We were delighted to welcome his Excellency, Carlos Garcia De Alba, Ambassador of Mexico to Ireland, and Ms Fiona Roche to Mount St Joseph Abbey today as part of their visit to Cistercian College. The college has been receiving students from Mexico for over forty years and currently has a number of Mexican students. Pictured here in the monastic library signing the visitors’ book are his Excellency, Carlos Garcia De Alba, Ms Fiona Roche, Abbot Richard with Gabriel Espinosa and Pablo Perez students of Cistercian College. During the visit Abbot Richard presented Ambassador Carlos with a copy of the wonderfully illustrated book “Cistercian Europe: Architecture of Contemplation” and Ms Roche with a basket of hand crafted herbal soaps and creams made by the nuns of the Cistercian monastery Tautra Mariakloster in Norway www.tautra.org