Stanbrook Abbey is an
abbeyAn abbey , is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community....
built as a contemplative house for Benedictine nuns. It was founded in 1625 in
CambraiCambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
,
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, under the auspices of the
English Benedictine CongregationThe English Benedictine Congregation comprises autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the 21 congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation....
.
The chief foundress was 17-year-old
Helen MoreDame Gertrude More was a nun of the English Benedictine Congregation and chief founder of Stanbrook Abbey....
, professed as
Sister Gertrude More, who was great-great-granddaughter of St
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman....
; her father, Cresacre More, provided the original endowment for the foundation of the monastery.
Stanbrook Abbey is an
abbeyAn abbey , is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community....
built as a contemplative house for Benedictine nuns. It was founded in 1625 in
CambraiCambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
,
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, under the auspices of the
English Benedictine CongregationThe English Benedictine Congregation comprises autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the 21 congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation....
.
History
The chief foundress was 17-year-old
Helen MoreDame Gertrude More was a nun of the English Benedictine Congregation and chief founder of Stanbrook Abbey....
, professed as
Sister Gertrude More, who was great-great-granddaughter of St
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman....
; her father, Cresacre More, provided the original endowment for the foundation of the monastery. She eventually became
Dame Gertrude More. The English Benedictine mystical writer Dom
Augustine BakerFr Augustine Baker OSB , was a well-known Benedictine mystic and an ascetic writer. He was one of the earliest members of the newly restored English Benedictine Congregation.- Early life :...
trained the young nuns in a tradition of contemplative prayer which survives to the present (as of 2007). (Solemnly professed Benedictine nuns are always called "Dame", as Benedictine monks are called "Dom")
In 1793, during the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, the 22 nuns were ejected from their original house and imprisoned in
CompiegneCompiègne is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.The city is located along the Oise River. Its inhabitants are called Compiégnois.-Administration:Compiègne is the seat of three cantons*Compiègne-Nord...
for 18 months, during which time four (4) nuns died from the harsh conditions. The survivors returned destitute to England and, with the encouragement of Dom Augustine Lawson, eventually settled in 1838 at Stanbrook,
Callow EndCallow End is a small village in the civil parish of the larger village of Powick in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England.-External links:*...
, near
MalvernThis article is about the area governed by the civil parish and its environs. For the town centre see Great MalvernMalvern is an urban area in Worcestershire, England...
,
WorcestershireWorcestershire or ; abbreviated Worcs) is a historic and administrative county located in the West Midlands region of central England. In 1974 it was merged with the county of Herefordshire to form the single administrative county of Hereford and Worcester; which was divided in 1998,...
, in the Severn Valley.
The abbey church in Worcestershire was completed in 1871 to the designs of Edward Welby Pugin in Gothic Revival style.
Stanbrook is celebrated for its traditions of
Gregorian chantGregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
, devotional literature and fine printing. The translations of the writings of St Teresa of Avila are still in print a century after their publication. The Stanbrook Abbey Press was at one time the oldest
private pressPrivate press is a term used in the field of book collecting to describe a printing press operated as an artistic or craft-based endeavor, rather than as a purely commercial venture...
in England, and acquired an international reputation for fine printing under Dames
Hildelith CummingDame Hildelith Cumming was a British nun and musician. Born as Barbara Theresa Cumming, she was a convert to the Roman Catholic faith.She was head printer for Stanbrook Abbey from 1956 until her death in 1991...
and
Felicitas CorriganDame Felicitas Corrigan OSB was an English Benedictine nun, author and humanitarian.She was born Kathleen Corrigan into a large Liverpool family, and developed a talent as an organist. In 1933, she entered Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire as a nun, and eventually became director of its choir...
. However, although digital printing and publishing continues at the Abbey on a small scale, the fine letterpress printing which made the Press famous had ceased by 1990.
Today
The community announced in April 2002 that it would be moving. Abbess Joanna Jamieson made the announcement that the Abbey would move from its Victorian abbey, with its . of monastic buildings 'to make the best use of its human and financial resources'. The Abbey looked at possible sites all over the country until it bought Crief Farm at Wass in the North Yorkshire National Park (see
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/stanbrook.html).
Construction of the new monastery began on 18 June 2007. Progress of the building work, which will be completed in four distinct phases, is being recorded by the
Friends of Stanbrook Abbey.
The community moved into the new Stanbrook Abbey in Wass on 21 May 2009.
As of 2002 the community numbered 28 professed nuns and two postulants. About 120 lay people, known as oblates, are associated with the monastery.
Previous abbesses include:
- Dame Frances Gawen, first abbess
- Dame Catherine Gascoigne, abbess, 1629-1676
- Lady Cecilia A. Heywood
- Laurentia McLachlan
Dame Laurentia McLachlan was born as Margaret McLachlan in 1866 in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1884 she joined the Benedictine Abbey at Stanbrook Abbey. In 1931 she was elected Abbess of Stanbrook...
- Felicitas Corrigan
Dame Felicitas Corrigan OSB was an English Benedictine nun, author and humanitarian.She was born Kathleen Corrigan into a large Liverpool family, and developed a talent as an organist. In 1933, she entered Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire as a nun, and eventually became director of its choir...
- Hildelith Cumming
Dame Hildelith Cumming was a British nun and musician. Born as Barbara Theresa Cumming, she was a convert to the Roman Catholic faith.She was head printer for Stanbrook Abbey from 1956 until her death in 1991...
Trivia
- Stanbrook Abbey was the model for Brede Abbey in Rumer Godden
Margaret Rumer Godden, OBE , was an English author of over 60 fiction and nonfiction books under the pen name of Rumer Godden. A few of her works were co-written by her sister, Jon Godden, who wrote several novels on her own...
's 1969 novel, In This House of Brede. Godden, who had asked the nuns of Stanbrook for prayers when her elder daughter was facing a risky pregnancy, gifted the Abbey with a portion of the copyright on the novel.
- Iris Murdoch
Dame Iris Murdoch DBE was an English author and philosopher, best known for her novels about sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, Under the Net, was selected in 2001 by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100...
's novel The BellThe Bell is a novel written by Iris Murdoch in 1958. It was her fourth to be published, and is set in Imber Court, a lay religious community situated next to an enclosed order of Benedictine nuns in Gloucestershire.-Plot summary:...
is said to have been partly inspired by Stanbrook Abbey.
- Irish
The Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
folk singer and Celtic harpist Mary O'HaraFor the author of the 'Flicka' books, see Mary O'Hara Mary O'Hara is a singer and harpist with a pure soprano voice.Born in County Sligo, Ireland, O'Hara achieved fame on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
spent 12 years as a nunA Nun, or also known as a Sister in some cases, is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
at Stanbrook Abbey.
External links