MacNamara diary, 19 August 1916-29 May 1919 / John Patrick MacNamara - Page 168
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[Page 168]
having been twice ejected. Before departing the Germans looted the whole place & many of the rooms were turned upside down & the contents scattered all over the floor.
The chapel is a very fine place indeed, the high altar being better than anything I have yet seen. At the top of the altar & slightly in rear is a statue of our Lady with 2 angels kneeling at her feet, one on either side. Immediately in rear of the altar is a big room used as a Choir Room & the whole statue of the Virgin & the angels could be turned by some mechanical means to completely round, to face this.
Below the altar & in the solid rock is a receptacle cut out, & which contains the bones of all deceased monks for some considerable time past. It seems that when a monk dies he is buried in a near by cemetry & a few years later his bones are disinterred & placed in this receptacle below the altar.
They had a fine library at the monastry & this has not been interfered with very much. There are plenty of evidence of recent German occupation in the way of notices in German