I entered the seminary to begin my 2 year Novitiate at Emo Park. Emo Park was a 2000 acre walled estate given to Lord Portarlington about 450 years ago by the English queen. It was situated not too far from Portlaoise and by the time I was growing up, it had become a shooting club. My father was a member there, and I, myself, shot many Pheasants there. The Jesuits bought the mansion and extensive grounds around it for use as a seminary. Years later they were forced to sell it, as they had so few vocations. It now belongs to the state and is open to the public for tours. The original mansion, which had been modified to suit the needs of the seminary while I was there, has now been restored to the state it was built in. But my memories of it are quite different than what people see now as they walk through.
Once you entered the Novitiate, you were cut off completely from your family. You were allowed no visits for the first 8 months and no vacations home ever. After 8 long months, your family was invited to come down for a visit. They were treated to a splendid dinner, complete with wine, and shooshed out by 6:00 PM. Any presents they brought along had to be handed up and shared out to the entire community.
As Novitiates, we rose at 5:30 AM for mediation and prayer until 6:30 AM. This was followed immediately by Mass, and then breakfast at 8:00 AM. After Mass, we engaged in various spiritual exercises, which included 'indoor works,' meaning cleaning the house, peeling potatoes, etc. And after our midday meal, 'outdoor works.' There were extensive grounds with lawns, shrubs, garden beds, and trees that all needed to be maintained. All of our work was done in strict silence. If it was absolutely necessary to speak, we were required to speak in Latin. Latin was also spoken during the first 10 minutes of our evening recreation period. The Second Year Novices were, by that time, used to using the Church Latin and, so, would help the First Years out.
We lived under very strict rules almost too complex to describe. The simplest and most basic included 'ne tangas' (do not touch one another)and restricted conversation. When we were allowed to talk, we were guided by a list of 'forbidden' topics, among which was food.
Our bedrooms, called Cameratas, had five or six beds, each with a curtain around it. Two nights per week--three nights during Lent--we were required to flog ourselves with the 'flagellum' for the duration of the 'de Profundis,' said out loud.
(Note- This prayer is Psalm 129, and known as de Profundis for the first two words in the Psalm, which translate to 'Out of the depths' in English. This prayer was surely spoken in Latin by my father, but I have included an English version here:
Out of the depths have I cried out to thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness in Thee; because of Thy law, I wait for Thee, O Lord.
From the morning watch until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord, there is mercy, and with Him is plentiful redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from all her iniquities.)
The 'flagellum' was made of hard knotted cord and was quite painful. It's use was intended to keep the will of the flesh subdued. To meet that same purpose, we also had spiked chains that wrapped around the lower arm and, sometimes, if it were too tightly applied, would break the skin.
Another punishment we were required was to declare your faults with outstretched arms in the refectory, on your knees. When you were done, you had to kiss the floor before getting up. But the worst punishment for most of us was reading (the Latin text) aloud during dinner, as we were corrected for every mispronunciation and thereby shamed publicly.
The Master of Novices was Father Donal O'Sullivan. He instructed us in the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuit order) and other spiritual matters. Fr. O'Sullivan was also very interested in art and provided us with copious good reproductions of spiritual art. I attribute to him my knowledge and appreciation for the works of Fra Angelico, Giotto, el Greco, von Bruegal, and all of the Impressionists.
I held Fr. O'Sullivan in high regard, and so it was to him I went when I was troubled in my faith. I remember discussing with him that I did not believe that the Virgin Mary appeared at Lourdes, Fatima, or Knock (in Ireland). He stressed to me that, if you have faith in God and do what is right, you are doing good. It is not a matter of emotions or feelings. Some of the saints, he told me, spent years in the 'dark night of the soul,' which was to say, struggling with their own doubts.
During my second year in the Novitiate, I was appointed 'Beedle.' The Beedle was sort of the head Novice who led the group in prayers and visited the two head Priests every morning for any special instructions for the day.
At the end of two years, those of us that were left took 'simple vows' of poverty, chastity, and obedience. For the first time, we were allowed to wear dog collars and black suits.
(Note-I was very lucky to visit Emo Park with my Dad a few years before he passed. What a touching and fascinating experience to hear him speak of the long days he spent here as a Novitiate. His writing here cannot come near to touching the emotional pain he struggled with as he transitioned from a somewhat coddled family lifestyle (think maids, doting nanny, and many siblings older & younger) to the bare, sparse, heavily regimented life he had now to live. And, certainly, he was not alone in this experience, for I imagine most of the boys around him struggled the same. Boot camp in armed forces has nothing on the Jesuit Novitiate life in the mid 20th Century!
I remember feeling irritated at the guides when we visited Emo that day because my Dad tried to strike up a conversation a few times during our tour of the house, mentioning that he had spent his Novitiate there. But the guides were so busy blabbing on about Lord Portarlington, dead and gone these many years, and couldn't be bothered to take an interest in an old man who was right in front of their faces with a fascinating bit of the history of this property. )
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