On 1 October Sr Laurentia led a webinar on Benedictine prayer. This was part of CAFOD’s series of webinars from different traditions during the Year of Prayer (2024) in preparation for the Church’s Jubilee in 2025, ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Participants engaged thoughtfully with the story of the prophet Elijah and the call to us to […]
Celebration Mass at Colwich Abbey On Sunday 22 September Mother Abbess Anna, Dame Theresa Mary, Dame Benedict and Dame Davina attended a Mass at St Mary’s Abbey, Colwich to mark with thanksgiving the one hundred and eighty-six years the Benedictine community of Our Lady of Good Hope lived at Colwich. The Mass was celebrated by […]
JUBILEE PILGRIMAGE to FOUNTAINS ABBEY Ist party: Weds 18 Sept 2nd party: Mon 23 Sept Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, had long been on our list of desirable places to visit, and, through the generous offices of the National Trust we have at last been able to make a pilgrimage to the world-famous site during our […]
This year, for the first time, we will celebrate Our Lady of Walsingham as a liturgical feast; previously it has been a memoria, but Rome has granted permission for the elevation of the celebration, partly because of the importance of this national shrine to the English people. The shrine was established in 1061, following the […]
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2024 Numbers 21 – 4 -9; Philippians 2:6 -11; John 3:13-17 All three of the readings for this feast focus our eyes on the Cross or its foreshadowing and our minds on life-giving paradox. First, Moses’ standard, which has become the symbol of the medical profession, […]
I entered our abbey church for Compline, a little early, and found several sisters already sitting in the dimly-lit space. It was the evening before the Solemnity of the Dedication of the Church. As part of the celebrations a candle is lit at each of the twelve dedication crosses on the wall, giving a unique […]
Over the Bank Holiday weekend six of the Stanbrook community participated in the Youth 2000 Summer Festival at Ampleforth Abbey. On Saturday 24th August Sisters Julian, M. Peter, Marian and Laurentia attended the afternoon session for women and later led a workshop on ‘Praying with the Scriptures’. Participants engaged enthusiastically with the story of Elijah […]
For our Jubilee Year we wanted the community’s annual retreat to be particularly inspiring and were delighted when Fr Michael Casey OCSO accepted Mother Abbess’ invitation to lead the eight days of spiritual renewal 22-30 July. Fr Michael is a monk of the Cistercian abbey of Tarrawarra in Victoria, Australia, and a renowned author and […]
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 […]
Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Consolation under whose patronage the community has lived since its foundation 400 years ago. The protection of Mary’s prayers were a comfort to those in distress in the troubled times of seventeenth-century Europe as they are for us today. We assure you of our prayers for […]
It is now just over a week since I returned to Stanbrook after my three-month sojourn in Rome and Assisi as a participant on the Monastic Formators’ Program. When I wrote my previous piece we had just moved to Assisi from Rome. After a few days of uncertainty, I began to delight in Assisi. We […]
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 […]