St. Benedict’s Priory
We belong to the Congregation of the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre.
Mother Mary of St. Peter, MARIE ADELE GARNIER was born in 1838 in Burgundy France, where she lived with her family - father, three sisters and one brother. For many years she taught as a governess and was greatly loved and esteemed by both parents and children.
From her youth she felt deeply the love of Christ touching her heart, drawing her to surrender herself totally to him, especially through the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Holy Mass was the SUN of her life. Hence her devotion to the Eucharistic Christ became the centre of her spiritual life.
Marie-Adèle loved Christ with such ardent love that she was drawn to establish Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in order to express fully her desire to offer the Sacred Heart of Jesus an unceasing homage of love and reparation.
Thus, the Eucharist, the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the love of Christ, and the Sacred Heart, symbol of the love human and divine of Christ for his Father and for all humanity, could never be separated in the soul of Marie Adele. Hence Marie Adele sought to live this Eucharistic life as a solitary at Montmartre in Paris. Her health failed and she was obliged to abandon this way of life. Several years later the Sacred Heart of Jesus called her to establish a religious family consecrated to the worship and praise of the Holy Trinity through liturgical prayer and Eucharistic adoration in the contemplative life. She founded her Congregation - the ADORERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, OF MONTMARTRE, in 1898 at Montmartre, Paris, with the cordial approbation of Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of Paris. The aim of her Congregation - to glorify the Most Blessed Trinity, finds practical expression as follows :
the daily participation in the Holy Mass;
the choral celebration of the Divine Office;
the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Monstrance;
daily prayer for the Holy Father, the Church, the country and for the entire human family.
Mother Marie Adèle Garnier established this form of contemplative life within the monastic tradition of the Church under the Rule of St. Benedict. In 1901 the young community fled to England on account of the laws of France against religious Orders. The Foundress settled her new community at TYBURN in London, at the famous site of the martyrdom of more than 100 Catholic Reformation Martyrs. This monastery is now the Mother House of her Congregation which has monasteries in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy and France.
Mother Marie Adèle Garnier died at Tyburn in the year 1924 renowned for holiness and virtue. She is honoured and remembered especially for her heroic love of God and neighbour, her spirit of prayer, divine contemplation, rich mystical and spiritual doctrine, humility, obedience, patience, simplicity & purity of heart, and above all for her spirit of total "self-abandon" to the Holy Will of God, which she declared to be her unique good.
"The Father is seeking ADORERS in spirit and in truth" John 4:23
Mother Marie Adele Garnier is famed for favours regarding babies, families, property, financial matters, priests and spiritual needs. If you receive, as a response to your prayer. any material or spiritual favour through the intercession of Mother Marie Adele Garnier, (Mother Mary of St Peter). Kindly inform any of the monasteries of her Congregation.
It was the intention of Mother Marie Adèle Garnier our Foundress (Mother Mary of St Peter), that our works should be the overflow of our contemplation, for, as she said quoting St Thomas, “It is better to enlighten than to be merely a light, and it is a more noble kind of life to share with others what one has contemplated than to confine oneself to contemplation alone.”
Retreats at St. Benedict's Priory Cobh are private, i.e. not preached or directed. We make available to women an opportunity to share the spiritual riches of our monastic liturgical and Eucharistic life.
Our day is structured around Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic Adoration, this provides an excellent structure for a retreat.
HOLY MASS at 9.00 am (Mon - Sat) and 08.30 am (Sun); Nocturns: 5.30 am; Lauds: 7.00 am; Terce: 9.15 am (Mon - Fri ), 9.50 am (Sat and Sun); Sext: 12.10 pm; None: 3.15 pm; Vespers: 4.30 pm; Compline: 7.50 pm;
You are also welcome to share in the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by day and by night.
Retreatants are under no obligation to attend any of the above but if they are seriously desiring to make a fruitful retreat we recommend that they participate in part of it. We have single rooms set apart for retreatants in the outer enclosure of the monastery.
A Day of Recollection, guided by the writings of Servant of God, Mother Marie Adele Garnier (1838-1924) OSB, is held on the last Saturday of every month in the Priory.
First talk begins at 11.00am. Holy Mass at the Priory at 9.00am or at nearby St. Colman’s Cathedral at 10.00am. Day includes time for Adoration, Monastic Liturgy of the Hours, and ends with tea at 3.30. Lunch is provided. Donations are welcomed, just to cover costs.
To book your place or to arrange to stay in our Retreat House at any time, please contact: Mother Prioress on 021 4811 354.
Lunch at 12.30pm and Supper at 6.30pm are served in the guests’ dining room. For breakfast, guests can help themselves from supplied cereals, bread, eggs, porridge, spreads, tea and coffee, using a portable stove at 8.30 am; There are facilities to make light snacks or drinks between these times if necessary. There is a small library with good religious books, and a our Bible garden provides a pleasant vista of the harbour.
We have facilities for groups who may wish to make a day of Private Retreat or Recollection.
