Connie Marshner fell in love with Ireland when she was in middle school and with the Eastern Church when she found Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, a few years later. She heard echoes of Eastern hymnody in some late-antique Irish prayers and poetry, and the pursuit of a master’s degree in Gaelic literature at University College Cork gave her the opportunity to do in-depth research on the topic. Monastery and High Cross is drawn from her 2022 dissertation. A teacher of Gaeilge, she is the chair of the Saints and Scholars Foundation, which supports a new model of faithful Catholic education for modern secular Ireland, www.saintsandscholars.us. She lives in Front Royal, Virginia.