St Benet's Hall, Oxford

St Benet's Hall
Oxford
Arms: Per fesse dancetté or and azure, a chief per pale gules and of the second, charged on the dexter with two keys in saltire or and argent, and on the sinister with a cross flory between five martlets of the first.
Location	38 St Giles', Oxford
Coordinates	51°45′29″N 1°15′39″W / 51.757952°N 1.260787°W / 51.757952; -1.260787
Latin name	Aula Privata Sancti Benedicti
Motto	Ausculta, o fili, praecepta magistri
Motto in English	Listen, O child, to the master's precepts
Established	1897; 127 years ago (1897)
Closed	2022
Named after	St Benedict of Nursia
Website	www.st-benets.ox.ac.uk
Boat club	St Benet's Hall Boat Club
Map
Location in Oxford city centre

St Benet's Hall (known colloquially as Benet's) was a

History

Benedictine antecedents

At that time a Benedictine monk-priest, Fr Anselm Bolton, was the chaplain to Lady Anne Fairfax at Gilling Castle, North Yorkshire. She was the only daughter of Charles Gregory Fairfax, 9th and last Viscount Fairfax of Emley. She built Ampleforth Lodge for Fr Bolton just before she died in 1792.^{[citation needed]} In 1802, Bolton handed this house over to his brethren from Dieulouard who had been living in England without a permanent home for a decade. The lodge became their new monastery, Ampleforth Priory. In 1803, the monks established Ampleforth College, today an independent Catholic secondary school.

The priory was elevated to the status of an independent abbey in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII in the papal bull Diu quidem est. Ampleforth Abbey renamed the hall of studies as St. Benet's Hall in 1918 when it became a permanent private hall of the university.^{[citation needed]}

Private hall of studies

In October 1897, the priory had established a private hall of studies at Oxford for the purpose of enabling its monks to read for secular degrees at the University of Oxford. The hall was not founded as a theological college but rather as a place where student monks could read for a degree in any secular subject.

St Benet's became a permanent private hall of the university in 1918, after new university legislation created the status of PPH. It took as its official name Aula Privata Sancti Benedicti: in English, "St Benedict's (or St Benet's) Private Hall". (Benet is a mediaeval English variant of the name Benedict.) It was named after St Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–547), the founder of the Benedictine order, father of western monasticism and a patron saint of Europe and of students.

The character of the hall changed over the years, acquiring

With the decline of monastic vocations beginning in the 1960s and continuing to the present (2022), more and more Roman Catholic laymen were admitted - especially under Master James Forbes OSB,[2] including some Old Amplefordians. Under Master Philip Holdsworth OSB (1979–1989), the hall again emphasised a monastic ethos and also became more theological in character, with many monks from the English Benedictine Congregation and other Benedictine Congregations studying theology at Blackfriars.^[3] Master Henry Wansbrough (1990–2004) started again to admit laymen, thus creating a mixed focus on theology, philosophy and the humanities.^{[citation needed]}

There was never a policy that lay members of the Hall, both undergraduates and postgraduates, should be Catholics - and in recent decades most were not. However, all members were asked to be supportive of the monks' life and values.^[4]

A review of the PPHs conducted by the university in 2007 concluded that St Benet's had a "good sense of its place within the collegiate University" and drew attention to the "commitment and care" of the hall's academic staff.^[5] In May 2013 the Student Barometer survey results showed that St Benet's Hall had the highest overall student satisfaction score out of the 44 constituent colleges and permanent private halls of the university.^[6]

Sexual abuse scandal

In 1996 Bernard Green OSB (1953-2013), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, was convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year old schoolboy at the monastery's school, Ampleforth College, in the previous year. He was put on probation and prohibited from teaching. Despite this, the abbey sent him to reside and teach at St Benet's Hall in 2000 without, allegedly, informing the hall of his conviction. He was issued with a "final" letter of warning by the university in 2005, after being accused of sexually harassing a 19-year-old undergraduate member of the hall. This letter was supposedly unknown to the hall until 2006, but Green was subsequently kept in residence until 2012 when he was finally dismissed. The scandal came to the notice of the national media.^[7]

Final decade

Until 2012, the Master of the hall was always a Benedictine monk from Ampleforth. On 1 September of that year,

Until 2016, St Benet's was the last constituent body of the University of Oxford admitting only men. It was also the last single-sex college or hall in the university after St Hilda's College, the last all-women's college in Oxford, admitted men in 2008. In November 2013, under Professor Jeanrond, the hall announced its intention to admit women graduate students within one year and women undergraduates as soon as additional housing facilities were obtained.^[8] Women were admitted as graduate students in October 2014, and as undergraduates in October 2016. Thus 2016 was the year when all constituent colleges and halls of the university became fully coeducational. (The University of Cambridge retains two constituent colleges for female students only.)

