Dear friends all over the world,

It is with great joy that I would like to announce you that today, the 29^th of October 2020, we had the confirmation that the purchase of the monastery was formally completed. That means that from today we (that is the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ireland) are the owners of this place- the Monastery of the Life-Giving Spring and St. Ciaran. Glory be to God!!!

It just happens that today, apart from St. Great Martyr Anastasia from Rome, we celebrated an Irish saint, St. Colman of Kilmacduagh, whose church we visited last year on the same very day that we found and saw Ard Ciaran for the first time.

More than that, although generally being celebrated on the 17^th of November, it seems that St. Hilda, the abbess of Whitby, is celebrated on the 29^th of October by some of the Catholic faithful- according to the catholicireland.net website. For us this is a great joy as we love St. Hilda, the abbess who learnt and taught Celtic monasticism though she was not Irish herself.

If you are wondering how this happened before the deadline of December 2020, well…it is called a miracle! A very generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous made an incredible substantial donation, covering the remaining sum of money. Dear anonymous donor, we thank you so much again, publicly this time.

We are very grateful to God, His Mother, His Saints (who collaborated so well), to the Ursuline sisters whose generosity and patience are indescribable, and very grateful to you, all our friends, known or unknown.

We hope that you rejoice greatly together with us. May God bless you all, strengthen, comfort and give you joy!

A huge THANK YOU!

Very grateful, in Christ,

Sr Iosifia