- Mount St Bernard Abbey
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Coordinates: 52°44′29.00″N 1°19′23.00″W / 52.74139°N 1.32306°W
Mount St Bernard's Abbey
Laborare est Orare (to work is to pray). This 1862 painting by John Rogers Herbert depicts the monks at work in the fields with the abbey in the backgroundMount St Bernard's Abbey is a Cistercian monastery of the Strict Observance (Trappists) near Whitwick in Leicestershire, England, founded in 1835. Its present Superior is Dom Joseph Delargy.
The Cistercian order dates back to the 12th century and the Trappists to the mid-17th century. Mount St Bernard's Abbey is the only abbey belonging to this order left in England.
History
Mount St Bernard's Abbey was founded in 1835 on 222 acres (0.90 km2) of land given by Ambrose de Lisle, who wanted to re-introduce monastic life to the country. He was helped by a loan from Bishop Thomas Walsh, the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District. At first, the monks lived in a four-roomed cottage but later domestic buildings and a chapel were built. The first monks were Augustine, Luke, Xavier, Cyprian, Placid, Simeon and Fr. Odilo Woolfrey. The first monastery was opened in 1837, designed by William Railton. The permanent monastery, as it stands today, was completed in 1844 with donations from John Talbot, the 16th earl of Shrewsbury, and other benefactors. It was designed by Augustus Pugin, who offered his services free. In 1848, it was granted the status of an abbey by Pope Pius IX and its first abbot was appointed, Dom Bernard Palmer. It was united with the Cistercian congregation by a papal brief in 1849.
In 1856 a a reformatory school for young Catholic delinquents was founded at Mount Saint Bernard[1]It closed in 1881 after several episodes of disorder, but re-opened temporarily in 1884-5 to house boys who had burnt and sunk their own reformatory ship moored in the Mersey.[2]
The abbey suffered from financial problems and a lack of monks joining the community through the nineteenth century. This improved in the twentieth century and the church was extended between 1935 and 1939, although it was not consecrated until 1945, by the Bishop of Nottingham. Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was a monk at the abbey from 1950 until his death in 1964.
The Abbey today
The monks get up at 3.15am every day and go to bed at 8.00 pm. The three focuses of monastic life at Mount St Bernard's Abbey are prayer, work and reading with study. They take part in daily liturgical prayer, known as Opus Dei or Canonical Hours. They meditatively read the Bible, which is called Lectio Divina. Silence and solitude are very important to the order and the abbey. Their work includes running their 200-acre (0.81 km2) dairy farm, pottery, bookbinding, beekeeping and tending the vegetable garden and orchard. They also run a gift shop where they sell the items that they make in the abbey. The abbey has a guesthouse for friends and family of the monks, retreatants and those who are interested in the monastic life.
References
Categories:- Monasteries in Leicestershire
- Cistercian monasteries in England
- Trappist monasteries
- Religious organizations established in 1835
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