The Augustinian friars of Fethard and Callan have survived great adversity to maintain a presence in both towns for 700 and 530 years respectively.
In each case, the history of the friars is interwoven with that of the towns, making it impossible for many locals to imagine a future without them.
In Fethard, the friars arrived in 1305, just 100 years after the Anglo-Normans established a settlement in the area. Unusually, Fethard did not evolve into a town but began life as one. It was planned with a defined market area, a church and graveyard and a pattern of streets. As was the norm, the friars settled outside the walls.
"The friars built outside the walls of the town because they always went with the people," says the present-day prior, Father Ben O'Brien. "When the friars came to the towns they always went to the Irish people because, of course, the towns were started by English Catholics. The tradition would be to live with country people, even up to modern times."
By Fethard standards, the Augustinians of Callan are relative newcomers, having arrived in 1467. Their first crisis came 70 years later when their property was confiscated after they refused to submit to King Henry VIII as head of the church.
Through this and subsequent crises, such as the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in 1650, the friars hung on, retreating to live quietly among the local communities.
"As an organisation we would have looked upon ourselves as coming from the people so that in times of persecution it made it pretty easy for us to disappear back into the people," says the prior at Callan, Father Henry MacNamara.
The Penal Laws, far from finishing the religious orders, brought a resurgence. In 1722 the Augustinians were receiving more novices than they could cope with and by 1750 the number of priests in the order was the highest for two centuries.
It is the lack of such vocations which has brought the order to the point where a future without the friars is envisaged for either Callan or Fethard.
Further information on the history of Fethard and the Augustinians can be obtained from this website: www.fethard.com A website on Callan is under construction; the address is www.callanparish.irishchurch.net
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Readers who wish to contact Chris Dooley can leave messages by dialling (01) 670-7711, extension 6298. e-mail address: cdooley@irish-times.ie