5 July 2024, 400th Anniversary Celebration with Monastic Communities and Local Religious
5 July 2024, 400th Anniversary Celebration with Monastic Communities and Local Religious
Having celebrated with our families, friends, oblates, neighbours and ecumenical friends, we wanted to complete this round of Jubilee festivities with our fellow monastic brothers and sisters and religious. To do so we chose 5 July when we honour Mary under the title of Our Lady of Consolation, the patron of our monastery since its beginning in Cambrai in 1623.
Once again the meteorological forecast for poor weather seemed to have been over-ridden by prayer as the day dawned bright and breezy. The sheep, absent from the monastery fields since Monday, returned last evening newly shorn and looking younger, as if ready for the celebration themselves.
By 11am the usually silent cloisters were filled with the sound of joyful encounters as old friends were re-united and new introductions made. The first toll of the bell alerted people to get ready; MC and choir mistress gave instructions to the assembly, and by 11.25 when the second toll sounded, silence reigned as nuns, monks and prelates formed into a long procession and recollected themselves for the service ahead.
The opening chant, sung in Latin by the nuns, was based on Chapter 13 v. 17 of the Book of Esther and captures the heart of the devotion to Our Lady of Consolation:
Converte luctum nostrum in gaudium ut viventes laudemus nomen tuum…
(Change our grief into joy so that we might live to praise your name).
Originally put on the lips of the Hebrew people living under oppression and for whom Queen Esther was an advocate, for Christians these words apply to Mary through whom came Jesus who has rescued God’s people from the oppression of sin. He is the one who changes our griefs into joy, having taken upon himself our mortal condition with all its sorrows, and transformed them through his resurrection from the dead into the possibility of new and eternal life.
It was wonderful to see the apse full with almost twenty concelebrants, mostly monks from all corners of the UK and some from the US, while in the body of the church were assembled representatives from the Companions of Jesus of the Bar Convent in York, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal from Leeds, Sr Kathy Yeeles OSB representing the Grace and Compassion sisters, and several Anglican friends.
Before Mass began Mother Abbess welcomed everyone and thanked people for attending. Preaching to the converted, for as she mentioned there were several communities in the assembly who had already passed their 400 milestone, the abbess emphasised that the day was all about giving thanks for God’s fidelity to us over the past 400 years. A special word of thanks was addressed to Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, leader of the Benedictine Confederation worldwide, for being willing to join us at what for him is a busy time as he prepares to retire in September.
We were delighted that Cardinal Arthur Roche, formerly Archbishop of Leeds, the Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome was unexpectedly able to preside at today’s celebration.
The Mass continued, Mass ordinary VIII, Missa de Angelis, the antiphonal singing between monks and nuns, present in almost equal numbers, being particularly effective.
The Gospel of the marriage feast of Cana (John 2: 1-11), proclaimed by Abbot Christoper Jamison, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation, took up the theme of transformation of grief into joy set by the entrance chant and central to each Eucharistic celebration.
Abbot Gregory Polan preached eloquently, weaving the story of the Stanbrook community from its birth in 1623 to the present day with the story of the People of Israel where exile, oppression, liberation, desolation, joys and rebuilding are common themes found also in the story of each soul.
The beautiful Offertory Chant, Recordare, Virgo Mater, (Remember Virgin Mother) based in part on the Stabat Mater, and sung by the nuns, addresses Mary as intercessor, begging her to speak up for us to God at our death.
The Offertory gifts were carried by D. Benedicta and our pre-postulant, Emma Vardon, who hopes to join us later this year.
The final Gregorian chant, sung by the nuns before Holy Communion, Facta es Adjutrix nostra (You have been made our Strong Help) continued the theme of the whole Mass, Mary’s role in helping to change sorrow into joy: a most timely message for our troubled world.
Before the final blessing, Cardinal Roche spoke words of gratitude and encouragement to the community, particularly for the hidden ways in which the contemplative life works, under God’s grace, to help build up the Church and bring healing to the world.
