Birthday joys 13th. August. Archive, Monastery at East Lulworth, Dorset

Hi, Mary,

Thanks for the Birthday Greetings.

Another card gives the wish from H...
 - words 'Read by Lady Jane Fellows at the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales.

 

Love from Donald

13th August Birthday ----- Forwarded Message -----

To:  Anne Marie ...

I hope you are rejoicing the most of the holidays still with you.

By the way, the 13th August is always be my luckiest day, my birthday. 

The greeting from 4 sisters is 

"It's your Birthday. . . 

so let's PARTY ! !"

see Attachment.

 fr. Donald

Sancta Maria Abbey

It has been a happy 13th August Birthday.
Surprise was the visit from Harry. He is 87. Last September, he suffered a stroke. He can in his wheel chair and once more he was wheeled round the cloisters and Church. He has been the artist of our Christmas Greeting cards for so many years. We looked atthe Sacristy Tapestry of the Leonardo 'Last Supper'.

Among other greetings, William sent me this memorable Card.
The view, the text, and not least the location Lulworth Cove connection.
Cistercian history recalls the the French Revolution refuge in Dorset.
Our SEARCH in this Blog find
 "In 1795 a group of French refugee monks, fleeing the Revolutionary terror, came to England and settled at Lulworth in Dorset. These were the first Cistercians to return to these islands. A group of nuns followed the in 1802, settling at Stapehill not far away. However, in 1817 the monks had to return to France, as they were not allowed to receive novices in England. They went to Melleray near Nantes. In 1832 a group of English and Irish monks were deported from Melleray as non-nationals, and it is from this nucleus that Mount Melleray in Ireland and Mount St. Bernard in England were founded in the years immediately following".*

It has been busy - have to hide away to bed.

The Lulworth does not surface for the moment, but appears in older Website "Why Monasteries" *.

Thanks for the letter received after Compline.

God Love.

Donald

Interesting:

Lulworth Monastery
  ttp://www.eastlulworth.org.uk/east_lulworth_monastery_farml.html

Monastery Farm, in the foreground.

The establishment of a Monastery at East Lulworth

A colony of six monks from the Abbey of Val-Sainte arrived in London during the month of August, 1794. Their superior, Dom. Jean Baptiste de Noyer, had received his appointment the preceding year. Their intention was to proceed forthwith to Canada; but Providence had other designs upon them. The late Thomas Weld, Esq., always ready to assist and harbour the harbourless, invited them to Lulworth, where they arrived in October, 1794, and placed them in the chaplain's house near his castle. Here they remained till March, 1796, when they removed into a new monastery in East Lulworth, which he had provided for them in a dry and sheltered situation,—the very reverse of the old house of La Trappe. It was dedicated under the name of the Holy Trinity and St. Susan, and here they increased and prospered. The first prior was John Baptist, already mentioned. He quitted England in the summer of 1801, when he was succeeded by Dom. Marie Bernard Benoit, who died in July, 1805. Dom. Maur Adam was the third prior; but he was hurried to the tomb in May, 1810. Then was called to the helm a very distinguished character, Dom. Antoinc Saulnier de Beaureaund, a quondam canon of Sens Cathedral, and in every sense of the word a superior man. Pope Pius VII., in consideration of his merits, raised him, in May, 1813, to the rank of abbot, and as such he was blessed by Bishop Poyntcr, in London, in the August following. Under his direction, La Trappe attracted the attention and wonder of all classes. Every unprejudiced visitor* must have departed from the sight of these holy men, delighted with their indefatigable industry, their admirable frugality, and their cheerful and unaffected piety. And yet persons were found who frightened themselves into the persuasion that their example might contribute to the multiplication of such establishments in Protestant England. Had they reasoned, had they inquired, their terrors must have vanished; for in all Catholic France, before the Revolution, there was but one single convent of La Trappe! Until the beginning of 1816, these good religious had experienced the most profound tranquillity, when they had to feel experimentally the force of Christ's words, "A man's enemies are those of his own household." One James Power,t a native of Waterford, after seven years spent in the order, decamped towards the end of January, 1816, and soon after publicly abjured the Catholic faith in the parish church of Blandford. Not satisfied with this scandal, the heartless man, on 16th March that year, swore to several charges, as may be seen in the Appendix. But the unprincipled apostate was soon after summoned before the tribunal of Heaven, to answer for his hypocrisy, false testimony, and violation of his solemn vows. The result of the business was, that the abbot, with much reluctance, decided on transporting his establishment to France, as soon as circumstances would permit. On application to the French authorities, permission was granted, and Lewis XVIII. assisted the abbot in purchasing the ancient Bernardine Convent and domain of Melleray, in the diocese of Nantes, and sent the La Revanche frigate to Weymouth, to take on board their community, as also a lugger to convey their goods and chattles to France. On 7th July, 1817, this band of holy monks, fifty-nine in number, embarked, reached the French coast on the 23rd, and entered their new monastery, with imposing solemnity, on 7th August. There, as at Lullworth, they proved a daily source of benediction to the surrounding country by their virtues and superabundant charity.* (2 Kings vi.) During their stay at Lullworth, they buried twenty-seven of their brethren; viz. seven priests, thirteen choir-religious, the rest postulants or lay-brothers.