112-597: Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation . Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School , for the education of children aged 11 to 18. Both the abbey and the school are at Stratton-on-the-Fosse , between Westfield and Shepton Mallet in Somerset, South West England. In 2020, the monastic community of Downside Abbey
224-478: A Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £856,000 in 2013, the archives have opened to the public, and much of the collection of rare books and manuscripts has been digitised. The grant also enabled repair and improvement of the library building. In March 2017, it was reported that the Abbey was to publish a copy of a Georgian recipe book from 1793 that was discovered in its library in 2016. Amongst other items, it included one of
336-522: A "Superior General". Each Benedictine congregation is autonomous and governed by an abbot or abbess. The autonomous houses are characterised by their chosen charism or specific dedication to a particular devotion. For example, In 1313 Bernardo Tolomei established the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet . The community adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict and received canonical approval in 1344. The Olivetans are part of
448-440: A bonfire, destroying staff files dating back to the early 1980s that might have contained evidence of child abuse at the school. Father Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, abbot of Downside from 1990 to 1998, was among three Downside abbots accused by Father Aidan Bellenger , in a private letter, of tolerating child abuse. Father Aidan, abbot from 2006 to 2014, said his predecessors "protected and encouraged" paedophile monks. Wrongdoers at
560-808: A director and (1812–1813) as a governor of the Bank of England and also sat in Parliament for 30 years, representing in the Tory interest Plympton Earle , Lymington , Evesham and Penryn consecutively. Manning's mother, Mary (died 1847), daughter of Henry Leroy Hunter, of Beech Hill, and sister of Sir Claudius Stephen Hunter, 1st Baronet , came from a family said to be of French extraction. Manning spent his boyhood mainly at Coombe Bank , Sundridge, Kent , where he had for companions Charles Wordsworth and Christopher Wordsworth , later bishops of St Andrews and Lincoln respectively. He attended Harrow School (1822–1827) during
672-680: A dispenser of the sacraments. Manning was an anti-vivisectionist and founding member of the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection . He was a vice-president of the Society. At the annual meeting of the Victoria Street Society in June 1881, he denounced vivisection as inhumane and of doubtful benefit to science. In 1887, Manning commented that vivisection
784-459: A fellow of Merton College and received ordination as a deacon in the Church of England . In January 1833 he became curate to John Sargent , Rector of Lavington -with- Graffham , West Sussex. In May 1833, following Sargent's death, he succeeded him as rector due to the patronage of Sargent's mother. Manning married Caroline, John Sargent's daughter, on 7 November 1833, in a ceremony performed by
896-506: A few different places, namely the sacristy , which contained books for the choir and other liturgical books, the rectory , which housed books for public reading such as sermons and lives of the saints, and the library , which contained the largest collection of books and was typically in the cloister. The first record of a monastic library in England is in Canterbury . To assist with Augustine of Canterbury 's English mission , Pope Gregory
1008-564: A hunting lodge, was officially returned to the Benedictines four hundred years later, in 1928. During the next few years, so-called Prinknash Park was used as a home until it was returned to the order. St. Lawrence's Abbey in Ampleforth, Yorkshire was founded in 1802. In 1955, Ampleforth set up a daughter house, a priory at St. Louis, Missouri which became independent in 1973 and became Saint Louis Abbey in its own right in 1989. As of 2015,
1120-629: A life of exploitation, others dedicated to the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament such as the one established by Catherine de Bar (1614–1698). In 1688 Dame Mechtilde de Bar assisted Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien , queen consort of Poland, to establish a Benedictine foundation in Warsaw . Abbeys were among the institutions of the Catholic Church swept away during
1232-546: A manor house called Mount Pleasant, at Downside, Somerset, in 1814. The monastery was completed in 1876. Downside was granted Abbey status in 1899 (with Ampleforth and Douai) and Prior Edmund Ford was elected the first Abbot in 1900. In 2018–2020, following an investigation of Downside School by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse , financial strain on the abbey led to the sale of assets including Renaissance paintings. Dom Nicholas Wetz of Belmont Abbey
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#17328483478121344-485: A monastic manner of life, drawing on the Vulgate 's use of conversatio as indicating "citizenship" or "local customs", see Philippians 3:20. The Rule enjoins monks and nuns "to live in this place as a religious, in obedience to its rule and to the abbot or abbess." Benedictine abbots and abbesses have jurisdiction over their abbey and thus canonical authority over the monks or nuns who are resident. This authority includes
1456-423: A particular foundation in a particular location. Not being bound by location, the mendicants were better able to respond to an increasingly "urban" environment. This decline was further exacerbated by the practice of appointing a commendatory abbot, a lay person, appointed by a noble to oversee and to protect the assets of the monastery. Often, however, this resulted in the appropriation of the assets of monasteries at
1568-507: A plain Grecian style, to designs assumed to be by the eminent architect Henry Goodridge . The adjacent gatepiers in Gothic Revival style by E. J. Hansom were added in 1871. The monastery and attached cloisters were completed in 1873, except for the south end which was completed in 1899. As with the first phase of the church the architects were A. M. Dunn and E. J. Hansom, and construction
