Ampleforth Abbey

Ampleforth Abbey
The Abbey Church of St Lawrence, Ampleforth
54°12′06″N 1°05′05″W / 54.2018°N 1.0847°W / 54.2018; -1.0847Coordinates: 54°12′06″N 1°05′05″W / 54.2018°N 1.0847°W / 54.2018; -1.0847
Location	Ampleforth, North Yorkshire
Country	England
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Website	www.abbey.ampleforth.org.uk
History
Founded	1802
Founder(s)	Lady Anne Fairfax
Dedication	St Lawrence the Martyr
Architecture
Status	Abbey
Clergy
Abbot	Fr. Cuthbert Madden

The Abbey Church

Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine Monks in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England, part of the English Benedictine Congregation. It claims descent from the pre-Reformation community at Westminster Abbey through the last surviving monk from Westminster Sigebert Buckley (c. 1520 - c. 1610). The current Abbot is Fr. Cuthbert Madden, and the Prior is Fr Terence Richardson.

History

The Abbey was founded in a house given to Father Anselm Bolton by Lady Anne Fairfax. This house was taken over by Dr. Brewer, President of the Congregation, 30 July 1802. The community, since leaving Dieulouard in Lorraine, where its members had joined with Spanish and Cassinese Benedictines to form the monastery of St. Lawrence, had been successively at Acton Burnell, Tranmere, Scholes, Vernon Hall, and Parbold Hall, under its superior Dr. Marsh.

On its migration to Ampleforth Lodge, Dr. Marsh remained at Parbold and Father Appleton was elected the first prior of the new monastery. Shortly afterwards Parbold was broken up and the boys of the school there transferred to Ampleforth. The priory was erected into an abbey, in 1890, by the Bull "Diuquidem". and has an important and flourishing college attached to it. John Cuthbert Hedley, Bishop of Newport, was an alumnus, as well a superior of Ampleforth, Abbot Smith. The monastery was finished in 1897.^[1]

List of Abbots

Ampleforth College

The monastery set up a school at Ampleforth in 1802. It is now the co-educational independent boarding school Ampleforth College, with around 600 students.

Parishes

In addition to the work at Ampleforth, some of the monks are sent as parish priests to parishes, mostly in Lancashire.

Permanent Private Hall

Ampleforth has a Permanent Private Hall at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, which was founded for the purpose of letting monks study for secular degrees. It now accepts lay undergraduates as well as monastic members.

Saint Louis

Ampleforth set up a sister priory at St. Louis, Missouri in 1955. The priory gained independence in 1973 and became Saint Louis Abbey in its own right in 1989.

Zimbabwe

In 1996, Ampleforth set up the community of Christ the Word in Zimbabwe which has approximately four or five members of the community in residence at any one time. The present Abbot makes it a point to spend at least three months of the year at this monastery.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "The Abbey of Ampleforth". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

External links

• Ampleforth: a compass for life
• Ampleforth Abbey (English Benedictine Congregation Web)