To allow for the admission of undergraduate women, in October 2015 St Benet's Hall acquired a hall of residence owned by the

Closure

In September 2021, it was announced that the John and Daria Barry Foundation, a philanthropic trust run by the venture capitalist John F. Barry III, was making a £40 million rescue offer to enable the hall to become completely independent of Ampleforth Abbey. This was on condition that the buildings would be purchased from the Ampleforth Abbey Trust for £15 million (less than their market value), that the St Benet's Trust was to be made completely separate from the abbey and that the chair was to be the prominent conservative philosopher and academic Robert P. George of Princeton University.^[11] Barry himself was on record as describing the venture as a Hail Mary pass, indicating limited expectations of success.^[1]

However, in December of that year, the university stated that without the abbey's continued financial support, "it cannot be confident that the hall can support a new undergraduate cohort for the full duration of their studies". The major issues were that the hall's endowments were inadequate, the two buildings were owned by Ampleforth Abbey and operational deficits were being covered by subsidies from the abbey.^[1]

So, the university announced that it would temporarily cease to accept undergraduate matriculations from the hall, owing to these serious financial issues.^[12] May 2022 was the deadline for deciding this point as regards the academic year 2022–3.^[1]

In that month it was made public that the University Council had decided not to renew the hall's PPH licence, which implied that the hall would close at the end of the 2022 academic year.^[13][14] The university had decided that the new arrangements proposed by the Barry Foundation would not be financially viable and questioned the implications of the new board, and so they were rejected.^[13][14]

In June 2022 it was finally announced that the buildings would be vacated by October 2022, and that the university was seeking alternative colleges to which existing students would transfer.^[15] The buildings were subsequently purchased by St Hilda's College.^[16] The hall was formally closed on 30 September 2022.^[17] The last member of staff vacated the St Giles house on 7 October. The wine cellar of 1,100 bottles was donated to Blackfriars. Students relocated individually to other colleges and halls of the university to continue their studies. The St Benet's Hall Boat Club continues to operate.^[1]

St Benet's Hall Association

The St Benet’s Hall Association is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2007 by Benet’s alumni. Its purpose is to promote a close relationship amongst those who studied, lived or taught at St Benet’s Hall. Following the dissolution of the Hall, the Association became the focal point for Old Benetians worldwide, organising regular social and networking events, both independently and with other constituents of the University of Oxford.^[18]

Former Buildings

38 and 39 St Giles

The hall occupied 38-39 St Giles from 1923 to 2022. This is a rather plain late Regency style edifice of four storeys, with a further attic storey and cellars. The cellar area ensured that the original set of wrought iron railings have survived, as has a wrought iron balcony across the façade at the second storey. The first storey has six round-headed windows in recessed frames, flanked by a pair of matching doors with fanlights. The second storey has eight tall rectangular windows, complemented by shorter ones for the second storey and square ones for the third. The third and fourth storeys are separated by a moulded string course which is the only decorative feature of the façade. The slate mansard roof has attic windows inserted.

The dining hall took up most of the ground floor, and the common room and library were above that. The chapel is a red brick garden annexe in a vaguely Gothic style.

The original building dates from 1830, and was constructed as two separate houses (38 and 39).

St Ursula's Convent School closed in 1922. Ampleforth Abbey acquired both buildings in 1923, and combined the two into one residence. It was the sole building of St Benet's Hall until 2015. ^[citation needed]

11 Norham Gardens

A large house in Norham Gardens was acquired in 2015, as part of the policy of expansion begun in 2012.

