A New Life: His friends couldn't believe it but Richard Purcell knew the monastic life was right for him. Ali Bracken reports
Brother Richard Purcell recalls enjoying a drink in a Dublin pub with two female friends and telling them of his decision to enter a monastery.
"They didn't believe what I was telling them. Later, another friend came in and managed to convince them that it was true," he laughs at the memory.
"Some people see it as something you inflict upon yourself," he says. "But I don't see it that way. I'm just doing something I want to do."
Richard, originally from Terenure in Dublin, joined the Cistercian Order monastery at Mount St Joseph's Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, eight years ago.
On Saturday, Bishop Willie Walsh ordained 29-year-old Richard a priest. He was the only monk to be ordained as a priest this year and his ordination also marked the sole ordination carried out by Bishop Willie Walsh, in the Killaloe diocese this year.
Richard entered the monastery just months after finishing his final exams in UCD where he attained a degree in music and French.
"I had a great time in college, I immersed myself in it completely. But by the time I reached 18, I had a strong feeling about joining a monastery."
This inclination had been growing since as early as 12 years old, he says, but he was also keen on getting a college education. In the middle of his Leaving Cert, Richard spent some time at Mount St Joseph's Abbey on a weekend retreat.
Then again, during his first year in college, Richard spent a month living in the monastery to get an idea about what life would be like as a Cistercian monk.
"I fell in love with the place," he says. "I wanted to drop out of college immediately but my parents convinced me to stay."
But Richard's college education has since proved useful - he is choir master at the monastery and, as the Cistercian monks are a French Order, he is frequently called upon to translate material.
Nonetheless, Richard acknowledges that choosing monastic life over a career as a music teacher or conductor, something he believes he would have otherwise pursued, was a dramatic lifestyle change.
"I just became aware of being called. You don't get a text message or a phone call; it's a gradual awareness. Obviously, there are some things I find difficult about this life. But anything I've given, I feel I've received much more."
One ongoing difficulty, says Richard, is the daily 4am prayer service. "I still haven't gotten used to that. Some of the monks are up at 3.30am, whereas I'm more likely to be rising at three minutes to four," he says.
Celibacy and being denied the option of having a family has also been hard, he says, but maintains that when he committed to becoming a monk, he embraced everything that came part and parcel with that life.
In 2002 Richard made his solemn profession, which saw him commit to remain in Mount St Joseph Abbey as a monk for the rest of his life. Prior to this, as part of his monastic studies, he completed a diploma in philosophy at NUI Maynooth before embarking on a BA in theology at Oxford University in 2002.
Although not entirely self-sufficient, Mount St Joseph Abbey encompasses a boys' secondary boarding school, Cistercian College, which caters for 700 pupils and this year celebrated its centenary. Additionally, the Abbey runs two farms - a dairy and beef cattle farm - and the Abbey's guesthouse retreat offers 24 en suite rooms as a getaway for those who are looking for some peace and quiet or time to reflect.
All this is set in idyllic surroundings. "It's very peaceful here, it's three miles from the nearest town. And hospitality is an important part of monastic life. We receive visitors as we would receive Jesus."
At seven appointed times each day, prayer services are held in the Abbey, and the 24 Cistercian monks who live at the monastery in Roscrea attend all services, whenever possible.
There is also a rule of silence in the monastery from 8pm to 7am as well as various times for meditation and prayer each day. "Monks do take a lot of time to be on their own and pray. The word monk comes from the Italian word monas," he says, "which means to be alone with God."
At 29, Richard is the youngest monk at Mount St Joseph Abbey while the eldest Brother is 91 years old.
Richard's role at the monastery is as bursar (housekeeper) as well as managing the maintenance of the Abbey and helping occasionally with farm work.
He says he felt an immediate affinity with Mount St Joseph Abbey, and will call it home for the rest of his life. "Things move at a different pace here, there isn't the same rush that I remember from my college days. I find that there's more of a sense of what's important to people. This is the place I can be myself."