Perhaps the question we are most often asked as friars is, “Why do you wear sandals and go barefoot in all weathers?” Monastic and Franciscan tradition gives three answers to this: Firstly, to ground us in this moment in recollection and to remind us that we are pilgrims on a journey, “abiding not long in…
Today we keep the feast of one of the old Celtic Saints, St. Michan of Dublin! The parish under his patronage is ministered to by the Capuchin community from the Church St. friary and is the oldest parish in Dublin, traditionally serving the inner city markets community. Our Parish Priest and Guardian, Fr. Bryan has…
Today we Franciscans keep the feast of our brother St. Maximilian Kolbe, martyr of Auschwitz who died on Aug.14, 1941. He was a Polish Conventual friar, well known for his immense love of Our Lady, who provided shelter for thousands of Jews in his friary and was an active voice against the Nazi violence. He…
Feast of our brother Blessed Mark of Aviano today, a friar who cemented our Capuchin connection to coffee forever! He passed to the Lord on this day in the year 1699 after an extraordinary life of service, prayer, preaching and miracles that saw him act as envoy of the Pope to the Emperor while…
Dear friends, Please pray with us for the eternal repose of the soul of our brother, Noel Winston, who passed peacefully to the Lord yesterday evening in St. Francis Hospice, Raheny in the presence of his sister Kay and the friars. May he rest in peace. Brother Noel (Athanasius) was born in Co. Roscommon, on…
Stormlight: Storms bring their own light; sharp lined and lightening cut, by which old truth assumes the beauty of the new and Mother Earth eden breathes again, if only for a moment. Their rain, drilling down, brooks no opposition, gives no quarter, and must be simply received and submitted to, abandoning any pretense at…
On Thursday we were delighted to welcome to our Church St. friary a group of Turkish Students here in ireland on cultural exchange. They had never visited a Catholic Church before and were interested in learning about the history and spirituality of the Franciscan Way. This continues a long Franciscan tradition of inter Christian/Muslim dialogue…
Today, (August 2nd), we in the Franciscan Family keep the Feast of Our Lady of the Angels! This is the patronal title of the Blessed Virgin under which St. Francis placed the Order. St. Francis had great devotion to Our Lady under this title due to his repairing of the little chapel of the…
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.” St. Francis. St. Francis always taught that our gardens should include a wild uncultivated place where the flowers and herbs of the field could find a home and where we…