Saint Michael's Abbey (French: ''Abbaye Saint-Michel'') is a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

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 Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. The small community is known for its

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

(which is sung in Latin and

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 main ...

), its pipe organ, and its liturgical publishing and printing. This abbey is also known for enshrining a Pontifically crowned image of

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

. Public tours of the abbey take place every Saturday at 3pm, with the visit including a tour of the church and a visit to the crypt.

History

Following the fall of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

in 1870,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

(1808–1873), his wife

Empress Eugénie The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

(1826–1920) and their son the Prince Imperial (1856–1879) were exiled from France and took up residence in England at Camden Place in

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

, Kent, where Napoleon III died in 1873. He was originally buried at St Mary's Church in Chislehurst. Following the death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, the grief-stricken Empress Eugénie set about establishing a monument to her family. She founded the Abbey in 1881 as a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

for her husband and son, wishing that the burial site should be a place of prayer and silence. The Abbey included an Imperial Crypt, modelled on the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

Saint-Denis basilica The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

near Paris, where the Emperor had originally desired to be buried. Empress Eugénie was later buried alongside her husband and son. All three rest in granite

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

that were provided by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. File:The Sarcophagus of Emperor Napoleon III of France (geograph 3835255).jpg, The

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

of Emperor

File:Eugenie tomb.jpg, The sarcophagus of

File:Sarcophagus of Napoleon, Prince Imperial (geograph 3835254).jpg, The sarcophagus of Napoléon, Prince Imperial The Abbey Church itself was designed in an eclectic

flamboyant Flamboyant () is a lavishly-decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance.Encyclopedia Britannica, "Flamboyant style ...

gothic style by the renowned French architect

Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur Hippolyte Destailleur (27 September 1822 – 17 November 1893) was a French architect, interior designer, and collector. He is noted for his designs and restoration work for great châteaux in France and in England, as well as his collection of bo ...

, and it contains the thigh bone of

St Alban Saint Alban (; ) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recorded at an earl ...

, the largest relic of the saint in England. After the church and monastery were founded, they were initially administered by

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

Canons. In 1895, the Empress replaced them with French Benedictine monks from St Peter's Abbey, Solesmes. Dom

Fernand Cabrol Fernand Cabrol (11 December 1855 – 4 June 1937) was a French people, French Benedictine abbot and a scholar on the history of Christian worship. Life Cabrol was born in Marseille. He studied at the College of Marseilles, and entered the Benedic ...

, a noted scholar, became prior and afterwards abbot (1903), remaining in the post until his death in 1937. Dom

Henri Leclercq Henri Leclercq (4 December 1869 – 23 March 1945) was a French Catholic Church, Catholic priest, theologian, and church historian who spent most of his adult life in the United Kingdom. Biography Born in Tournai, Belgium, Leclercq attended the C ...

and a small group of French monks joined the house at the same time, and Leclercq and Cabrol collaborated for many years in scholarly endeavours. The

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and liturgist, Dom André Wilmart (1876–1941), was a monk of the abbey. The church's present two-manual organ was installed in 1905, built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll & Company. The instrument's origins are shrouded in mystery. Although installed after the death of Cavaillé-Coll, it bears his name rather than that of his successor, Charles Mutin, and the internal works are of a quality which identifies this model with the highest standards of workmanship of the high days of that company. The community, once famed for its scholarly writing and musical tradition of

s, became depleted in number by 1947, and most of the remaining monks dispersed to houses of the Solesmes Congregation, in particular

Quarr Abbey Quarr Abbey (French language, French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr'') is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne, Isle of Wight, Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor" (r ...

. Farnborough was once more resettled, this time by a small group of English monks from

Prinknash Abbey Prinknash Abbey (pronounced locally variously as "Prinidge/Prinnish") (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) is a Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic monastery in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the vill ...

in Gloucestershire. The last French monk, Dom Leopold Zerr, for many years the abbey's organist, died in 1956. In 2006, the community elected the first English Abbot of Farnborough—the Right Reverend Dom Cuthbert Brogan.

Catholic National Library

The Catholic Central Library was set up by the

Catholic Truth Society Catholic Truth Society (CTS) is a body that prints and publishes Catholic literature, including apologetics, prayerbooks, spiritual reading, and lives of saints. It is based in London, United Kingdom. The CTS had been founded in 1868 by Cardi ...

after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was maintained for many years by the Graymoor Friars in Westminster until they were obliged to withdraw. It moved into the care of St Michael's Abbey in 2007 for a probationary period pending a final decision on its future. In 2007, it was renamed the Catholic National Library, and it is one of the finest collections of Roman Catholic books in England. In 2015, the collection was relocated to

Durham University Library The Durham University Library is the centrally administered library of Durham University in England and is part of the university's Library and Collections department. Its two main libraries are Palace Green Library and the Bill Bryson Library. ...

National Shrine to Saint Joseph

The ''National Shrine to Saint Joseph'' at Saint Michael's Abbey is cared for by the monks of Farnborough. A statue of

in a side chapel to the right of the high altar in the monastery church initially belonged to the

Mill Hill Fathers The Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), officially known as the Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill (), is a Catholic society of apostolic life founded in 1866 by Herbert A. Vaughan. History The society was founded in 1866 by Herbert A. ...

, founded by

Herbert Vaughan Herbert Alfred Henry Joseph Thomas Vaughan (15 April 1832 – 19 June 1903) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1892 until his death in 1903, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1893. ...

in 1866. At Vaughan's request,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

granted a

canonical coronation A canonical coronation () is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a formal decree of a papal bull, in which the pope bestows the pontifical right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureola, aureole to an image of ...

for the statue, conducted by Henry Cardinal Manning on the occasion of the dedication of the chapel of St Joseph's College on 13 April 1874. The Missionary Institute of London was established in the late 1960s to consolidate training facilities for the various mission societies in Britain. St Joseph's College was closed in 2006."History", Mill Hill Missionaries
, accessed 6 January 2016. The property was subsequently sold, and the Society relocated to

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

. Farnborough Abbey agreed to receive the Shrine's statue and altars, and the present National Shrine was erected in 2008. (A second statue of St Joseph, formerly at the entrance to the Mill Hill property, was sent to the shrine of

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, venerated by Catholics and high-church Anglicans. According to tradition, the title is linked to a Marian vision experienced in 1061 by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Angl ...

References

External links

Website about the Cavaillé-Coll organ in Farnborough Abbey
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farnborough, St Michael Religious organizations established in 1881 Benedictine monasteries in England Abbeys in Hampshire Grade I listed churches in Hampshire Farnborough, Hampshire 1881 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 19th century Burial sites of the House of Bonaparte 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom