Mount Saviour Monastery

September 2020 News:
On the 1st, Brother Antonio underwent a successful seven hour open heart surgery in Rochester to replace a valve. He returned to the monastery on the 9th and rejoined the brothers in choir on the 15th. His doctors informed us it would take a full year for him to be back to his presurgery self. Please remember his continual recovery in prayer.

Brother Bruno took advantage of the dry weather to move the hay stacks he made this summer into the barns under cover.

   

Our first frost came very early this year on the 19th. Two days later the heat needed to be turned on in our cells. Six of us received flu shots on the 29th. Where did this summer go'

We received word that an Oblate of Mount Saviour since 1963, Peg Peil, died on March 27. She was a frequent guest of the monastery and helped provide funds for the paving of the road from the Women's Guest House down to the chapel.

Professor Margaret Peil, Peg, was born in 1929 in Racine, Wisconsin, and enjoyed a childhood riding her bike and swimming in Lake Michigan. After school she trained to be an Occupational Therapist at Milwaukee-Downer College. Showing the independence, determination and unwavering self- belief that characterized her life, she decided to take a Sociology degree at Chicago University, going on to complete her PhD at Fordham in 1961. She paid her own way through her education, only giving herself Sunday afternoons off.

With trail-blazing spirit Peg left America to teach and do research at Ghana University for five years during the 1960s. She loved the country and the people and returned many times over the following 30 years. Her next move was to the UK where she joined Birmingham University's Department of African Studies, rising to become Professor of the Sociology of West Africa. She wrote numerous published articles and books about Ghana and other African nations; many of her books are still available. She was particularly interested in education and its influence on lives and occupations and in migration and its effects on society and families. Hers was an exceptional career, particularly for a woman of that era.

Peg was a devout Catholic who attended early mass every day. She lived alone, and her daily life was one of frugal, ascetic routine. However, she enjoyed two indulgences: travel and gardening. She joined the Friends of the monastery on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella in 2000.  She was an intrepid adventurer, visiting well over 100 countries from Bhutan to New Zealand. Into her 80's she was still holidaying widely, including visiting Oman and staying in a yurt in Mongolia. Her Birmingham garden was a passion. For over 20 years she opened it for charity under the National Garden Scheme and visitors could view her bed in the shape of Africa, filled with plants from the continent, and admire the unusual specimens she had collected.

May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.