St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde is an
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The con ...
of
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
nuns in the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, England.
Monastic life
Founded in 1882 and dedicated to the Peace of the Heart of Jesus, St Cecilia's Abbey,
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
, Isle of Wight, belongs to the
Benedictine Order, and in particular to the
Solesmes Congregation The Solesmes Congregation is an association of monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbey of Solesmes.
History
The congregation was founded in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI as the French Benedictine Congregation, with the the ...
of
Dom Prosper Guéranger Dom or DOM may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Dom (given name), including fictional characters
* Dom (surname)
* Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto
* Dom people, an eth ...
. The nuns live a traditional monastic life of prayer, work and study in accordance with the ancient
Rule of Saint Benedict.
As one of the institutes devoted 'entirely to divine worship in the
contemplative life' (Vatican II, ''
Perfectae Caritatis, 9'') and following the tradition of Solesmes, St Cecilia's Abbey lays principal emphasis on the solemn celebration of the liturgy, with
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
and the
Divine Office sung daily in
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...
. The Second Vatican Council recognised the contemplative life as belonging 'to the fulness of the Church's presence' (''Ad Gentes 18'') and noted that such communities 'will always have a distinguished part to play in Christ's Mystical Body' (''Perfectae Caritatis, 7''). As ''Lumen Gentium (4)'' expressed it, 'For even though in some instances religious do not directly mingle with their contemporaries, yet in a more profound sense these same religious are united with them in the heart of Christ and co-operate with them spiritually.'
The Community supports itself mainly through its production of altar breads, as well as in intellectual and artistic work (calligraphy, candles, etc.). Other manual work includes garden, orchard, and beekeeping.
History
The Community's history has two sources:
* the seventeenth century Belgian reform of Florence de Werquignoeul, and
* the restoration of the monastic order at Solesmes in France by Dom Prosper Guéranger in the nineteenth century.
Florence de Werquignoeul
With other great abbesses of that period, she helped to revive the order which was suffering from destruction without and from compromise within. In 1604 Florence and four companions left the
Cistercian house at Flînes for the purpose of observing the Rule in its entirety. She established the monastery of Paix Notre Dame at
Douai
Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...
in 1604. Foundations followed, and in 1627 another Paix Notre Dame grew up at
Liège. In 1882 this house made a foundation at
Ventnor
Ventnor () is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea. ...
on the Isle of Wight, dedicated to the Peace of the Sacred Heart, Pax Cordis Jesu. This is the origin of the present Community. At the request of the Bishop, it opened a small school for girls which flourished for some years but was given up in 1922 when the expanding community moved to the site at Appley Ryde, vacated by the return to France of the exiled nuns of the Abbey of
Ste-Cécile de Solesmes. In 1926, the Priory of Pax Cordis Jesu became an abbey.
Dom Prosper Guéranger
Dom Guéranger revived the Benedictine Order in France in 1833 where it had ceased to exist for forty-three years. He bought the Priory at Solesmes, which subsequently was raised to the rank of Abbey by
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He ...
. In his last years, he oversaw, in collaboration with the first abbess, Mother
Cécile Bruyère
Mère Cécile Bruyère (12 October 1845 – 18 March 1909) was the first abbess of St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Sainte-Cécile de Solesmes'') and a follower of Dom Prosper Guéranger in the revival of Benedictine spirituality in 19th ce ...
, the establishment of a community of women under the
Rule of St Benedict at the abbey of
Ste-Cécile de Solesmes.
Neither he nor Florence de Werquignoeul desired to create a new form of religious life but to return to an ancient but living tradition. For both, the return to Benedictine tradition could be accomplished only by the adoption and observance of the Rule: `It is by the Rule of St Benedict that we will be Benedictines,' wrote Dom Guéranger. For Florence, too, the Rule was the foundation of her reform, `the daily bread which had nourished in the past the fervour of all the saints in the rigour of monastic observance.'
French anti-clerical laws
Because of the anti-clerical laws of 1901, the nuns of the Abbey of Ste-Cécile de Solesmes had been obliged to leave France. They found a temporary home at
Northwood House, a country house in
Cowes on the Isle of Wight loaned to them by Mr Edmund Ward (son of
William George Ward
William George Ward (21 March 1812 – 6 July 1882) was an English theologian and mathematician. A Roman Catholic convert, his career illustrates the development of religious opinion at a time of crisis in the history of English religious though ...
, one of the prominent figures of the
Oxford Movement and a friend of
Cardinal Newman). When it became clear that there would be no speedy end to the exile, the French nuns had to think of a more permanent home. They bought
Appley House near Ryde.
[Gale, Nick. "The Abbey of St Cecilia, Ryde, England", ''New Liturgical Movement'', June 15, 2010]
/ref> The Solesmes nuns erected cloisters and a church, designed by Edward Goldie (1856–1921), the son of the prolific Catholic architect George Goldie
Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...
. The Church was solemnly dedicated to St Cecilia on 12 October 1907.
Ryde
On the return of the nuns of Ste-Cécile to France in 1922 after 20 years of exile, the community of Pax Cordis Jesu at Ventnor acquired the vacant property at Appley that came to be known as St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde.
In 1950, after more than half a century of close contact with that congregation, St Cecilia's Abbey itself became part of the Solesmes Congregation.
In 1974, Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
issued ''Jubilate Deo'', a selection of plainchant pieces, to encourage the singing of Simple Gregorian melodies in parishes. The Community recorded the chant to support this endeavour, in what was the first recording of nuns in the UK. Between 1980 and 1992, the Community produced nine more recordings of their chant.
The nuns also do calligraphy, producing hand-lettered pieces in a variety of styles suitable for framing.Abbey Scribes, St Cecilia's Abbey
/ref>
Sister Mary David (1957-2017) spent 22 years in the abbey and was its prioress.
Overseas
In 1967, the first Benedictine foundation for Indian nuns was made at Bangalore, South India, from St Cecilia's. Shanti Nilayam (House of Peace) was raised to an abbey in 1993 and has itself made several foundations. These houses belong to the ' Benedictine Confederation that has its centre at Sant' Anselmo in Rome.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
www.abbeyscribes.org.uk
Gives more details of calligraphy.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde
Benedictine nunneries in England
Monasteries in the Isle of Wight
1882 establishments in England
19th-century Christian monasteries
Ryde
Ryde, Saint Cecilia
Religious organizations established in 1882
Ryde, Saint Cecilia