HER NAME is Theresa Kottayail, but from yesterday she will be known as Sr Robert, after one of the founders of the Cistercians Robert of Molesme. It is now optional whether a sister takes a religious name or retains her own.
Originally from Kerala in India, Sr Robert first made contact with Cistercians there before arriving at St Mary’s Abbey at Glencairn, Lismore, Co Waterford, in 2009.
It is the only Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland.
Yesterday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, she took her first vows as a junior professed sister and was the first to do so there. She will now renew her vows annually for three years until her solemn profession. Currently there are six sisters in initial formation, including Sr Robert.
Yesterday’s private ceremony took place in the chapter room at the abbey enclosure where abbess Mother Marie Fahy received Sr Robert as a professed member of the community in the presence of all 36 members there.
St Mary’s Abbey was founded in 1932 from Holy Cross Abbey in Dorset, England. It was originally built as a castle in 1619.
As Sr Sarah Branigan, who is from Sandycove in Dublin and decided to retain her own name, told The Irish Times, being enclosed means that solitude is important to the community, with silence emphasised from evening compline at 8pm until 9am Mass the following morning. It is “absolutely sacrosanct” then, she said, but less so throughout the rest of the day.
Each day begins with a vigil at 4am and concludes with compline at 8pm. As with all Cistercian communities there is an emphasis on manual labour and self-sufficiency. So at St Mary’s they farm 200 acres and make bread for the Eucharist, which is provided throughout Ireland and the UK.