‘Now thank we all our God’, sung rousingly by the whole assembly, was a fitting conclusion to this prayerful, simple and moving celebration.
Photographs in the garth followed and, as the winds of change which had been blowing powerfully across the UK over the past few days had subsided, people were able to enjoy a sumptuous finger buffet, al fresco, though some preferred the shelter of the monastic refectory lined with the coats of arms of some of our foundresses.
The last word goes to one of these foundresses as it expresses something of the hidden life of prayer which powers the contemplative journey to God.
…And henceforth let me draw no breath
but to aspire by love
to thee, my God and all my good
by whom I live and move.
No stag in chase so thirsty is
or greedy of sweet spring,
as is my soul to thee, my God,
whilst here I sighing sing.
Dame Gertrude More (1606-1633) from ‘My God to Thee I Dedicate’.
Printed in Poems and Counsels on Prayer and Contemplation,
- Jacob Riyeff, pub. Gracewing 2020, p.4.
From The House Chronicle
21 June Celebration with Local and Ecumenical Friends
400th Anniversary Celebration with Local and Ecumenical Friends, 21 June 2024
The Summer Solstice, the day with the longest daylight hours, traditionally kept on 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere, was doubly welcome at Stanbrook this year as it was the day we had chosen for our third gathering to celebrate our 400th anniversary. This time we invited local and ecumenical friends.
Incredibly, given the indifferent summer we have experienced so far this year, the day dawned a perfect midsummer morn, the luminous blue of the eastern sky broken only by a high cloud shaped like an eagle with outspread wings.
By 3.45pm our guests began to arrive, incredulous as we were, at the meteorological miracle we were enjoying! For many, including some of the stalwart volunteers who guide people around the far more ancient abbey of Byland at the foot of the hill in Wass, it was a first visit to ‘the modern abbey on the hill’.
It was a delight for us to share the building and vistas with our neighbours and to relax and chat with them over home-made scones in the monastery’s courtyard or garth.
Another reason for our choice of this day to celebrate was that it was the eve of the Feast of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. St John Fisher’s connections with Beverley make him a local friend while St Thomas More is the great-great-grandfather of our principal foundress, Dame Gertrude More. The prayer for the feast of these great men and martyrs exhorts us to work to make visible the unity which Christ has won for us. Today’s celebration which concluded with Vespers all together in the abbey church was one way of showing this unity which we pray will deepen.
The third antiphon of the feast proclaims the Christian faith that the youth of those who have died in and for Christ ‘will be renewed like the eagle’s’ – an echo of that portent in the morning sky over Stanbrook on 21 June 2024, a day of grace.
From the House Chronicle
31 May, FEAST OF THE VISITATION: FAMILIES, OBLATES and FRIENDS
31 May, FEAST OF THE VISITATION
400th JUBILEE CELEBRATION with our FAMILIES, OBLATES and FRIENDS
After weeks of daily downpours the Lord sent a strong north easterly wind which chased away the rain-bearing clouds, leaving a bright, if breezy day, full of the Spirit, as befits the feast and the occasion.
The Chapter at Lauds, from the Book of Tobit, proclaimed God’s promise to rebuild and renew Jerusalem, to comfort exiles and all who are afflicted or in distress, and a prophecy that praise would ring out from the sanctuary through all generations to come. We carry these intentions in our hearts this Jubilee Year as we celebrate God’s faithfulness to our community over the past four centuries, through times of exile and distress, and we pray for all those who are experiencing exile and affliction in our own day.
By 11.15 the abbey church was full and the overflow space in the Chapter House began to fill up. No one could have failed to be struck by the stunning arrangement of roses against the southern windows just beyond the ambo. The ivory and pale dusky pink blooms on long stems seemed to embrace the assembly and the whole world, like the prayers of Mary whose visit to her cousin Elizabeth lies at the heart of today’s liturgy.
