The Orcadian Features - Papa Stronsay monks

Monks' work continues to develop Golgotha island monastery
(Story dated: Thursday, May 4, 2006)

It has now been more than six years since an order of Catholic monks and priests - the Transalpine Redemptorists - bought the island of Papa Stronsay, with the ambition of establishing a monastery on the site thought to contain the most northerly early Christian monastic ruins in the world.

Reporter Fiona Nichol was invited to have a look around the island to see how the monastery has been taking shape, what the brothers have accomplished so far during their stay on the island and how their plans for the future - both on Papa Stronsay and further afield - are shaping up.

Papa Stronsay has come a long way in just over six years since it was bought by the Transalpine Redemptorists, an order of Catholic monks and priests.

The monks, under the guidance of Father Michael Mary, moved to the island in 1999, after being forced to shift from their base in France which had proved to be unsuitable to their needs.

Father Michael Mary, who entered the priesthood at 17, explained: “We were in a monastery in France, but many of the brothers had not studied in French so felt quite isolated because they could not talk to the local people.”

This led them to a search for a new home and to Orkney.

This was also something of a homecoming, as Father Michael Mary, born in New Zealand, has family connections in North Ronaldsay.

After trawling through a long list of properties from estate agents, the bottom of the pile revealed Papa Stronsay and after agreeing a price with the owner of the island, the deal was sealed.

Much fundraising later led to the acquisition of the island and the rest is history.

The island is now home to Golgotha Monastery, and is the base for 25 monks, from novices to priests, who hail from as far afield as Australia, Samoa, Singapore and the Ukraine.

Since first setting foot on the island, the monastery has expanded and grown over the past few years.

From small beginnings, where just a house and farm buildings lay, there is now a fully working, living, breathing monastery with a full working farm.

The monastery has 200 sheep, Jersey cows and one Highland heifer, as well as Highland cows.

The sheep are sold for income, the cows are milked to produce the monastery’s own milk and to make cheese - some of which is sold. It is hoped to have the Highland cows slaughtered in the future so they have their own meat.

Five boreholes have been drilled to give the monastery its own water supply.

Brother Marcel Marie, who tends to show guests around the island and is the master wood carver and furniture maker, said: “It is not really our goal to be selfsustainable - it’s just happened that way really.”

The first work to be carried out was to build the main chapel and living accommodation for the monks and priests.

The old herring building now boasts a beautiful chapel, a smaller Eastern chapel and guest accommodation.

Following on from this the brothers found it was necessary to put up a huge shed — which was the second major change on the island - to house all of the machinery and building materials.

Buying a boat, formerly a ferry, has allowed much easier transportation of the building materials they need for even bigger plans which they have in the pipeline.

A substantial library to house the monastery’s 40,000 books is also in the process of being built and will include a guest area.

Heading away from the hub of the monastery, a small retreat house has been built where the monks and priests can spend some time in solitude, contemplation and prayer.

Nestled on the edge of the beach is another project in the making, a small self-contained guest house, for visitors who want to go into retreat to contemplate their life and perhaps deepen their faith.

Brother Marcel Marie hails from Zimbabwe but has travelled and lived far and wide, from France to America and now to Papa Stronsay! He admits that he misses the heat.

And the monastic life did not beckon from too early an age. He first started out working in a bank, then served in the Army for five years, before training as a cabinet maker and wood machinist. It was then he decided to dedicate his life to God.

Since arriving in Papa Stronsay, where two of his brothers have also chosen to live at the monastery, he has quickly picked up new skills as well as being able to use his old ones.

“It has been a steep learning curve,” said Brother Marcel Marie. “Before coming here I had no experience with animals — but then I was farm manager for three years.

“The local farmers have been very helpful with their advice.”

He also pointed out more of his handiwork, rebuilding the cabin of one of their boats, putting a roof on one of the chapels and making a bell tower with 500 hand-cut copper tiles. The next project will involve a roof of 2,000 hand-cut copper tiles!

His main love, however, after God, is working with wood. He has hand carved many beautiful statues which are scattered around not only the monastery but the world.

This enterprise has now expanded, after getting the appropriate equipment, into producing hand-made furniture, from oak. Among his range of work are small stools with beautiful carvings of the outline of the island of Papa Stronsay and the ‘Papa Stronsay’ cross design.

He also wants to branch out, picking up on his roots, to make dressers and dining room furniture. Many people in Stronsay have already asked for commissioned carvings and furniture.

One resident described him as the “best wood carver this side of the Atlantic.”

He is confident that the many visitors who come to the island will be keen on buying his work and he also hopes to find some outlets in Kirkwall for his furniture.

A demonstration of his skills in the purpose-built workshop highlight his love for shaping wood and creating unique and beautiful items.

And it’s not always easy to fit this in with the strict regime of prayer and work, which consists of rising at 4am in the winter and 5am in the summer, starting the day with prayer, then working at their various jobs before more prayer, lunch, an hour’s recreation when they talk to each other, then back to prayer and supper, turning in at 8pm in the winter and 9pm in the summer.

Brother Marcel Marie, is not short of tasks and is the head boatman, charged with ferrying visitors, workmen and goods back and forth to Stronsay.

He also looked after one of the older priests who lives on Stronsay, so it is by no means an easy life.

A striking aspect of the monastery is the sense of peace which settles on and around the island, pervading not only the people but the animals - although the donkeys, Benedicta and Gloria, are slightly more frisky and have a tendency to nip at women.

The monastery has brought the religious way of life back to the island after 700 years, providing the repopulation of an island.

As the monastery develops, the brothers say they try to use local tradesmen as often as possible.

Andrew Maxwell was the farm manager at the monastery for the past two years and the family continues to do a lot of work on the island, such as bailing hay.

They have brought Catholicism back to the site of the most northerly early Christian monastery ever found.

They describe their purpose thus: “The fathers and brothers work for the salvation of the most abandoned souls by their prayers and their labours.

“The ancient monastic ruins dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries mark Papa Stronsay as a holy island and inspire the Redemptorist monks living there now to continue with the traditions of the Catholic Church and the Redemptorist Order, as well as to rebuild the ruins to their ancient splendour.”

Father Michael Mary explained there are two aims for the monastery.

“We are not all monastic, in the sense we have come to Papa Stronsay but are not wedded to Papa Stronsay. Half of our monks and apostles go away to the USA, Australia or the UK, then come back.

“Eventually, we would like to set up houses in America and Australia. We have four priests who will eventually be sent to other countries where people have supported the monastery.”

Father Michael Mary, who established the monastery, advocates the old mass, encouraged by the Society of St Pias X, which consists of facing the Cross and carrying out the service in Latin, and the associated traditional Catholic theology, rather than the new Mass, which involves priests facing the congregation and is carried out in English, “based on a revolutionary new theology.”

This has led to some discord within the Catholic Church, but fences are being mended and the Vatican are now trying to take on board all facets of the religion, according to Father Michael Mary.

He said: “SSPX is a traditional, worldwide movement with about one million supporters. The new mass has taken away a lot of the identity of the Catholic Church and the traditional “values.”

Being invited to lunch, as a woman, proved to be an unforgettable experience, particularly with the sacrament of the day being read throughout the meal, which focused on marriage and the virtues of a good woman, taken from the seven sacraments of Father Michael Muller, who preached in American in the 1800s.

Brother Marcel Marie asked later: “Did you learn anything from the reading?”

Let’s just say, it was interesting and at least made me think about my own and society’s values in the 21st century.