Bits and Bobs
Our Abbot Cuthbert and Brother Michael visited Brother Michael’s family in Slovakia. They went to the cathedral at Nitra to visit the places associated with the ancient Benedictine saints Andrew Svorad and Benedict the martyr. The bishop invited them to lunch and presented them with the gift of relics of these saints in his private chapel in a gallery looking down into the cathedral. We were delighted to welcome these saints to our monastery, and the abbot was delighted to meet some of the clergy of Nitra, who afforded him a very warm welcome.
During the same visit they were pleased to encounter the Benedictine nuns of Trstín. They are living in a little village together in order to prepare for the move to their new huge monastery, to which they took Fr Abbot and Brother Michael for a visit. The advance party consists of two Germans and a Slovak. The nuns were very pleased indeed to have some Benedictine company for the day, especially when they are so far from their own mother-house in Italy.