Bethlehem
Sunday, 09 February 2014 09:33
February 8, 2014: Dom Aengus Dunphy was born in 1921 in Co,. Laois
(Ireland). He entered Mount Melleray in 1943, made his solemn profession in
1948 and was ordained that same year. He was abbot of O.L of Bethlehem
1958-1977. From 1979-1991 he was chaplain in O L of Praise, Butende. Dom Aengus
was 92 years old. He had been in monastic vows for 67 years and a priest for
64.
RI News Letter
Aengus'
Spade
I
found the spade dug deep,
Where
he had left it months ago,
Beside
the ice hill.
Waiting,
rusting, thinking
He
won't be back.
Will
another foot press my lug
Deep,
into new ground:
Sow
other possibilities;
Or
must I stand and pray,
A
silhouetted memorial;
To
sweat spilled, sincerity sown
To
harvest love
In
Portglenone.
Dom
Aengus up until he was into his eighties liked nothing better than breaking up
a plot of rough ground with only a spade .The more briars the better. The last
plot he dug up was beside the Ice Hill. That was where he left his spade, never
to return to it.
Br Columba, Portglenone •••
Saturday, 05 April 2014
April 4, 2014: Father Stephen Peate was
born in 1924 in Brownhill-Leeds (Great Britain). He entered Caldey in 1948,
made his solemn profession in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1956. Father
was 89 years old, had been in monastic vows for 62 years and 58 years a priest
when the Lord called him.
Father Stephen (Geoffrey Xavier
Peate)
17 November 1924 – 4 April2014
Obituary
CALDEY WAS AT A LOW EBB when
Geoffrey Peate, a young Yorkshire man, joined the community in 1948. It had
only nine members. Since the foundation from Scourmont in 1929, only one
British recruit had persevered, the legendary Br Thomas Moore.
A convert to the faith, the future
Father Stephen served in the Air Force and was confirmed in Calcutta. When he
entered Caldey on 4 October 1948, it took months for his Confirmation
certificate to arrive ... Father Stephen made his junior profession on 17 June
1951, his Solemn Profession on 11 June 1955, and was ordained to the priesthood
by Bishop John Edward Petit of Menevia on 23 March 1956. From 1956 to 1958
Father Stephen studied theology at the Gregorian University in Rome.
When Br Thomas Moore died unexpectedly
in 1966, Father Stephen was left as Procurator for the next 32 years ... He was
now at the heart of the island's economic life, with the continuing prosperity
of the perfume business and the expansion of the tourist industry. When Dom
lames Wicksteed resigned his abbacy in 1980, Fr Robert O'Brien was appointed
Superior, who, after he was elected Abbot four years later, appointed Father
Step hen as Prior in 1984. He remained in this post for almost 15 years. These
are the facts, easily written down in a few lines. But to describe the man, the
monk and the person of Father Stephen is something that requires so much more.
He himself was a man of a very few
words, although, during the last days of his life he felt more free to express
his thoughts and feelings verbally.
There is a line in the Book of the
Psalms (his prayer book!) that may sum up the essence of Father Stephen's life,
and the way he tended to think about life in all its ambiguities. It is the
line where the Psalm speaks about God - 'He who sits in the heavens, He laughs' (Psalm 2:4). For Father Stephen,
in the real life, and the essence of the real life is necessarily connected
with the Kingdom of heaven, there has to be laughter!
No doubt, this conviction must have
had its origins in the fact that his early life was exposed to violence and
danger during his service in the Air Force in World War 11. Experience taught
him and many of his contemporaries that life itself was not a joke, and that life could never be treated as something cheap
and disposable. With these deeply ingrained impressions Father Stephen began
his search for the meaning of life, and in this search he never wavered. He
searched indefatigably for truth in God without ever letting go of the search
for meaning in his human interactions. He was an avid reader of the classics,
and kept reading the works of e.G. Jung on psychology, with the earnest desire
to arrive at a deeper self-knowledge and a profound understanding of others
... Father Stephen was always prepared to listen with sympathy, and allowed
others to speak until he felt the time was ready to react as he believed God
would react ... he laughed, and we laughed with him, always reminding us not to
take ourselves too seriously.
His last moments were spent in the
company of his brothers whom he loved, and in the company of his favourite
composer Joseph Haydn, whose string quartets he knew inside out ...
Rest in peace, Father Stephen -
brother, mentor, and friend your time for genuine laughter has come ... and a
good game of cricket!
Fr
Daniel Caldey
With thanks from
No comments:
Post a Comment