The clergy processed in as the community sang a chant which had originally been composed by Dom Cyprian Smith of Ampleforth for Dame Michaela Whitmore’s Silver Jubilee: ‘I exult for joy in the Lord’.
Before Mass began Mother Abbess welcomed the assembly and thanked everyone for coming, some from quite a distance. A Jubilee, such as we are celebrating this year, she said, is not something deserving congratulations but rather an opportunity to give thanks to God for his faithfulness over the past 400 years. M. Abbess thanked Bishop Terence Drainey, of our diocese of Middlesbrough, for coming back from pilgrimage in Lourdes early in order to lead us in this primary service of thanksgiving, the Eucharist.
D. Petra read the first reading, Zephaniah’s joyful proclamation of the Lord’s salvation and renewing love originally for Jerusalem but also for each one who turns to God in trust (Zeph. 3:14-18).
The responsorial chant was taken, unusually, not from the psalms but from the first Book of Isaiah chapter 12: ‘Great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel’, celebrating the Lord’s presence with his chosen people and, with the advent of Christ, with all his people.
The Gospel (Luke 1: 39-56), St Luke’s account of the newly pregnant Mary’s compassionate visit to her older cousin Elizabeth, also with child, was proclaimed by Canon Christopher Jackson, retired priest of the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and an oblate of Stanbrook.
Bishop Terry began his homily with an apology: people generally go to Lourdes for a cure – he had returned with a cold! His homily brought out the conjunction in this feast of the homely, domestic, natural visit between the two women and the world-changing events which their babies would herald – John the Baptist – and bring about – Jesus Christ – nothing less than the reconciling meeting of humanity and God which has the power to change our lives today. Bishop Terry included two quotations from one of our foundresses Dame Gertrude More.
Bidding prayers, composed and read by D. Philippa followed.
Then, a rare moment as only the second offertory procession in our abbey church since covid began to make its way down the nave of the church, the gifts carried by oblate, Mary Cockroft, and Dr Emma Morrison to the sound of another chant of Dom Cyprian Smith’s, a version of the ‘Hail Mary’ sung unaccompanied by two chantresses alternating with the choir.
For the communion chant, a composition by Dom Paul Johnstone of Ealing, ‘The Almighty has done great things for me’, was sung beautifully by two chantresses to a haunting organ accompaniment and then repeated by the choir.
The final hymn, ‘Now thank we all our God’ was taken up with heartfelt gusto by the whole assembly as Bishop Terry and the concelebrants* processed out of church.
The voluntary played by Dame Mary Peter Smith, Frescobaldi’s Toccata in D, provided a joyful yet meditative link between the Mass and part two of the celebration.
As we wanted to invite as many of our family, oblates and friends as possible, it was decided that a finger buffet would be the best way to offer hospitality to a large number – we were about 120. This would offer maximum space for seating and allow people to spill out into the garth and other outdoor seating areas – hence our fervent prayers for dry weather! All worked out very well and the buffet also gave extra opportunities for circulating among our guests as one made trips to re-fill plates. (It should be noted that the plates were totally compostable made from palm leaves not quite plaited by our own hands!)
There was a sense of the heavenly in encountering so many friendly faces in one place, drawn together by a love of the community built up over many years and woven together by mutual prayerful support. We read much about ‘synodality’ but on this occasion it was palpable, enfleshed in the wider Stanbrook community journeying together on the way to God. The grace of the day was such that it was clearly being fed by the prayers of many not present in person and, in turn, like the extending arms of that rose flower arrangement, surely stretched out to include all our absent sisters, oblates, families and friends and indeed the whole world. Deo gratias!
*Concelebrants:
Canon Alec Barrass, retired priest of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.
Canon Christopher Jackson, Hexham and Newcastle.
Fr Mark Milward, Hexham and Newcastle.
