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 […]
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, […]
22nd May Today, it was a pleasure to welcome the Union of Monastic Superiors who are holding their annual meeting at Ampleforth Abbey this week. The group, comprising monks and nuns from 21 monasteries following the Rule of St Benedict in England, Scotland, Ireland and the United States, arrived just before 10 am. After a […]
19th May PENTECOST A glorious morning, as if creation truly were renewed; we pray it shall be. The first large poppy of the season burst into bloom in celebration, its full red against the green foliage with a hint of dew all pointers to the Holy Spirit. At Lauds Mother Abbess chose for her Scripture […]
On 11 March I travelled to Italy to join a group of 22 monks and nuns on the Benedictine Monastic Formators Program. We come from 5 continents: Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe and form a diverse group. The principal aim of the program is to assist participants in their work of […]
30 April This afternoon it was a delight to welcome, as part of their pilgrimage, ‘In the Footsteps of St Benedict,’ educators from a group of Benedictine Schools in the Sydney area, imbued with the spirit of the Good Samaritan sisters. Arriving under blue skies and sunshine which have been rare this month, the pilgrims […]
Funeral of Dame Mary Benedicta Scott (21.02.1936-26.03.2024) Today, 25th April, Feast of St Mark, was the Requiem Mass and funeral of Dame Mary Benedicta Scott, former Conventual Prioress of St Mary’s Abbey, Oulton in Staffordshire. Founded in Ghent 400 years ago this year, the community merged with Stanbrook in 2019. Mother Benedicta died on 26th […]
House Chronicle 16-17 April 2024 16 April Abbess Gertrude’s body was received at 5.45pm on a sunny April evening. After the customary ritual we processed through the cloister, towards the church, singing psalms 120 and 121, ‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains’ and ‘I rejoiced when I heard them say, let us go […]