1680-619: A political career, but his father had sustained severe losses in business and, in these circumstances, having graduated with first-class honours in 1830, he obtained the year following, through the 1st Viscount Goderich , a post as a supernumerary clerk in the Colonial Office . Manning resigned from this position in 1832, his thoughts having turned towards a clerical career under Evangelical influences, including his friendship with Favell Lee Mortimer , which affected him deeply throughout life. Returning to Oxford in 1832, he gained election as
1792-400: A profound influence. Manning did not, however, support enfranchising women . In 1871, at St. Mary Moorfield , he said he hoped English womanhood would "resist by a stern moral refusal, the immodesty which would thrust women from their private life of dignity and supremacy into the public conflicts of men." In 1883, Manning published The Eternal Priesthood , his most influential work. In
1904-401: A reference to ritual purification , which is inspired by Benedict's encouragement of bathing . Benedictine monks have played a role in the development and promotion of spas . Benedictine monasticism differs from other Christian religious orders in that as congregations sometimes with several houses, some of them in other countries, they are not bound into a unified religious order headed by
2016-612: A template for explaining child deaths. According to historian Joe Hillaby, the blood libel of Harold was crucially important because for the first time an unexplained child death occurring near the Easter festival was arbitrarily linked to Jews in the vicinity by local Christian churchmen: "they established a pattern quickly taken up elsewhere. Within three years the first ritual murder charge was made in France." The forty-eighth Rule of Saint Benedict prescribes extensive and habitual "holy reading" for
2128-428: Is Ora et Labora "pray and work". Although Benedictines do not take a vow of silence, hours of strict silence are set, and at other times silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. Such details, like other aspects of the daily routine of a Benedictine house are left to the discretion of the superior, and are set out in its customary ,
2240-565: Is derived from 38 ranks of pipes by means of extension and transmission. The whole instrument is enclosed within three stone and concrete chambers with swell shutters facing upwards, except the Tuba box which speaks down into the transept. Unusually, the casework (designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and carved by Ferdinand Stuflesser of Ortesei in the Italian Tyrol ) has no pipe fronts: it is of solid oak with fretwork , but has no roof: consequently,
2352-499: Is in Bath stone under red tile, in a style described by English Heritage as "collegiate High Victorian ". The west front has three storeys, rising to four at the south end, and a later attic floor; there are four gables and the central entrance is under a half-projecting two-storey octagonal tower with a conical roof. The east front is obscured by the library of 1971, and a 1975 wing providing a refectory and guest accommodation, both designed by
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#17328483478122464-629: The Benedictine Confederation . Although Benedictines are traditionally Catholic, there are also other communities that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. For example, of an estimated 2,400 celibate Anglican religious (1,080 men and 1,320 women) in the Anglican Communion as a whole, some have adopted the Rule of Benedict. Likewise, such communities can be found in Eastern Orthodox Church , and Lutheran Church . Members of
2576-475: The Benedictine Rule . Rule 38 states that 'these brothers' meals should usually be accompanied by reading, and that they were to eat and drink in silence while one read out loud. Benedictine monks were not allowed worldly possessions, thus necessitating the preservation and collection of sacred texts in monastic libraries for communal use. For the sake of convenience, the books in the monastery were housed in
2688-524: The Brett and Pollen partnership. The monastery, including a single-storey cloister linking it to the school, was designated as Grade II* listed in 1986, and the 1975 east wing was added to the designation in 2024. The Monastery's collections consist of some 450,000 books, incunabula , manuscripts and periodicals, held alongside the archives of the English Benedictine Congregation . The collection of medieval manuscripts has been described as "the most important in
2800-512: The Camaldolese community. The Cistercians branched off from the Benedictines in 1098; they are often called the "White monks". The dominance of the Benedictine monastic way of life began to decline towards the end of the twelfth century, which saw the rise of the mendicant Franciscans and nomadic Dominicans . Benedictines by contrast, took a vow of "stability", which professed loyalty to
2912-553: The Catholic Church , and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but converted to Catholicism in the aftermath of the Gorham judgement . Manning was born on 15 July 1808 at his grandfather's home, Copped Hall, Totteridge , Hertfordshire. He was the third and youngest son of William Manning , a prominent merchant and slave owner , who served as
3024-454: The Congregation of Saint Maur , a prerevolutionary French congregation of Benedictines known for their scholarship: Benedictine Oblates endeavor to embrace the spirit of the Benedictine vow in their own life in the world. Oblates are affiliated with a particular monastery. Henry Edward Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of
3136-1121: The English Reformation . A stone's throw from Marble Arch , the Tyburn Convent is now the Mother House of the Congregation. Benedictines are thought to have arrived in the Kingdom of Poland in the 11th-century. One of the earliest foundations is Tyniec Abbey on a promontory by the Vistula river. The Tyniec monks led the translation of the Bible into Polish vernacular. Other surviving Benedictine houses can be found in Stary Kraków Village , Biskupów , Lubiń . Older foundations are in Mogilno , Trzemeszno , Łęczyca , Łysa Góra and in Opactwo , among others. In
