Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire

Coordinates: 52°02′21″N 2°45′23″W / 52.0393°N 2.7564°W / 52.0393; -2.7564
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Belmont Abbey
Abbey Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hereford
Dom
Alexander Kenyon OSB

Belmont Abbey, in

Black Mountains in Wales to the west. The 19th century Abbey also serves as a parish church
.

History

The interior of the Abbey Church

Thomas Joseph Brown, who was its first bishop, is buried in the church. Also here, but in the Abbots' graveyard outside the east end of the church, is buried Bishop Bernard Collier, missionary in Mauritius and Bishop Laurence Youens
6th Bishop of Northampton.

Belmont was unique in England for having a monastic cathedral chapter. This was the case in mediaeval England where monks were the canons of the cathedral, such as in Canterbury, Winchester and Durham.[3]

A move to transfer the training of monks to the individual monasteries of the English Benedictine Congregation led to Belmont being allowed to take its own novices in 1901, and become an independent house in 1917. In 1920 Belmont was raised to the rank of an Abbey by the papal bull Praeclara Gesta.

St. David's Church in Cardiff the cathedral. On 12 March 1920, St. David's church officially became the cathedral for the archdiocese and the abbey ceased to be a pro-cathedral.[4]

The Priory was elevated to the rank of abbey by Pope Benedict XV, who issued the Papal bull Praeclara Gesta on 21 March 1920 and soon after, on 30 June 1920 the Community of St Michael's elected Prior Aelred Kindersley, originally a monk of Downside, as their first Abbot.[5]

In March 2025 it was announced, that the Community of St Gregory the Great, formerely Downside Abbey of the same Benedictine congregation, in upcoming summer will transfer for an experimental period of two years to reside at the Belmont Abbey, formally continue to remain as a separate community.[6][7]

The Abbey Church

Stained Glass of Ss Raphael, Michael, Gabriel and angels

The Abbey Church is a grade II*

Augustus Welby Pugin. Built in the decorated, early English style, it demonstrated the resurgent optimism of the restored Catholic faith.[8]

The exterior is in local pink sandstone, simple and unadorned, reminiscent of many classical monastic facades of the fourteenth century. The interior is faced with warm Bath stone. The church is dominated by four elegant, steeply pointed, arches which support the central tower. Originally this was the crossing, but now the altar stands here at the centre of the Church. The whole church was expensive for its time costing £45,000.[8]

The church is noted for the quality of its sculpture and

Raphael and Gabriel and the nine choirs of angels as an angelic orchestra sounding of praises of God.[9]

Under a wooden roof stands the monastic choir, where the community gathers five times a day for the

Second World War. The North Transept was formerly a chantry chapel dedicated to the Welsh Saints.[8]

St Benedict's chapel, completed in 1875, shows the monastic founder in the central reredos.[8]

The churchyard contains three Commonwealth war graves, of a Royal Navy chaplain and a surgeon of World War I, and a Royal Air Force officer of World War II.[10]

Monastic life

The monastic community follows the

Rule of St Benedict under the guidance of an Abbot, centred on the Divine Office and Mass prayed daily in the Abbey Church.[11]

The community currently numbers 35 monks in England and Peru. The current Abbot is Dom Brendan Thomas and the Prior is Dom Alexander Kenyon.

Following the post-Reformation English tradition, the monks have been involved in educational and pastoral work. In 1926, Belmont Abbey School was founded. This continued to expand in the post war years. Two preparatory schools were also founded, Alderwasley and Llanarth, Monmouthshire. These in turn were closed, and the school at Belmont was itself closed in 1993. Associations for former pupils still exist.[12]

Today the monks undertake numerous works including the pastoral care of the Catholics in Herefordshire, Cumbria, Worcestershire and South Wales. In addition the community maintains a small foundation at Lurín near Lima, Peru, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. The monastery is housed in the buildings of the former Cistercian monastery which was founded by the nuns of Las Huelgas Abbey in Spain.[11]

The monks also run the retreat, guesthouse and conference centre, Hedley Lodge. A programme of educational visits is offered to schools throughout the West Midlands and Wales.[11]

