Dr Esther de Waal is a well-known writer, speaker and retreat leader. Her work focuses primarily on Celtic and monastic spirituality. She has written a number of books, including The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination (new edition 2010); Living on the Border: Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds (2011); Seeking God (1984); and Lost in Wonder: Rediscovering the Spiritual Art of Attentiveness (2003).

She begins this video lecture, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, by describing how Thomas Merton discovered the writings of Nora Chadwick and the difference it began to make in his own life of solitude.

Dr. De Waal claims that the writings on the Celts by Nora Chadwick are the most excellent ways for one to be introduced to the subject, in particular, in terms of her own lecture at St. Paul's: Chadwick's The Age of Saints in the Celtic Church, written in 1964.