3248-575: The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. French troops invaded Flanders during the French Revolution . The monastic community was expelled by them, after a period of imprisonment, and in March 1795 the community was permitted to proceed to England. They settled for some 20 years as guests of Sir Edward Smythe at Acton Burnell , Shropshire, before finally settling at
3360-682: The French Revolution . Monasteries and convents were again allowed to form in the 19th century under the Bourbon Restoration . Later that century, under the Third French Republic , laws were enacted preventing religious teaching. The original intent was to allow secular schools. Thus in 1880 and 1882, Benedictine teaching monks were effectively exiled; this was not completed until 1901. In 1898 Marie-Adèle Garnier, in religion, Mother Marie de Saint-Pierre, founded in Montmartre ( Mount of
3472-724: The Middle Ages the city of Płock , also on the Vistula, had a successful monastery, which played a significant role in the local economy. In the 18th-century benedictine convents were opened for women, notably in Warsaw's New Town. A 15th-century Benedictine foundation can be found in Senieji Trakai , a village in Eastern Lithuania . Kloster Rheinau was a Benedictine monastery in Rheinau in
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3584-642: The Order of Saint Benedict ( Latin : Ordo Sancti Benedicti , abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB ), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict . Initiated in 529, they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church . The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks , especially in English speaking countries, after
3696-624: The Privy Council ordered the Church of England to institute an evangelical cleric who denied that the sacrament of baptism had an objective effect of baptismal regeneration . The denial of the objective effect of the sacraments was to Manning and many others a grave heresy, contradicting the clear tradition of the Christian Church from the Church Fathers on. That a civil and secular court had
3808-460: The Reformation . The earliest part is the decorated transepts by Archibald Matthias Dunn and Edward Joseph Hansom , dating from 1882. The choir is the work of Thomas Garner (who is buried there), dedicated in 1905. The nave by Giles Gilbert Scott (c. 1923–25) remains unfinished, with its western wall in crude Lias stone standing bare and undecorated. The Lady chapel is acknowledged as one of
3920-547: The Vatican and to the world. Benedictine nuns are given the title Dame in preference to Sister . The monastery at Subiaco in Italy, established by Benedict of Nursia c. 529, was the first of the dozen monasteries he founded. He later founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino . There is no evidence, however, that he intended to found an order and the Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes
4032-688: The Vatican and to the world. The headquarters of the Benedictine Confederation and the Abbot Primate is the Primatial Abbey of Sant'Anselmo built by Pope Leo XIII in Rome . The Rule of Saint Benedict is also used by a number of religious orders that began as reforms of the Benedictine tradition such as the Cistercians and Trappists . These groups are separate congregations and not members of
4144-554: The Angels, Bayswater , to serve labourers building Paddington Station . There he founded, at Wiseman's request, the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Charles. This new community of secular priests was the joint work of Cardinal Wiseman and Manning, for both had independently conceived of the idea of a community of this kind, and Manning had studied the life and work of Charles Borromeo in his Anglican days at Lavington and had, moreover, visited
4256-717: The Benedictine Confederation. Other specialisms, such as Gregorian chant as at Solesmes in France, or Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament have been adopted by different houses, as at the Warsaw Convent, or the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre at Tyburn Convent in London. Other houses have dedicated themselves to books, reading, writing and printing them as at Stanbrook Abbey in England. Others still are associated with
4368-553: The Benedictine clergy, to which Order Downside belongs, was the Very Revd. Dr. Sweeney, of Bath. The ceremony commenced with Pontifical High Mass, celebrated by Dr. Clifford. After the Gospel the Archbishop preached, taking as his text, "One body and one spirit", Eph iv 4. After Mass, the music of which was strict Gregorian, a procession was formed and moved through the grounds of the college to
4480-454: The Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy. They are instead organized as a collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known as abbeys . The order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation , an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect an Abbot Primate to represent themselves to
4592-563: The Canton of Zürich, Switzerland, founded in about 778. The abbey of Our Lady of the Angels was founded in 1120. The English Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations. Through the influence of Wilfrid , Benedict Biscop , and Dunstan , the Benedictine Rule spread rapidly, and in the North it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by
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4704-454: The Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no fewer than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Monasteries served as hospitals and places of refuge for the weak and homeless. The monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of
4816-721: The English Congregation consists of three abbeys of nuns and ten abbeys of monks. Members of the congregation are found in England, Wales, the United States of America, Peru and Zimbabwe. In England there are also houses of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation : Farnborough, Prinknash, and Chilworth: the Solesmes Congregation , Quarr and St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, as well as a diocesan monastery following
