The Blackbird's Nest - St. Kevin of Glendalough

The Great Rood Screen · Aug 27, 2026

It is Lent in a steep valley of the Wicklow Mountains, and a man has stood at prayer so long that a blackbird mistakes him for a tree. She builds her nest in his outstretched hand, lays her eggs, and broods there — and Kevin of Glendalough does not move until the last fledgling flies. Dcn. Seraphim tells the story of the hermit who came to the valley of the two lakes to be alone with God and found the whole creation gathering around him: the cow that reveals his solitude, the doe that nurses an orphan, the wolf sentenced to a penance of mercy, and the otter that lifts his lost psalter from…