Calendar OUT NOW!

The 2014 Papa Stronsay Calendar is OUT NOW! Packed full of beautiful and diverse images, daily liturgical calendar, major anniversaries and so much more. A fantastic addition to any home, office, or anywhere else!

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW HERE: tinyurl.com/papastronsay

Two Pilgrims and a Cross

Recently we have had the pleasure of making two new friends: Sam and Wojciech from Doncaster, England.  They had decided to make a cycling pilgrimage from Doncaster to various churches and shrines, ending up on Papa Stronsay.  The over 600 miles took them 12 days to complete!  The pilgrimage was made for the intention of the teaching of solid doctrine to return to the Church, and for the faithful to receive this teaching.  They stayed on Papa Stronsay for 3 days during which time they erected a Pilgrimage Cross.  Following in the tradition of the "Vow Cross", we invited Sam and Wojciech to erect this Pilgrimage Cross as a permanent memory of the completion of their pilgrimage. 

Sam and Wojciech with Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R. as they prepare to concrete the steel support which they had spent many hours preparing.

 Making sure the steel is straight now is important, as once the concrete is in it cannot be done.

 Sam prepares to pour the first load of concrete which will secure the steel support into the ground.

 All done.  Now it must be left over night to dry.

The first Pilgrimage Cross to be erected on Papa Stronsay.

  

 A worthy testimony to the effort and devotion of these two pilgrims!

The Cross will now be painted and blessed for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Saturday.

New Life on Papa Stronsay

Just over a month ago our goose, Duchess, began sitting on a clutch of eggs.  Yesterday, on the First Saturday of the month, her eggs hatched.  The last of the little goslings to hatch was exiting its shell as these photos were taken.  Of the seventeen eggs that she sat on Duchess hatched thirteen goslings.  One of these died, and the remaining unhatched eggs were unfertilized.

 Duchess sitting on her nest with her little ones gathered under her wings.

This morning, the whole family was out to enjoy the sunshine!

 Duchess takes her little ones...

 ...to be introduced to the water.

Br. Seelos filling up the water.

Thank you Blessed Lady, Mary, for this wonderful First Saturday blessing!

Easter Vigil

 The High Altar before the Vigil Ceremonies began on Papa Stronsay

Preparations in the Sacristy

The Easter Fire prepared by Br Valentine seen on left

Br Yousef Marie sings the Exsultet for the first time as a Deacon

Br Jean-Marie, our sub-deacon chanting the first lesson 

Father Anthony Mary for the first time as a priest blesses the Pascal Water

Holy Mass begins with the images still covered in purple

Chanting of the Easter Vigil Gospel, with images now unveiled

 Br Yousef as deacon assists Fr Anthony as he celebrates Holy Mass

The Regina Caeli rings out as our hearts are filled with joy

 as the Lenten Fast is now at an end!

Easter Sunday morning is calm, bright and sunny

The Holy Island of Papa Stronsay as see from our boat.

He turned the Storm into a Breeze

"And He turned the storm into a breeze: 

and its waves were still."

wrote the Holy Psalmist King David.

Today we had a spot of bother with the tide.

 Last night there was a storm to the east of Papa Stronsay

 which meant that this morning

as our Heavenly King

"turned the storm into a breeze"

 the great rollers of the North Sea

 still came crashing into the east of the island.

(If you click the above photograph to enlarge it

 you will see how tall the waves are in comparison

 to the little ruined house on the horizon.)

This, coupled with extremely high tides

 produces some interesting results!

The force of the sea between

 the pier and the monastery gatehouse

 drives big rocks up into the roadway.

The last remaining herring shed is engulf buy the sea

 as it come spewing inland through St Brigid's Bay.

The rough weather prevented our morning Rorate Mass,

 however by evening the sea was calmed

 but for a strong swell and an awful lot

 of seaweed and sand churned up in it.

 A large bull seal played near the boat as we crossed over,

 eager to find some delicious morsel thrown up by the storm.

 

Our 4pm Rorate Mass in the northern darkness (by 3.30pm).

Once again the words of the Holy Psalmist set the scene for us.

"Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight..."

  "...the lifting up of my hands..."

 "...as Evening Sacrifice."

More from the Greenhouse

The greenhouse team with this year's pumpkin harvest. Not quite record breaking like our cherries, but plenty to eat anyway! It took 2 people to lift each pumpkin and a tractor to move them down to the kitchen.

 In the last few months We've had plenty of strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, plums, grapes and nectarines from the greenhouse. The pears have been excellent this year: very large and a delicious flavour. 

 Postulant Mr. Janes picks some of our apples for the table. 

 After being barren for several years, the kiwifruit vines have finally fruited. They are not quite ripe yet, but should be soon.

The weather has not been very good for tomatoes this year, but we still got a few that were a decent size! This one is just an ordinary tomato, not a a beefsteak or giant variety!

Moving House

Br. Felix enters the Enclosure.

The Doors

You may remember a storm we told you about last year which did some major damage to one of our shed's doors.  You can see it here.  Although the doors were put back into place and they did work, they were never quite the same.  In preparation for this winter, the doors of "Padre Pio" shed are having parts replaced and are being put back into proper working order.

 Fr. Anthony Mary, F.SS.R. and Postulants Mr. Esteban and Mr Janes working on the runners.

Watch out Father, you missed something!

Pull!

Changing the damaged panels and fixing the new ends on to the doors calls for teamwork.

 Br. Magdala Maria, F.SS.R. grinds off some of the rusty bolts
and smooths down some of the damaged areas.

The doors are slowly raised into place with the help of a Teleporter

This is the tricky bit... getting the doors on to the runners ...

Last minute adjustments before the sun sets to make sure the doors open and close smoothly

As good as new!