skip to main content

Maidíneach Chnoc Mheilearaí

Mount Melleray Abbey Image Name: Mount Melleray Abbey Description: Mount Melleray Abbey Copyright: Mount Melleray Abbey
Mount Melleray Abbey Image Name: Mount Melleray Abbey Description: Mount Melleray Abbey Copyright: Mount Melleray Abbey
Mount Melleray Abbey Image Name: Mount Melleray Abbey Description: Mount Melleray Abbey Copyright: Mount Melleray Abbey
Mount Melleray Abbey Image Name: Mount Melleray Abbey Description: Mount Melleray Abbey Copyright: Mount Melleray Abbey

Tá líon na mbráithre i Mainistir Chnoc Mheilearaí laghdaithe ó os cionn 150 i lár an chéid seo caite go dtí deichniúr anois.  Ordnaíodh an tAthair Uinseann Ó Maidín go dtí an Ord Cistéireach sa bhliain 1949, agus bhí sé lonnaithe ó shin, den chuid is mó, i Mainistir Chnoc Mheilearaí in iarthar Chontae Phort Láirge.  Sa chlár seo, caitheann sé súil siar ar na blianta fada atá caite aige mar shagart.  Cuireann sé síos ar stair an oird, agus ar a shaol féin agus é thar a bheith ionraic ar shaol na manach sna blianta siar.  Labhrann sé freisin faoi thodhchaí an oird, agus faoin spreagadh a fuair sé ó iar Phríomh Aire na Breataine do shearmóin a bhí á réiteach aige!  Is é Mac Dara Mac Donncha láithreoir agus léiritheoir an chláir.

Fr Uinseann Ó Maidín was ordained a Cistercian priest 70 years ago.  He has spent most of those years in Mount Melleray Abbey in Waterford, where the number of friars has fallen from 150 in the middle of the last century, to just ten now.  In this programme today, he looks back at his years in the priesthood.  He describes the history of the Cistercian order, and talks about his own life, and the life of the order in years past.  He talks as well about the challenges for the future, and the unlikely inspiration for a sermon which he found in the work of a former British Prime Minister!  Presented and produced by Mac Dara Mac Donncha.