Fr Mervyn Williams SDB
Fr Mark Savage OSB, Pluscarden Abbey
Fr Kieran Monahan OSB, Ampleforth
From the House Chronicle
2nd February 2024: THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD - CANDLEMAS
As Abbot Robert Igo of Ampleforth reminded us in his ample homily, today we celebrate at least 3 things:
The Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas
The first of our shared 400th anniversary celebrations
The annual Day for Consecrated Life
We had chosen this feast to invite our local friends from Ampleforth Abbey and Thicket Priory partly as they would be more likely to be able to get here should the weather turn wintry. In the event it has been a very mild, dry day.
Prioress Ann Dodd and four of the Thicket nuns arrived about 11am while c. 21 of the Ampleforth brethren came across a little later but in good time for the Mass and Procession at 11.30am.
It was lovely to have the cloisters full – the brethren in the glass cloister, Thicket and ourselves in St Joseph’s, and full of the new light of February enhanced by candlelight: both grace and nature prophetic of Spring.
As the bell tolled the cheerful sound of encounters and logistics gave way to a profound silence.
Sr Thérèse, bearing the Evesham Cross, led Abbot Robert, looking resplendent in mitre and the Jesse Tree vestment, and the two main concelebrants, Fr George Corrie and Fr Oswald McBride, to the crossing for the prayers and blessing of the candles before the procession set off.
Two of the Thicket nuns, Sr Rosemary and Sr Thérèse, proclaimed the lessons, while the Gospel was proclaimed by the Prior of Ampleforth, Fr George.
Fr Abbot’s homily betrayed his time in Africa (Zimbabwe) both in its content and length but was very lively and engaging. He highlighted ‘encounter’ as a key theme of this feast and reminded each of us of the personal encounter with Christ which was at the root and heart of our individual vocation. A dominant role of consecrated religious is to share this encounter with others: the consecrated life is always missionary.
Abbot Robert later brought out the way Mary and Joseph safeguarded the quality of amazement which characterises, or should characterise, our life of faith as we consider the marvellous works of God.
We were exhorted to lives of gratitude and joy for all we have received over the past 400 years and of courage for the future in the spirit of our foundresses. All of us as religious have a special role in the Church as places of prayer. Abbot Robert remarked on God’s Providence in that our 400th Jubilee coincides with the Year of Prayer which Pope Francis has inaugurated as preparation for the Church’s Jubilee Year of 2025: ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
D. Philippa composed and read the Bidding Prayers.
The voluntary played by D. Peter, Diffusa est Lumen ad revelationem gentium by Dom Paul Benoit, brought to a luminous close the first part of our celebration.
Part two began with drinks in the refectory and cloister. Before lunch M. Abbess, whose feast-day this is, said a few words of welcome and thanks and brought out the particular links we have with both Ampleforth, especially via the contribution to our spiritual and material well-being of Fr Laurence Shepherd (Chaplain to Stanbrook 1863-85) while of course the shared experience of prison in Compiègne is a strong link with our Carmelite sisters. Those of Thicket have shown extreme kindness to us ever since we moved to our respective new monasteries on the same day, 21 May 2009 – the anniversary of our first abbess, Dame Catherine Gascoigne (1600-76).
Grace followed the applause from Anna’s speech and the serving hatch was opened revealing D. Josephine’s latest culinary creations:
Salmon with a light, optional, curry sauce, stuffed peppers, Spanish potatoes, green beans, salads, bread rolls, olives.
Desserts included meringue, Christmas pudding ice cream, individual sticky puddings, cheese biscuits grapes and chocolates.
There was much fraternal exchange as the meal progressed, including of gifts – individual candles and an amazing gift-wrapped ‘Gorilla Cart’ as an aid to portresses from Thicket who took home some goodies for those sisters unable to attend today.
In writing on Jubilees St Aelred mentions ‘a very pleasant joining together of many minds’ * – and this was certainly the case for the first community celebration in our Jubilee year. Deo gratias, and Jubilee blessings on all who took part in person or spirit.
* Mirror of Charity Bk III, Ch. 6.