4928-409: The Great gave him nine books which included the Gregorian Bible in two volumes, the Psalter of Augustine, two copies of the Gospels , two martyrologies , an Exposition of the Gospels and Epistles, and a Psalter . Theodore of Tarsus brought Greek books to Canterbury more than seventy years later, when he founded a school for the study of Greek. The first Benedictine to live in the United States
5040-454: The Martyr ), Paris a Benedictine house. However, the Waldeck-Rousseau 's Law of Associations , passed in 1901, placed severe restrictions on religious bodies which were obliged to leave France. Garnier and her community relocated to another place associated with executions, this time it was in London , near the site of Tyburn tree where 105 Catholic martyrs—including Saint Oliver Plunkett and Saint Edmund Campion had been executed during
5152-428: The Oblates at Milan, in 1856, to satisfy himself that their rule could be adapted to the needs of Westminster. Manning became superior of the congregation. In 1865 he was appointed Archbishop of Westminster . Among his accomplishments as head of the Catholic Church in England were the acquisition of the site for Westminster Cathedral , but his focus was on a greatly expanded system of Catholic education, including
5264-408: The Quad. The school has a board of governors with eleven members, one of whom is from the Abbey community. Since September 2019, the school and the abbey are run by separate trusts as part of reforms overseen by the Charity Commission in the wake of an investigation into child abuse of pupils by monks. In January 2012, Father Richard White, a Downside Abbey monk who formerly taught at its school,
5376-409: The Roman Catholic community throughout Great Britain. In honour of the occasion the Abbey Church has been raised by the Pope to the dignity of the Minor Basilica – the first in England – and this confers upon the Abbot the right to wear the Cappa Magna , a long black cloak. Cardinal Seredi, who directly represented the Pope, consecrated the High Altar and performed the greater part of the consecration of
5488-453: The Rule of Saint Benedict: The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury. Since the Oxford Movement , there has also been a modest flourishing of Benedictine monasticism in the Anglican Church and Protestant Churches. Anglican Benedictine Abbots are invited guests of the Benedictine Abbot Primate in Rome at Abbatial gatherings at Sant'Anselmo. In 1168 local Benedictine monks instigated the anti-semitic blood libel of Harold of Gloucester as
5600-400: The South West of England". The collections are housed in a six-storey octagonal building designed in 1960s style by Francis Pollen (an alumnus of Downside School) and completed in 1971. When the library was designated as Grade II listed in 2024, it was described as "a highly imaginative building ... with high-quality workmanship; ... good quality joinery and cabinetry throughout". Following
5712-548: The Spanish Benedictine Congregation , notably the principal monastery at Valladolid . In 1611 Dom Philippe de Caverel , abbot of St. Vaast's Abbey at Arras , built and endowed a monastery for the community. The Priory of St Gregory was therefore the first English Benedictine house to renew conventual life after the Reformation . For nearly 200 years the monastery trained monks for the English mission and six of these men were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Two of them, Saints John Roberts and Ambrose Barlow , were among
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#17328483478125824-409: The abbeys of Alpirsbach (1099), Ettenheimm ünster (1124) and Sulzburg ( c. 1125 ), and the priories of Weitenau (now part of Steinen , c. 1100 ), Bürgel (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch ( c. 1130 ). Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , Loiret was founded in about 640. It is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses
5936-403: The academia in Rome where he took his doctorate, and on 14 June 1851 was ordained a Catholic priest at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street . Given his great abilities and prior fame, he quickly rose to a position of influence. He served as provost of the cathedral chapter under Cardinal Wiseman. In 1857, he established at Wiseman's direction the mission of St Mary of
6048-416: The advisory visit in November 2011, policies and practice meet the requirements in full. Thorough procedures ensure the safe recruitment of staff, and all the necessary checks are carried out...The quality of the pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is excellent. This fulfils the school's aim of developing high personal standards in each pupil in the light of the school's Christian context. By
6160-471: The article on Cardinal Newman.) In 1888, Manning was interviewed by social activist and journalist Virginia Crawford , a fellow English Catholic , for The Pall Mall Gazette , and was instrumental in settling the London dock strike of 1889 at the behest of Margaret Harkness . He played a significant role in the conversion of other notable figures including Elizabeth Belloc, mother of famous British author Hilaire Belloc , upon whose thinking Manning had
6272-493: The autonomy of each community. When Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, and it seems probable that this constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism. Copies of Benedict's Rule survived; around 594 Pope Gregory I spoke favorably of it. The rule is subsequently found in some monasteries in southern Gaul along with other rules used by abbots. Gregory of Tours says that at Ainay Abbey , in
6384-450: The beginning of modern Catholic social justice teaching. For a portion of 1870, he was in Rome attending the First Vatican Council . Manning was among the strongest supporters of the doctrine of papal infallibility , unlike Cardinal Newman who believed the doctrine but thought it might not be prudent to define it formally at the time. (For a comparison of Manning and Newman, see the section entitled " Relationships with other converts " in
