We know that Richard Purcell resigned as Abbot of Mount Mellerary on November 25th last citing “personal reasons”.
But visitors to Mount Mellerary claim he was still presiding in the choir on December 8 th – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On Friday last a current Irish Cistercian monk said that Richard Purcell had taken a 12 months leave from the monastery and the Cistercian order.
Meanwhile, other Mount Mellerary long term devotees have revealed that they found Richard Purcell pompous and arrogant.
Apparently, he was particularly dismissive of the Mellerary college old boys – the Mount Mellerary college that closed its doors in 1974.
Purcell hurt their feeling by suggesting that the Mellerary college had only been a mere “school” while his favoured Roscrea College was a “proper college”.
According to these devotees, Purcell had none of the grace, kindness and compassion of all the previous Mellerary abbots.
One of the devotees actually described Purcell as a “bollox”.
That’s not a word a Mellerary devotee ever uses lightly about the Lord Abbot.
So, sadly, it looks as if Purcell was not appreciative of people who have supported Mount Mellerary since the 1940s and 1950s.
I think Purcell was utterly spoiled by the Cistercian authorities who allowed him:
1. To study at Oxford in a Bohemian community.
2. Allowed him to rise up the ladder too quickly and give me massive airs and graces.
3. Turned a blind eye to his lifestyle and his regular absences from the monastery.
What’s the old saying:
“Pride comes before a fall”?
People in Cappaquin are also claiming that Richard Purcell only agreed to resign if the Abbot General Eamon Fitzgerald resigned too.
People are saying that Purcell had something on Fitzgerald?
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 