(To contact the Monastery please call 01 8305723 – For Altar Bread please call 01 8306235)
The Redemptoristines, the Nuns of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, was founded on Pentecost Sunday, 1731 in the Kingdom of Naples in Italy. The first monastery north of the Alps had founded in Vienna in 1830. Within twenty-five years, six convents had branched out from Vienna, in Austria, Belgium and Holland. The monastery in Bruges had only been founded in 1841, but in the eighteen years of its existence, it had founded several daughter houses and the novitiate showed no signs of emptying. The entrance book records the names of seven Irish women who entered the community between 1855 and 1859. A formal request to make a new foundation in Dublin was made by Bishop Malou of Bruges to Dr. Cullen and this was granted in a letter dated 4 February 1859.
The Nuns spent several years in the house in Drumcondra which could only be at best a temporary solution since it quickly proved too small for the needs the growing community. Consequently a contract was finally signed in 1871 to build a new monastery on the site of the formerly destined for Newman’s abortive Catholic University. George Ashlin, one of the most distinguished church architects in the country was engaged to plan the new monastery. On Thursday, 18 July 1872, the stone that had been blessed for the Catholic University by 24 bishops was laid as the foundation of the new monastery. In the year 2000 we built our current Monastery to facilitate the needs of our present community. The Monastery therefore remains in the heart of Dublin and plays a pivotal role in the local community.
The Redemptoristines, as cloistered religious are invited to contemplate and meditate on the Cross as the great mystery of love and see in this mystery the desire of love and communion with God. We are to feel that we are co-responsible together with Christ in giving real hope and genuine human dignity to all people, especially to those who feel oppressed by others. Our community living calls us to be a living transparent memory of Christ, the Saviour. It is a question here of making Christ present in our world.
Our mission within the Redemptorist family is not to go out and preach the word as our Redemptorist Fathers, Brothers and co-workers do, but the fruit of our sacrifices and prayer in Christ our Redeemer, bring strength and healing not only to our local community but also reach to the ends of the earth. People call, write and communicate their anxieties and troubles to us daily especially through e-mail. The newly installed web cam in our Chapel enables many thousands of people to join with us in prayer to God. Our small retreat facility and faith formation center are at the service of those who can avail of it. We have associate members of our community who share our charism and live it in their active daily lives. We in turn share in their lives of prayer.
People are welcome to join us daily for the celebration of the Eucharist, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, parts of the Divine Office and other services. Together we form one community in our parish and feel supported and deeply enriched by our people’s presence.
We support ourselves by producing altar breads for churches and the production of icons and other religious art. We celebrate the Divine Office in choir, spend three half-hour periods each day in contemplative prayer as well as lectio divina and study.
To view St Alphonsus website and live web-cam please click here www.rednuns.com