St. Modomnoc published in the Valyermo Chronicle

Modomnoc on his way to the boat that will carry him home to Ireland

It's nice to have some of my stories published, even if they are not exactly in the format I set them up for.  Fr. Aelred, who puts together the quarterly magazine for St. Andrew's Abbey, was asking one day if there were female oblates who had work to put into the magazine.  I happened to be there, and asked him if he would entertain the idea of stories, rather than nonfiction articles.  He said Yes, and to send them to him electronically.  When he received them he said he would very much like to publish one.  So that happened last summer.  Then before Christmas he said he would like to put another one into the Winter issue.  I had to scurry to get pictures ready, but a deadline is always useful.  I got this picture and one other done for the Winter issue, to go with the two pictures already finished.

The magazine arrived in our mailbox yesterday.  Considering that the format I planned on is a book with 8.5" x 10" pages, and the Chronicle pages are 5.5" x 8.5", the words and pictures came out quite well.

This is the story of St. Modomnoc, a 7th century Irish lad who goes to Wales to study for the priesthood, and is made beekeeper for the abbey.  He makes such a deep and loving connection with the bees that when it is time for him to go back to Ireland,  all the bees follow him there.   

This image is of a specific place in Wales, a beach near Menevia Abbey where Modomnoc studied. It seems like the most likely place where Modomnoc's boat would have left from.