MAY Murphy, like many other people who have moved away from their native south Down, is always uplifted by a glimpse of the grandeur of the Mourne Mountains, and on a clear day she can see the peaks from her home in Malahide, Co Dublin.

In her mind, she is taken back to the period she was growing up in Kilkeel, with the recollections of her youth remaining warm and clear, even though for the last 67 years she has been a Carmelite nun, strictly observing all the many disciplines of her order and officially known as Sister Brigid.

I had the opportunity to chat over tea with May, a diminutive and engaging figure in her full-length traditional brown habit, during a memorable trip to the Star of the Sea convent last month, when I came away struck by the serenity and dignity of the small contemplative community.

May, a sympathetic and well-informed conversationalist, is plainly adored by her family and friends, with whom she keeps in regular contact and is a source of great comfort to them.

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We had met before, but only briefly as her days are invariably spent in prayer and contemplation, and she........

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