Hosts, healing... and heating with the Cistercian nuns

These devout Cistercian nuns usually don’t covet the limelight but needs must, says Donal O’Keeffe

“Our life is devoted to prayer, to God,” says Mother Marie Fahy, Abbess of St Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn, Co Waterford, Ireland’s only Cistercian monastery for women. “Seeking God, seeking to know who God is, who we are, how we are in relationship with Him and allowing the richness of the relationship to shape our lives.”

The Abbey is located at the end of a long, gently-winding avenue and its grounds are bordered by woods overlooking the Blackwater River. A centuries-old evergreen oak tree stands guard by the church. This is, as soon as you arrive, an obviously very tranquil place.