With Brother Barry on the Dunakapu Square, Győr, Hungary

In 2015 summer, the renewed Dunakapu (Gate of Danube river) Square in Győr was inaugurated, where Zoltán Pál's sculpture "PULZUS" was also installed. The huge, rotatable lens both reflects and captures the square, the city and the people, creating a continuous experience for all those who pass by.

Francesco Guarino - Death of Saint Alexius, 1st half of the 17th century, Naples, Italy.

Pictures from the past

Three members of the Irish Alexian community, Brother Luke Polding, Brother Dermot O'Leary and Brother Dominic Walsh, visited the Alexians in Hungary in February 2013. During their stay, they visited the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma, founded in 996, one of Hungary's outstanding historical sites and centres of ecclesiastical and artistic history. The picture shows the beautiful library of the abbey, which is still growing and currently holds 400,000 books. 

Saint Alexius and Mary Magdalene, 1904, Russian icon.

Pictures from the past

Brother Dermot O'Leary and Brother Bernhard-Maria from the German Alexian community at the General Chapter in May 2016 in Kleve, Germany.

Saint Alexius, beloved patron of the homeless, pilgrims, and the Alexian Brothers,

As this new week begins, we turn to you with hearts full of hope and gratitude. We ask for your intercession as we seek to walk in love and compassion, just as you did during your earthly life. Guide us to recognize those who are in need around us—those who struggle without shelter, those who wander in search of purpose, and those who are weary from their journeys. Inspire us to reach out with open hands and willing hearts, bringing comfort and support where it is most needed. Saint Alexius, instill in us the courage to embody your love and hospitality in our daily lives. Help us to be instruments of kindness and mercy, reflecting the light of Christ to all we meet. With your heavenly assistance, may this week be filled with compassion, understanding, and opportunities to serve those who need it most.

Amen.

Holy water fountains await thirsty pilgrims in the square in front of the Knock Apparition Chapel.

Bombelli Pietro Leone - Saint Alexius, 18th century, Rome, Italy. The drawing is a copy of the statue of St Alexius in the church of St Alexius and St Boniface in Rome.

With Brother Barry at the Country House Museum - Bakonybél, Hungary

The history of the village Bakonybél is closely connected to the Benedictine Bakonybél Abbey founded by Saint Stephen I in 1018. Saint Gellert resided here as a hermit between 1023 and 1030. Country house museums in Hungary are special public collections that include elements of museology, community formation, folk monument protection and maintenance.

 

Saint George the Dragon-Slayer and Saint Alexius, 18th century, Russian icon.

Prayer for Vocations

Saint Alexius, servant of God, you are our support, our model and our patron as we carry out our ministry in the service of the sick, the poor and the elderly. Ask our Lord to send sufficient vocations to our Congregation so that we may continue our legacy of service among those in need. Amen.

Beehive Meditation Cell, referring to the shape of a beehive. These carved stone structures were in use around the 6th to 8th centuries throughout Ireland, where hermits and monks lived. A re-imagined version of these, created by one of Ireland's best-known sculptors, Imogen Stuart, can be seen in the Chapel of Reconciliation on the Knock Shrine site. You can even sit in this chamber and have a prayer and feel the atmosphere of the place.

Brother Dominic in front of a beehive cell

 

Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) - Finding the body of St. Alexius, National Gallery of Ireland

Pictures from the past - December 2023

Brother Sean and a visitor to the Alexian Monastery in the Knock Basilica after the Christmas concert, with the beautiful mosaics of the Knock apparition in the background.

Gustav Fünders - St Alexius of Edessa, stained glass, 1958, Germany

Chapel of Reconciliation - Knock, Ireland

Located on the grounds of the Knock Shrine, the Chapel's primary function is to provide a confessional facility for visiting pilgrims and also offers the opportunity for silent prayer and all-day sacramental worship. Spiritual guides are available and music concerts are also held here.

 

St Alexius under the stairs, 19th century, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany.

Baross Gábor (1848-1892) Hungarian politician, founder of modern Hungarian trade and transport. He was a prominent economic and transport politician of the dualist era. His achievements in the development of the railways earned him the title of 'Minister of Railways'.

