The Splendor of Kells Priory

Kells Priory is one of the largest and magnificent medieval historic monuments in Ireland. The priory sits alongside King's River, about 9 miles south of the city of Kilkenny. Its most prominent feature is a set of medieval tower houses spaced at intervals along and within walls which enclose a site of just over three acres. These give the priory the appearance more of a fortress than of a place of worship and from them comes its local name of "Seven Castles". A priory is a place where men or women under religious vows are directed by a prior or prioress (a community spiritual leader). Priories may be houses of friars or religious sisters, or monasteries of monks or nuns.

I visited Kells Priory on the afternoon of June 23 while traveling from Kilkenny to Bantry. I was so impressed with this site that I stayed for several hours praying, meditating and singing.


I tried to upload a video of Kells Priory with this blog, but the file was too large for this site to handle. I've uploaded it on my FaceBook site instead. Check it out at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=10150306703814813&notif_t=video_processed


The song that is played as background music to the video is a segment of a song that I wrote earlier in 2011, "Our God, We Come". Written as a song to be sung near the beginning of worship, it has been entered in a song-writing competition sponsored by the Gospel Music Association. I will find out how I fare in the competition when I go to Nashville, Tennessee, the last week of this month of July. The recording features Jon Nitz on the keyboard and the bass guitar, John Hood on the drums, Carl Scheeler on the harmonica, and me on the acoustic guitar and vocals.