The original

The governing body of the hall comprised the trustees of a charity known as the St Benet's Trust, created in 2012 with the trust's chair being ex officio the Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey. However, the assets of this Trust were wholly owned by the Ampleforth Abbey Trust. In 2016, Abbot Cuthbert Madden resigned after allegations of sexual abuse and was replaced as chair by a lay fellow.[20]

Unlike the university's colleges and other PPHs, St Benet's had a joint common room of which all at the hall were members.^[4] The JCR had its own committee,^[21] and was responsible for running the St Benet's bar and gym facilities.^{[citation needed]}

Refectory

Again unlike the university's constituent colleges, the hall did not have a high table but one common dining table shared by all members. Members of the hall were entitled to invite guests to all meals,^[4] with the result that fellows, lecturers, monks, students, and their guests mixed freely. The dining hall was known as the refectory, in accordance with monastic tradition.

The following

Gratiarum actio ante cibum

Benedic Domine,

nos et haec tua dona

quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi,

per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen

Grace before the meal

Bless us, O Lord,

and these thy gifts

which we are about to receive from thy bounty,

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Grace after the meal was said in Latin after formal hall by the chaplain in the following form:

Gratiarum actio post cibum

Agimus tibi gratias,

omnipotens Deus,

pro universis beneficiis tuis,

qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Grace after the meal

We give thee thanks,

O almighty God,

for all thy benefits,

who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.^{[citation needed]}

Sport

Despite the small size of the hall, the

St Benet's Hall used the same coat of arms as Ampleforth Abbey and Ampleforth College but, like the college, without the abbot's crozier and galero (ecclesiastical hat with tassels). The arms were granted to the abbey by the English College of Arms in 1922. The abbey made the application to the College of Arms to regularise its armorial position as the alleged lineal descendant of Westminster Abbey. The purpose of this move was to conform to proper authority and thus not be open to the charge of lack of consideration for post-Reformation bodies already bearing variants of the Westminster arms in their own line of heraldic descent.^{[citation needed]}

The Pre-Reformation

]

People associated with St Benet's

Masters

St Benet's had twelve masters following its establishment in 1897:^[25]

• Oswald Hunter Blair
  OSB (1898–1909)^[26]
• Anselm Parker OSB (1909–1920)[27]
• Justin McCann OSB (1920–1947)^[28]
• Gerard Sitwell OSB (1947–1964)^[29]
• James Forbes OSB (1964–1979)
• Philip Holdsworth OSB (1979–1989)
• Fabian Cowper OSB (1989–1990)
• Henry Wansbrough OSB (1990–2004); Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible
• Leo Chamberlain
  OSB (2004–2007)
• Felix Stephens OSB (2007–2012)
• Werner Jeanrond (2012–2018)
• Richard Cooper (2018–2022) ^[30]

Fellows

Further information: Category:Fellows of St Benet's Hall, Oxford

Notable fellows of the hall include:^[31]

• Brian Klug, senior research fellow in Philosophy (2000–2022)
• Susan Doran, fellow in history (2007–2022)
• Harry Sidebottom, fellow and director of studies in ancient history (2008–2014)

Honorary fellows

• Leo Chamberlain; Master of St Benet's Hall 2004–2007; Titular Cathedral Prior of Gloucester
• Queen Mary, University of London
• Werner Jeanrond; Master of St Benet's Hall 2012–2018; Professor of Systematic Theology (Dogmatics), University of Oslo
• Henry Mayr-Harting; emeritus Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford
• Goldman Sachs International, chairman of the London School of Economics, and Consultor of the Extraordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
  .
• Henry Wansbrough; Master of St Benet's Hall 1990–2004; Titular Cathedral Prior of Norwich 2004–2009; Titular Cathedral Prior of Durham

Notable alumni

Further information: Category:Alumni of St Benet's Hall, Oxford

• John Balme, alumnus, American conductor, opera manager, and pianist
• Daily Telegraph
• Donald Joseph Bolen, alumnus and Roman Catholic Bishop of Saskatoon
• Damian Collins, alumnus and Member of Parliament (MP) for Folkestone and Hythe
• John Cornwell, alumnus, author, and academic at Jesus College, University of Cambridge
• Lumumba Stanislaus-Kaw Di-Aping, alumnus and Sudanese diplomat
• OSB (1923–1999), alumnus, Abbot of Ampleforth (1963–1976) and Archbishop of Westminster
  (1976–1999)
• Professor Olegario González de Cardedal, alumnus and chair of theology, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain
• Martin Jennings, alumnus and sculptor
• Sir
  Balliol College
  , Oxford
• General
  6th Infantry Division, British Army
• Benedictine monk, scholar, executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Collegeville, Minnesota