6496-446: The best cultivated farms in their part of the county of Somerset. In 1925 the unfinished nave was dedicated to those old boys of the school killed in World War I . The abbey church was consecrated in 1935. At the same time it was raised to the rank of a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI . The consecration was reported in the Wells Journal for 13 September 1935. To-day, with the full solemnity of Catholic ritual, Downside Abbey, which
6608-422: The book, Manning defended an elevated idea of the priesthood as, "in and of itself, an outstanding way to perfection, and even a 'state of perfection'". In comparison to his polemical writings, The Eternal Priesthood is "austere" and "glacial", arguing for a rigorous conception of the moral duties of the office. Manning additionally stressed the social function of the priest, who must be more to his community than
6720-405: The brethren. Three primary types of reading were done by the monks in medieval times. Monks would read privately during their personal time, as well as publicly during services and at mealtimes. In addition to these three mentioned in the Rule, monks would also read in the infirmary. Monasteries were thriving centers of education, with monks and nuns actively encouraged to learn and pray according to
6832-500: The bride's brother-in-law, the Revd Samuel Wilberforce , later Bishop of Oxford and Winchester . Manning's marriage did not last long: his young wife came of a consumptive family and died childless on 24 July 1837. Upon his death more than half a century later, a locket containing Caroline's picture was found on a chain around Manning's neck, by then a celibate Catholic cleric of many decades. Though he never became an acknowledged disciple of John Henry Newman (later Cardinal Newman),
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#17328483478126944-411: The church, the building of which has cost over £200,000. The church houses the relics of St. Oliver Plunkett , archbishop of Armagh, an Irish martyr, executed at Tyburn in 1681, who entrusted the disposal of his body to the care of a Benedictine monk of the English Benedictine Congregation. The church is one of only four in the United Kingdom to be designated a minor basilica by the Roman Catholic Church,
7056-569: The cloister, was designated as Grade I listed in 1986. The first pipe organ at Downside was built in 1805 by George Pike England of Tottenham Court Road for the Music Room in Brighton Pavilion ; when removed in 1882 (without its original case) to the south transept gallery of the new church, it had 16 stops over two manuals and pedals. Removed to the parish church of Saint Vigor in nearby Stratton-on-the-Fosse in 1907, it survives today somewhere in America, having been sold following water damage sustained in Stratton in 1969. The England organ
7168-416: The code adopted by a particular Benedictine house by adapting the Rule to local conditions. According to the norms of the 1983 Code of Canon Law , a Benedictine abbey is a " religious institute " and its members therefore participate in consecrated life which Canon 588 §1 explains is intrinsically "neither clerical nor lay." Males in consecrated life, however, may be ordained. Benedictines' rules contain
7280-453: The colour of their habits , although some, like the Olivetans , wear white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia , a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica , possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit . They retained a close relationship until her death. Despite being called an order,
7392-461: The daughter of the first Christian King of Kent . Currently the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Five of the most notable English abbeys are the Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey , The Abbey of St Edmund, King and Martyr commonly known as Douai Abbey in Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berkshire, Ealing Abbey in Ealing, West London, and Worth Abbey . Prinknash Abbey , used by Henry VIII as
7504-439: The day of a medieval monk. In the Middle Ages monasteries were often founded by the nobility. Cluny Abbey was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine , in 910. The abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict. The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, through appointed priors. One of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 by Romuald , who founded
7616-436: The earlier codes. By the ninth century, however, the Benedictine had become the standard form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the Celtic observance still prevailed for another century or two. Largely through the work of Benedict of Aniane , it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire. Monastic scriptoria flourished from
7728-702: The earliest known UK recipes for curry . It also chronicles day-to-day life at Begbrook House near Bristol. The Abbey Cemetery, primarily a burial ground for the community, also contains two war graves of World War II : a Lieutenant of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and a Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal New Zealand Navy . Others buried here include Mrs. Baron Charles von Hügel , and two of her children, Friedrich and Pauline . Downside monks founded daughter houses at Ealing, west London (founded 1897, independent 1947, became Ealing Abbey in 1955); and at Worth, West Sussex (founded 1933, independent 1957, became Worth Abbey in 1965). Downside School, which until 2019
7840-490: The establishment of the short-lived Catholic University College in Kensington. In 1875 Manning was created Cardinal-Priest of Ss Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio . Manning participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIII in 1878. Manning approved the founding of the Catholic Association Pilgrimage . Manning was very influential in setting the direction of the modern Catholic Church. His warm relations with Pope Pius IX and his ultramontane views gained him
7952-412: The expense of the community which they were intended to support. Saint Blaise Abbey in the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg is believed to have been founded around the latter part of the tenth century. Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise and the Cluniac Abbey of Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise following the Fruttuarian reforms. The Empress Agnes
8064-617: The foundation stones of the new church and collegiate and monastic buildings were laid amidst much ceremonial. Archbishop Manning presided at the ceremony, and he was accompanied by Bishop Clifford of Clifton , The Bishop of Newport and Menevia , the Cistercian Abbot of Mount St Bernard's, Leicestershire , Monsignor Capel, Monsignor Parfitt, Dr. Neve, the Vicar-General of the Diocese, Dr. Williams, President of Prior Park College , and among
8176-483: The headmastership of George Butler , but obtained no distinction beyond playing for two years in the cricket eleven. However, this proved to be no impediment to his academic career. Manning matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford , in 1827, studying Classics , and soon made his mark as a debater at the Oxford Union , where William Ewart Gladstone succeeded him as president in 1830. At this date he had ambitions of
8288-462: The latter's influence meant that from this date Manning's theology assumed an increasingly High Church character and his printed sermon on the "Rule of Faith" publicly signalled his alliance with the Tractarians . In 1838 he took a leading part in the church education movement, by which diocesan boards were established throughout the country; and he wrote an open letter to his bishop in criticism of
8400-472: The monks had faced police action, two had restrictions imposed on them, and one was cleared and returned to monastic life. A review of school governance was already taking place. The Independent Schools Inspectorate's most recent report, 2013, states: "The arrangements for welfare, health and safety are excellent. The school's safeguarding arrangements are much improved since the November 2010 inspection and, as in
8512-419: The most complete and successful schemes of Sir Ninian Comper , with a reredos and altar furnishings incorporating medieval fragments and a reliquary containing the skull of St Thomas de Cantilupe . The tower, completed in 1938, at 166 feet (55 m), is the second highest in Somerset. The choir stalls are modelled on those of Chester Cathedral . The building, together with the attached north part of
8624-512: The neighbourhood. The building is to be constructed of stone from the neighbouring quarries at Doulting , which it may be mentioned furnished the material of the structure of Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey . The present Benedictine community purchased about 70 acres of land at Downside in the year 1814, and removed thither from Acton Burnell in Shropshire. By degrees they have increased their property to some 350 acres, and are known to have
8736-410: The ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium. As a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole, active work. An anonymous writer of the ninth or tenth century speaks of six hours a day as the usual task of a scribe, which would absorb almost all the time available for active work in
8848-463: The others being St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham , The National Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham and Corpus Christi Priory , Manchester . The church is built in the Gothic Revival style, in Bath stone ashlar with plain red tile roofs; the east chapels are roofed in copper sheeting. It is designed to rival in size the medieval cathedrals of England that were lost to the Catholic Church through
8960-418: The places where they were founded or their founders centuries ago, hence Cassinese , Subiaco , Camaldolese or Sylvestrines . All Benedictine houses became federated in the Benedictine Confederation brought into existence by Pope Leo XIII 's Apostolic Brief " Summum semper " on 12 July 1893. Pope Leo also established the office of Abbot Primate as the abbot elected to represent this Confederation at
9072-500: The power to assign duties, to decide which books may or may not be read, to regulate comings and goings, and to punish and to excommunicate , in the sense of an enforced isolation from the monastic community. A tight communal timetable – the horarium – is meant to ensure that the time given by God is not wasted but used in God's service, whether for prayer, work, meals, spiritual reading or sleep. The order's motto
9184-423: The power to force the Church of England to accept someone with such an unorthodox opinion proved to him that, far from being a divinely created institution, that the Anglican Communion was a man-made creation and, even worse in his views, still completely controlled by Her Majesty's Government . The following year, on 6 April 1851, Manning was received into the Catholic Church in England and then studied at
9296-504: The prevalence of paedophilia in the English Benedictine Congregation and its failures to properly protect young people over many decades. IICSA heard that children at the two schools could still be "at risk". The enquiry heard evidence that in 2012, the then headmaster, Father Leo Maidlow Davis, who is now the senior monk at Downside Abbey, made trips with a loaded wheelbarrow to a distant part of its grounds, where he made
9408-578: The recent appointment of the ecclesiastical commission. In December of that year he paid his first visit to Rome and called on Nicholas Wiseman , the Rector of the English College , in company with Gladstone. In January 1841 Philip Shuttleworth , Bishop of Chichester , appointed Manning as the Archdeacon of Chichester , whereupon he began a personal visitation of each parish within his district, completing
9520-502: The relics of St. Benedict. Like many Benedictine abbeys it was located on the banks of a river, here the Loire . Ainey Abbey is a ninth century foundation on the Lyon peninsula. In the twelfth century on the current site there was a romanesque monastery , subsequently rebuilt. The seventeenth century saw a number of Benedictine foundations for women, some dedicated to the indigent to save them from
9632-482: The religious part of the day's proceedings the Benedictine Fathers entertained the visitors, numbering about 200, at a luncheon laid out in the exhibition room of the college. The style of the new building, the architects of which are Messrs. Dunn and Hansom , of Newcastle, is mediaeval Gothic. The church, it is said, will be exceptionally grand, and with its lofty tower and spire will be a striking object to all