In 2006 the

Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Belmont Abbey a grant for their project 'Discovering Belmont Abbey', to make the Abbey Church more accessible to a wide range of people, to enlarge its educational activities and restore the fabric of the church. Work commenced in August 2008.[13]

A police investigation resulted in Father John Kinsey being sentenced to five years at Worcester Crown Court in 2005 by Judge Andrew Geddes for a series of serious offences relating to assaults on schoolboys attending Belmont Abbey School in the mid-1980s.[14]

List of Abbots (until 1920 – Priors)

  • 1859–1862: Dom Norbert Sweeney, monk of Downside Abbey
  • 1862–1873: Dom
    Archbishop of Sydney
  • 1873–1901: Dom Wilfrid Raynal, monk of Downside Abbey
  • 1901–1905: Dom Ildephonsus Cummins, monk of Ampleforth Abbey
  • 1905–1914: Dom Clement Fowler, monk of Downside Abbey
  • 1915–1934: Dom Aelred Kindersley, monk of Downside Abbey, first Abbot
  • 1934–1940: Dom Romuald Leonard
  • 1940–1948: Dom Aidan Williams
  • 1948–1953: Dom Anselm Lightbound
  • 1953–1955: Dom Alphege Gleeson
  • 1955–1966: Dom Maurice Martin
  • 1966–1970: Dom Robert Richardson
  • 1970–1986: Dom Jerome Hodkinson
  • 1986–1993: Dom Alan Rees
  • 1993–2000: Dom Mark Jabalé
  • 2000–2024: Dom Paul Stonham
  • 2024–present: Dom Brendan Thomas[15]

In media

The Abbey and the daily activities of a number of monks were the subject of 3 Episodes of the television series Retreat: Meditations from a Monastery, first shown on BBC Four in October 2017.[16]

Burials

Parish of St Michael and All Angels

The abbey is also the parish church for the Parish of St Michael and All Angels, part of the Herefordshire Catholic Deanery within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cardiff. Until 1859 parishioners used the chapel of St Peter & St Paul for Mass. That building is now used as the parish centre.[17]

  • East side of the Abbey Church
    East side of the Abbey Church
  • View across the neighbouring cemetery
    View across the neighbouring cemetery
  • North side of the Abbey Church
    North side of the Abbey Church
  • Abbey Church entrance
    Abbey Church entrance
  • Abbey building
    Abbey building
  • Small garden
    Small garden
  • View of altar from entrance
    View of altar from entrance

References

  1. ^ The Late Mr F. R. Wegg-Prosser Funeral at Belmont Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine from The Tablet retrieved 5 April 2014
  2. ^ a b "History and Heritage", Belmont Abbey
  3. ^ a b Belmont Abbey Church from Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales retrieved 5 April 2014
  4. Cardiff Cathedral
    retrieved 5 April 2014
  5. ^ "Belmont at 100: The Road to Independence". The Belmont Abbey Official Website. July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  6. ^ Abbot Brendan Thomas (12 March 2025). "A New Chapter in the Life of Belmont". Belmont Abbey. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  7. ^ "News from the Community of St Gregory the Great". Downside Abbey. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Historic England, "Details from listed building database (1411804)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 April 2014
  9. ^ Angels Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine from BelmontCMS retrieved 5 April 2014
  10. ^ [1] CWGC Cemetery report, details from casualty record.
  11. ^ a b c Visit Herefordshire retrieved 5 April 2014
  12. ^ Belmont Association retrieved 5 April 2014
  13. ^ Abbot blesses new visitor facility at Belmont Abbey Church[permanent dead link‍] from Hereford Times retrieved 5 April 2014
  14. ^ "Five years for attacks on boys". April 2004.
  15. ^ Community from BelmontAbbey.co.uk retrieved 5 April 2014
  16. ^ "BBC Four - Retreat: Meditations from a Monastery, Series 1, Belmont Abbey".
  17. ^ Parish of St Michael and All Angels

Bibliography

  • The History of Belmont Abbey by Basil Whelan, Bloomsbury Publishing Company 1959.
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