Brother Barry in front of the Baross statue
at the beginning of Győr's main street, named after Baross 

 

Lluís Bonifaç i Massó - Death of Saint Alexius (1796)

The statue is kept in the chapel of St Alexius in the church of Sant Joan Baptista de Valls in Tarragona, Spain.

Memories of the past - April 2024

On Easter Sunday, Brother Barry and Brother Alexius, a member of the Alexian community in Hungary, visited the ruins of the Carmelite Abbey of Ballinasmaula, just outside Knock. The monks of the abbey, founded in 1288, were engaged in education and continued to do so despite the storms of history for almost 600 years, until 1870. The ruins of this beautiful complex are now a cemetery.

Saint Alexius, exemplar of service and love, as we stand on the threshold of the new week, we turn to you for your blessing and guidance. Please fill our hearts with courage and help us to face every challenge with love and sincerity. Grant that we may find opportunities for service throughout the week and that we may follow your example to help those in need. Please watch over our loved ones and friends and grant them health and happiness in the days ahead. Please guide our steps on the path of love, understanding and kindness, so that each day may be a new opportunity to proclaim Your mercy. Grant that peace and harmony may reign in our communities. Thank you that we can begin this new week with you, and that you are always by our side, guiding us on life's journey. Amen.

Last year, the area next to the Alexian Monastery of Knock, where the animals (hens, ducks, nigerian dwarf goats) are kept, underwent a major renovation and transformation. A selection of pictures of the post-expansion state of the area.

St Alexius, 18th century, Portugal

Siegburg memories 2.

A selection of pictures taken in the church of St. Michael the Archangel in Michaelsberg Abbey. It is also the site of the beautiful chapel of Archbishop Anno II of Cologne (1056-1075), dated 2021, where the bones of the Archbishop are housed in a small box in the shape of a golden house formed from letters (the whole life with the years of his life are given out!).

The chapel is adorned with beautiful stained glass windows, one of which also features a bird feeding its chicks with its own blood as a symbol of self-sacrificing love. This motif is also on the coat of arms of the Alexian Order.

These pictures, part of the exhibition "Bible in the Arts - Shapes and Colours" by a young German graphic artist Cornelia Steinfeld, adorned the walls of the Abbey of Michaelsberg, the site of the General Assembly. The pictures illustrate biblical stories, using simple shapes, mostly circles, painted in seven colours (white, the colour of God).

In the order of the images: Creation, God creates man, Expulsion from Paradise, Moses' mission, David and Goliath, The Good Shepherd, The birth of Jesus, The healing of the blind man, The miraculous multiplication of the loaves, The Good Samaritan, Jesus and the children, The Last Supper, Jesus before his accusers, The death on the cross.

Brother Barry in front of the paintings of the exhibition

 

The General Chapter of the Alexian Brothers was held at the Abbey of Michaelsberg, a Benedictine foundation almost a thousand years old (1064), which was taken over by the Carmelites in the 2000s. The building was destroyed during the 2nd World War and is now almost 'new'. The complex, which includes St. Michael's Church, is a catering and conference complex with several chapels, guest rooms, a restaurant (including an outdoor one), other common areas, a huge cloister and an inner courtyard.

We have selected some of the pictures taken here.

 

Siegburg memories

Each morning the Brothers received the daily prayers in their own language, in German or English. The prayers were held in the beautiful little chapel of the abbey in Michaelsberg.

 

 

At the end of April this year, the General Chapter of the Alexian Brothers took place in Michaelsberg (Siegburg), Germany, where important decisions were taken on the future of the Order.

The meeting begins, Brother Dermot lights the candle
symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Death of Saint Alexius, 17th century, France.

Morning walk in Knock.

 

Brother Barry in front of the St Mary's Column in Győr's Széchenyi Square, erected by Bishop Lipót Kollonich of Győr in 1868. The statue commemorates the reconquest of Buda. According to the inscription on the pedestal of the statue, Kollonich became cardinal on the same day (2 September 1686) that Buda (on 17 November 1873, Buda, Pest and Óbuda were united to form Budapest) was liberated from 145 years of Turkish rule.

Saint Alexius (1686) - Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona, Spain