Beatified monk's home now a place of pilgrimage

Pilgrims seeking the favour of Benedictine monk Dom Marmion, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II earlier this month, are making their way to a house near Enniscorthy in Co Wexford.

The house, Edermine, was where Dom Marmion sought refuge from the first World War which broke out when he was living with his community in Brussels.

Dom Marmion, an Irishman who was born in Dublin, convinced his fellow brothers they should move to the safety of Co Wexford for the duration of the war and they settled in Edermine in 1915, where there was a fine chapel for their use.

The community went back to Belgium after the war, in 1919, but its presence and the reputation it had for performing "miracles", curing those affected with the Great Black 'Flu, remains with some locals until this day.

One of those locals is Mr Pat Doyle, whose father, Martin, was an altar server in the chapel at Edermine. When the community left, it presented Martin with a brass plaque in appreciation of his loyal service.

In time, the house fell into the ownership of his son, and although Martin has passed away, Pat now lives in Edermine with his mother. In deference to the memory of the monks and his father, Pat never altered the chapel, paying for the upkeep of it and the house out of his successful farming interests.

He says his grandmother who had lived nearby knew the monk. As Pat tells it, one night his grandmother was awoken from her sleep and saw Dom Marmion standing in the room. As she watched, he disappeared, and she later discovered he had died in Belgium that day.

When it became known that the Pope was to beatify Dom Marmion, pilgrims started turning up at the house in increasing numbers. And although it is not open to the public, they were not turned away. Now the flow is becoming so great that Pat says he must consider opening the place to the public on a more permanent basis.

The chapel to which the visitors make their pilgrimage was designed by the noted church architect Augustus Pugin for the Powers family of Powers whiskey fame. The family were local benefactors who paid for work on St Aidan's Cathedral and then decided on a small version of the cathedral for their own home.

Indeed, the chapel's interior was so faithful to St Aidan's that in recent years when the cathedral was being restored, drawings were taken of the interior of the chapel, to aid the restoration.

The chapel is still consecrated so it is possible to have Mass said there. It can hold about 50 people, and Pat's family, many of whom are members of religious orders, have held family reunions which included Mass in the chapel.

As for the future, Pat says his family connection and local associations with Dom Marmion mean he doesn't like to turn pilgrims away. However, he is thinking of turning the house and chapel into a more formal retreat.