Douai Abbey celebrates 400 years
Special mass held in Woolhampton
THE Benedictine monks of Douai Abbey in Woolhampton celebrated the 400 years since the community was founded by holding a special mass in the abbey church on Friday.
The ceremony welcomed abbots and monks and nuns from most of the Benedictine monasteries as well as former pupils of Douai School and local dignitaries, including the High Sheriff of Berkshire, David Bertie, and Newbury mayor Howard Bairstow.
Guests gathered at the Abbey for Pontifical Mass before former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, read out a message of greeting and encouragement from Pope Francis.
The evening Vespers was then sung with Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols presiding, and Bishop Martin Seeley, the Anglican Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, preaching.
Abbot Geoffrey Scott, from Douai Abbey said: “We were delighted to have so many friends with us to celebrate the 400th anniversary of our foundation.
“We were particularly pleased to be able to welcome the present Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.”
Newbury mayor Howard Bairstow, whose two sons attended Douai School before its closure in 1999, said: “I was very privileged to have been asked to attend and I feel very fortunate that I was mayor when it took place.”
The Benedictine Community of Douai Abbey was originally founded in Paris in 1615 at a time when it was impossible to be a priest or monk in England without facing the risk of persecution.
As English residents in Paris, they were a centre for other exiles, including most famously the deposed king, James II, whose body lay in state in their chapel.
During the French Revolution the monks suffered the fate of many religious communities and were imprisoned in their own house before being dispersed.
The community then settled into its present home in Woolhampton where it continues to lead the Benedictine way of life and undertakes the ministry of hospitality and the care of parishes in other parts of England.