9744-456: The same community), and to adopt a "conversion of habits", in Latin, conversatio morum and obedience to the community's superior. The "Benedictine vows" are equivalent to the evangelical counsels accepted by all candidates entering a religious order . The interpretation of conversatio morum understood as "conversion of the habits of life" has generally been replaced by notions such as adoption of
9856-477: The same lineage. For instance the American-Cassinese congregation included the 22 monasteries descended from Boniface Wimmer. A sense of community has been the defining characteristic of the order since the beginning. To that end, section 17 in chapter 58 of the Rule of Saint Benedict specifies the solemn vows candidates joining a Benedictine community are required to make: a vow of stability, to remain in
9968-715: The school continues to operate in the buildings to the south. The community was founded in 1607 at Douai in Flanders , then part of the Spanish Netherlands , under the patronage of St Gregory the Great (who had sent the monk, St Augustine of Canterbury , as head of a mission to England in 597). The founder was the Welshman St John Roberts , who became the first prior and established the new community with other monks from England who had entered various monasteries within
10080-552: The school were quietly moved between Benedictine monasteries and parishes when they fell under suspicion. Reference was made to instructions from Rome to destroy documents that were damaging to priests. Father Leo insisted that his decision to make a bonfire of Downside's staff files was prompted by a desire to "get rid of unnecessary old material". He accepted that the files should, under safeguarding requirements, have been kept for 70 years, conceding that he may have unintentionally destroyed information about child abuse. In May 2020, it
10192-545: The school. Inspection reports referred specifically to seven monks who had worked at the school at different times and whose behaviour had been "a cause for concern". The Independent Schools Inspectorate had previously criticised a lack of urgency in making improvements to child protection. The Charity Commission also sent a compliance team to work with the school on this, which it treated as "a high-risk case". The Abbot responded by apologising to parents and reported that 50 years of confidential school records indicated that four of
10304-555: The second incident but was not arrested until 2010. Two other monks with connections to Downside, also former teachers, received police cautions during an 18-month criminal investigation. One of the cautioned monks has been named as Brother Anselm (Michael Hurt), brother of actor John Hurt , who decided to transfer his monastic stability to Glenstal Abbey in Ireland in the 1980s. Department for Education officials were said to be taking an urgent interest in child protection arrangements at
10416-575: The sick. During the English Reformation , all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing those who wished to continue in the monastic life to flee into exile on the Continent. During the 19th century English members of these communities were able to return to England. St. Mildred's Priory , on the Isle of Thanet , Kent , was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by
10528-446: The sixth century, the monks "followed the rules of Basil, Cassian, Caesarius, and other fathers, taking and using whatever seemed proper to the conditions of time and place", and doubtless the same liberty was taken with the Benedictine Rule when it reached them. In Gaul and Switzerland, it gradually supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced by Columbanus and others. In many monasteries it eventually entirely displaced
10640-462: The spot where the stones to be laid were prepared. The chief stone, forming the base of the north transept of the church, was laid by Archbishop Manning ; the stone of the college by the Bishop of Clifton, and that of the monastery by the Bishop of Newport. At the end of the ceremony about £100 were laid upon the stone, but in addition to that promises of contributions were very liberal. At the conclusion of
10752-414: The task in 1843. In 1842 he published a treatise on The Unity of the Church and his reputation as an eloquent and earnest preacher being by this time considerable, he was in the same year appointed select preacher by his university, thus being called upon to fill from time to time the pulpit which Newman, as vicar of St Mary's, was just ceasing to occupy. Four volumes of Manning's sermons appeared between
10864-571: The temporary accommodation of "Southgate House, in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey , Devon, where we will live as the Community of St Gregory the Great". The building of Downside abbey church was begun in 1873 with the transepts and the Lady Chapel. The foundation stone was laid on 1 October 1873 and the ceremony was reported in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on 9 October 1873: Yesterday week
10976-970: The time of his death in 1887, Wimmer had sent Benedictine monks to Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado. Wimmer also asked for Benedictine sisters to be sent to America by St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt , Bavaria. In 1852, Sister Benedicta Riepp and two other sisters founded St. Marys, Pennsylvania . Soon they would send sisters to Michigan, New Jersey, and Minnesota. By 1854, Swiss monks began to arrive and founded St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana, and they soon spread to Arkansas and Louisiana. They were soon followed by Swiss sisters. There are now over 100 Benedictine houses across America. Most Benedictine houses are part of one of four large Congregations: American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, St. Scholastica, and St. Benedict. The congregations mostly are made up of monasteries that share