See also

• English Benedictine Congregation

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} The Tablet, 3 December 2023 issue, pp.9-11
2. ^ Stacpoole, Alberic. "Obituary of Fr James Forbes". English Benedictine Congregation. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
3. ^ Knollys, Bonaventure. "Obituary of Fr Philip Holdsworth". English Benedictine Congregation. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
4. ^ ^{a b c} St Benet's Hall - University of Oxford. Ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
5. ^ Review of the Permanent Private Halls associated with the University of Oxford at the Wayback Machine (archived 2018-03-27)
6. ^ Poulten, Sarah. "PPH students most satisfied". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
7. ^ "BBC, Oxford college employed sex abuse monk for 12 years". Retrieved 4 December 2022.
8. ^ Gurney-Read, Josie. "Oxford hall announces decision to admit women". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
9. ^ "Second Building for St Benet's Hall". St Benet's Hall. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
10. ^ St Benet's Hall, Oxford Archived 2010-08-22 at the Wayback Machine. St-benets.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
11. ^ "Religious freedom does not justify discrimination against LGBTQ community: Readers". USA TODAY. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
12. ^ Atkinson Gibson, Poppy; Foster, Alex (17 December 2021). "St Benet's Hall to temporarily halt undergrad admissions amid dire financial straits". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
13. ^ ^{a b} "Breaking News: St Benet's Hall announces that university will not renew its official licence and addresses possibility of ceasing operations altogether". The Oxford Student. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
14. ^ ^{a b} Woolcock, Nicola. "Oxford monks given marching orders". The Times. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
15. ^ Biletsky, Anya (15 June 2022). "St Benet's Hall buildings to be vacated as students lament loss of "lovely community"". Cherwell. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
16. ^ Woolcock, Nicola (30 September 2022). "Oxford college St Benet's Hall closes despite businessman's £40m lifeline". The Times. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
17. ^ "Voting on Legislative Proposal: Statute V: Colleges, Societies, and Permanent Private Halls" (PDF). Gazette. No. 5365. University of Oxford. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
18. ^ "St Benet's Hall Association". St Benet's Hall Association. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
19. ^ ^{a b c} "Oxford History article". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
20. ^ "St Benet's Trust Charity Commission report 2016". Retrieved 4 December 2022.
21. ^ St Benet's Hall, Oxford Archived 2009-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. St-benets.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
22. ^ Home - St Benet's Hall Boat Club.
23. ^ "Torpids 2019". eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
24. ^ "St Benet's wins inter College (Cuppers) Rubgy 7s cup for second year running". www.st-benets.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
25. ^ St Benet's Hall, Oxford Archived 2010-08-22 at the Wayback Machine. St-benets.ox.ac.uk (1939-09-12). Retrieved on 2012-09-05.
26. ^ Downs, James. "A Monk of Magdalen: Abbot Oswald (David) Hunter-Blair O.S.B. (1853-1939)". Dark Lane Creative. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
27. ^ Byrne, Herbert. "Obituary of Fr Anselm Parker". English Benedictine Congregation. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
28. ^ Sandeman, Barnabas. "Obituary of Fr Justin McCann". English Benedictine Congregation. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
29. ^ Barry, Patrick. "Obituary of Fr Gerard Sitwell". English Benedictine Congregation. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
30. ^ "Trustees". St Benet's Hall. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
31. ^ St Benet's Hall, Oxford Archived 2009-11-24 at the Wayback Machine. St-benets.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2012-09-05.

Further reading

• Wansbrough, Henry; Marett-Crosby, Anthony (ed.), Benedictines in Oxford (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997).
  ISBN 978-0-232-52176-4
  .

External links

• St Benet's Hall
• St Benet's Hall Boat Club
• St Benet's Hall Association