With the numbers entering the religious life in Ireland dropping, the monks of Glenstal Abbey are thriving.
In late August four novices joined the Murroe, Co Limerick, monastery, bringing the numbers to 47.
They were all mature entrants, one 40, one in his 30s and two in their 20s. One was a restaurant owner in Co Louth, another worked in insurance in Dublin and the remaining two are a social worker from Limerick and a Dubliner with a degree in music who is an organist.
Over the past few years a doctor and a solicitor joined and a diocesan priest from the Diocese of Killaloe came to Glenstal, which also has a secondary boarding school for more than 200 boys.
One of the novices is a past pupil of the school and the others spent periods as visitors in the monastery.
A range of professions feature in the community which is noted for its singing and recording of Gregorian chant.
These include teachers, a qualified therapist, craftsmen, retreat masters and counsellors.
The prior of Glenstal, Father Dominic Johnson OSB, who is 35 years a monk, entered after finishing his secondary education at Glenstal.
"That wouldn't happen nowadays. You wouldn't be accepted straight out of school and you would have to get worldly experience," explained the Limerick-born prior, whose father was manager of the Grand Canal Company in the city.
A chance meeting between his mother and a woman in a shop brought him to Glenstal. The woman had a son at school there and suggested that he should go there too.
"I suppose that was divine providence. I like music and the smell of incense in the church," he said. St Benedict, in his rule, says the novice must knock three times at the Abbey door before being accepted.
He has to make three requests to enter. The candidate is vetted by the monks and has to pass through a special screening before being accepted.
"They just can't walk in off the street, the abbot has to see if they are seeking God and that they would fit into the community," said Father Johnson, who is also a graduate of the London School of Journalism and well known for his letter-writing on issues in the national and provincial media.
He recalled: "I entered with five others in the 1950s. One left after 24 hours, another left during the novitiate, three persevered and one died in Nigeria last year.
"We got one in the 1970s who left and from 1985 to now we have been holding our own. I believe one of the reasons we are getting people is to get away from the false world portrayed at times in the media and television and to find a simpler and more genuine type of existence," he suggested.
After finishing the novitiate, a novice can opt to be a monk without priesthood and those who choose the latter will study in Maynooth, Milltown Park in Dublin or Paris or Rome.
To keep up with modern-day trends a library to hold 50,000 books is currently under construction and a new guest house for people who wish to spend time in contemplation and prayer was opened last year.
The monks also have a hostel to look after what they describe as the knights of the road. The motto of Glenstal is laborare et orare, which means "to work and pray", and, according to Father Johnson, there are plenty of challenges for the life of the monk in the rural scenic setting of Murroe.