Sr. Maria Therese’s Solemn Profession

We had the great joy to end the year of 2012 here at the Abbey with no less than the fourth Final Profession of the year, witnessing, together with her family and friends, Sr. Maria Therese making her Solemn Monastic Vows as a fully fledged member of our Cistercian community at Glencairn.

Sr. Maria Therese, a native of Co. Kerry, describes her early love of monasticism through the stories her father told her of the early Irish Saints. Tracing her vocation back to her attraction to Celtic monasticism gave special significance to her choice of feast day on which she made her vows; the 6th of November is marked in the Church calendar as the feast of All the Saints of Ireland.

In his homily for the occasion, Dom Augustine, Abbot of Mount Melleray, pointed to the link between the Solemn Profession taking place and the feast being celebrated of the Irish saints as one of “holiness”. A Solemn Profession is indeed a very special moment in a sister’s life. Discerning a religious vocation, making such a life-decision, dedicating oneself to God and to one’s community and its considerable formation process calls for a deep and wholehearted commitment of oneself. The resulting joy is also obvious to all.

It is a great grace to our community to receive our four newly Solemnly Professed sisters in the year of 2012 and to experience this new growth in our monastic life together here at St. Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn.