For almost 120 years the Cistercian monks of Mount St Joseph Abbey, near Roscrea, Co Tipperary, have practised the rule of St Benedict. Founded in 1098 at Citeaux, in France, the Cistercians came to Ireland first in the 10th century, before the arrival of the Normans. And while the strict observances of the monks' lives have been relaxed somewhat in recent years they still follow the medieval prescription of their founder, St Bernard, dividing each day into periods of work, prayer and study.
Five times each day they come from farm or library or workshop to meet for prayer in the carved Gothic choir of the great abbey church. They begin with Vigils at 4 a.m. and end with Compline or Night Prayer at 8 p.m. The silence of the Trappists - as the Cistercians are also known - has been somewhat modified in modern times, too. But silence is still regarded as a "precious heritage" and represents for the members of the community a "guaranteed space for God" in their lives.
There is a great measure of self-sufficiency in the abbey which has a dairy farm, orchards, vegetable gardens and its own bakery. In earlier times it had its own mill and even its own silk-farm. The community is vegetarian, meat being permitted only in cases of illness.
Mount St Joseph Abbey is a Cistercian building in the classic tradition - if a monk of the 10th century were to return he would find the layout and planning of the church and the abbey buildings quite familiar. It once comprised 120 monks. Today, the community, under its Abbot, Dom Colmcille, numbers just under 40. But while the number of Irish Cistercians has fallen, other countries have witnessed recent increases in vocations to the monastic life. There are now 98 houses of Cistercian monks and 60 houses of Cistercian nuns throughout the world.
The Cistercians of Mount St Joseph have recently published a book, describing their lives and inviting interested individuals to pay them a visit. These photographs, by Padraig Grant, are taken from the book Cistercian Monks of Mount St Joseph Abbey, Roscrea .