11088-414: The time they leave, their personal development is excellent...The quality of the school's arrangements for pastoral care is excellent." In November 2017, the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) started to examine evidence of children being targeted for abuse at Downside School, along with another major Catholic school located at Ampleforth Abbey , as part of its investigation into
11200-499: The trust of the Vatican, though "it was ordained that he should pass the evening of his days in England, and that he should outlive his intimacy at the Vatican and his influence on the general policy of the Church of Rome". Manning used this goodwill to promote a modern Catholic view of social justice. Several scholars consider Manning to be a key contributor to the papal encyclical Rerum novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII , which marks
11312-480: The whole organ speaks up into the transept vaults and is projected down the nave. The console , a typical Compton luminous stop button affair which faces west from near the crossing down the north side of the nave, is made from timber from HMS Bellerophon , which transported Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo . An early addition to the site was the small single-storey lodge at the east entrance, built in 1827 in
11424-461: The years 1842 and 1850 and these had reached the 7th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd editions respectively in 1850, but were not afterwards reprinted. In 1844 his portrait was painted by George Richmond , and the same year he published a volume of university sermons, omitting the one on the Gunpowder Plot . This sermon had annoyed Newman and his more advanced disciples, but it was proof that at that date Manning
11536-799: Was Pierre-Joseph Didier. He came to the United States in 1790 from Paris and served in the Ohio and St. Louis areas until his death. The first actual Benedictine monastery founded was Saint Vincent Archabbey , located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania . It was founded in 1832 by Boniface Wimmer , a German monk, who sought to serve German immigrants in America. In 1856, Wimmer started to lay the foundations for St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. In 1876, Herman Wolfe, of Saint Vincent Archabbey established Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. By
11648-536: Was a patron of Fruttuaria, and retired there in 1065 before moving to Rome. The Empress was instrumental in introducing Fruttuaria's Benedictine customs, as practiced at Cluny, to Saint Blaise Abbey in Baden-Württemberg . Other houses either reformed by, or founded as priories of, St. Blasien were Muri Abbey (1082), Ochsenhausen Abbey (1093), Göttweig Abbey (1094), Stein am Rhein Abbey (before 1123) and Prüm Abbey (1132). It also had significant influence on
11760-454: Was appointed as Prior Administrator for a two-year period from September 2018, and in August 2020 he was elected the first Abbot of Downside Abbey in six years. In the same week, it was announced that the monks would begin the search for a new home due to "smaller numbers and changing circumstances" rendering the current building unsuitable for the future. In the spring of 2022, the community moved to
11872-414: Was attached to the monastery, is a Roman Catholic public school for boys and girls from the age of 11 to 18. As in most Roman Catholic schools in the twenty-first century, non-Catholic pupils are accepted. During the nineteenth century, Downside remained a small monastic school. Dom Leander Ramsay was the founder of modern Downside; he planned the new buildings that opened in 1912 and now form two sides of
11984-666: Was commenced more than a half-a-century ago, was consecrated by the Cardinal Prince-Primate of Hungary, Monsignor Seredi , who is one of the Benedictine Members of the Sacred College. The ceremony was attended by Cardinal MacRory from Ireland, seven Archbishops, twelve Bishops and fifteen Abbots. Over 500 priests accepted invitations to attend and among the lay guests were the Lord Mayor of London and leading members of
12096-454: Was home to fifteen monks. In 2022, the community moved to Devon. The Abbey Church of St Gregory the Great , begun in 1873 and unfinished, is a Grade I listed building. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described its Gothic style as "the most splendid demonstration of the renaissance of Roman Catholicism in England". As of 2024, the monastic buildings in the north of the Downside site are vacant, while
12208-409: Was jailed for five years for gross indecency and indecent assault against a pupil in the late 1980s. White, 66, who was known to pupils as Father Nick, had been allowed to continue teaching after he was first caught abusing a child in 1987 and was able to go on to groom and assault another pupil in the junior school. He was placed on a restricted ministry and did not have any contact with the school after
12320-537: Was loyal to the Church of England . Newman's secession in 1845 placed Manning in a position of greater responsibility, as one of the High Church leaders, along with Edward Bouverie Pusey , John Keble and Marriott; but it was with Gladstone and James Robert Hope-Scott that he was at this time most closely associated. Manning's belief in Anglicanism was shattered in 1850 when, in the so-called Gorham judgement ,
12432-605: Was reported that in the time following the 2018 release of the IICSA report, the school experienced major financial difficulties due to legal costs, settlement payments and falling rolls, and was obliged to sell some of its Renaissance-era paintings. The Abbey and the daily activities of two monks were the subject of Episode 1 of the television series Retreat: Meditations from a Monastery , first shown on BBC Four in October 2017. Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines , officially
12544-508: Was to be replaced in 1905 with a new instrument by Garrard of Lechlade , consisting of three manuals and 55 speaking stops: it was supplied two years later by the renamed firm of Garrard, Spooner & Amphlett, but was never completed satisfactorily. The current organ in the abbey church was built by John Compton in 1931 to replace the Garrard organ: it has 142 speaking stops over four manuals and pedals. This extraordinarily large number of stops
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