The Transalpine Redemptorist Livestream https://t.co/rYsRG7zUSy broadcasts every day at 4pm GMT (Eastern 12:00pm; Central 11:00am; Mountain 10:00am; Pacific 9:00am. )
#TransalpineRedemptorists#PapaStronsay
The Transalpine Redemptorist Livestream
https://t.co/PdDFSj9Cuj
broadcasts every day at 4pm GMT (Eastern 12:00pm; Central 11:00am; Mountain 10:00am; Pacific 9:00am. It may be found at the above link along with a very great archive of editions prepared by a kind friend for our spiritual nourishment. Our Livestream contains a wealth of spiritual information to help us save our immortal souls. You can also join us on the live broadcast for the daily Rosary and other devotions.
Here is a small sample of what you may receive every day.
On Wednesday, 13 May, the Anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, we were able to lay our Br Ignatius Maria, https://t.co/gn6I6x9o3X.R. to rest in the monastery cemetery. Words seem empty of expression. We hope that these two small films capture something that words do not say.
Rest in Peace dear Brother.
A child of Mary is never lost. You were above all a child of Mary.