Benedictines, Oulton Abbey, England

[Digitaldame]

[quote name='HolyHearts' post='1592831' date='Jul 6 2008, 09:52 PM']Just noticed that the Hereford Benedictines do not even pray all the Hours of the
Divine Office - just the 5X a day instead of 7; no mid-morning of mid-afternoon.
Normally Benedictines pray the full Office in Common....Now why would they cut
down on the prayer-life if they are from Stanbook?[/quote]

The Belmont Benedictines in Hereford are not from Stanbrook and are monks. The Hendred Benedictines follow the same pattern of prayer as the Stanbrook Benedictines. The Hendred Benedictines and the Stanbrook Benedictines are nuns; if you want to know why the Little Hours were subsumed into one lengthy Midday Office, you will find quite a long liturgical "audit trail" in the work that was done after Vatican II when Stanbrook acted as a kind of liturgical clearing-house for translating liturgical texts into English. Benedictines actually show a remarkable variety in the form of the Divine Office. For example, many communities follow a two week psalter or omit the cursing psalms (like the Roman Office) even though they may continue to pray the Little Hours. We follow St Benedict in having all 150 psalms in the course of a week (even though we do not say the Little Hours mid-morning and mid-afternoon). We also have a considerable daily commitment to personal contemplative prayer and lectio divina in addition to the Divine Office, so "cutting down on the prayer-life" is an odd way of describing what we do. Would you like to guess how many hours it amounts to every day of the year? But this really deserves another thread all to itself.

[the lords sheep]

Welcome Sister!
I don't know how we were so blessed that you stumbled onto our little community, but thank you for taking the time to post thus far. There are many woman and men seeking the will of the Lord on this forum, so please pray for us! Be assured of my prayers as you are founding (are you still in the founding stages?) I hope you receive many holy and generous vocations!
In Jesus and Mary, Lauren

[Stacey]

[quote name='Digitaldame' post='1592707' date='Jul 6 2008, 10:29 AM']Er, not quite sure you are accurate in all details about the Hendred nuns; but as I happen to be one of them, it may be I know a little more . . . it is not a question of living a "stricter" or "less strict" form of Benedictine life but of being true to what one has professed, cost what it may.[/quote]

I'm sorry Sister, no offense meant, Puella is right, I was told that by someone who had been at Stanbrook and seemed very knowledgable about it, she is the only reason that I know of your existence at all, pax sr marie therese.

[Stacey]

[quote name='EJames2' post='1592836' date='Jul 6 2008, 02:58 PM']Turvey are defenitely not Solesmes (nor Subiaco), but of the more progressive/ecumenist (Vita et Pax Foundation) Olivetan family of Benedictines.
PAX[/quote]
...again it seems i stand corrected, i wrote off the top of my head and in a rush before, but now i have the Benedictine handbook with me so ... Turvey are the Olivetan Congregation - this Congregation was founed by Blessed Bernard Tolomei who joined with two companions to live as hermits in 1313. They were joined by others and a community formed near Siena. In 1960 the Olivetan congregation joined the Benedictine Confederation and now has houses over the world. Their habits are white in honour of Our Lady. pax

[Digitaldame]

[quote name='the lords sheep' post='1592991' date='Jul 7 2008, 01:03 AM']Welcome Sister!
I don't know how we were so blessed that you stumbled onto our little community, but thank you for taking the time to post thus far. There are many woman and men seeking the will of the Lord on this forum, so please pray for us! Be assured of my prayers as you are founding (are you still in the founding stages?) I hope you receive many holy and generous vocations!
In Jesus and Mary, Lauren[/quote]


Thank you for your prayers. We pray for everyone who uses the Phatmass site. We are canonically established and now open to accept vocations but there's a lot still to do. We are currently drawing up a FAQ for our web site and we'd like to make sure it deals with what people want to know — rather than what we assume others want to know — which is my main reason for keeping an eye on the phorum.

[Digitaldame]

[quote name='Stacey' post='1593506' date='Jul 7 2008, 11:55 AM']I'm sorry Sister, no offense meant, Puella is right, I was told that by someone who had been at Stanbrook and seemed very knowledgable about it, she is the only reason that I know of your existence at all, pax sr marie therese.[/quote]


No offence given or taken! I'd just hate anyone to think Stanbrook is "less strict" or whatever.

[jkaands]

[quote name='Digitaldame' post='1593526' date='Jul 7 2008, 07:04 AM']Thank you for your prayers. We pray for everyone who uses the Phatmass site. We are canonically established and now open to accept vocations but there's a lot still to do. We are currently drawing up a FAQ for our web site and we'd like to make sure it deals with what people want to know — rather than what we assume others want to know — which is my main reason for keeping an eye on the phorum.[/quote]

Great! re the FAQ, that is--I think that this feature is always useful, especially when it includes what folks actually want to know, big and small.

As I was the first, if not the last, to make an error re your congregation, I am glad that

--it was corrected

and

--you're [i]here[/i], to keep us up on Things Benedictine and your congregation. There is no question that at this juncture, the web is the way to go!

[Studiumecclesiae]

I'm telling you, for I am a great friend of the [b]Oulton nuns[/b]:
the postulant is no longer there. and the community is having great difficulty now.

However, the playgroup has got a website now:
[url="http://oultonabbeyplaygroup.org/Welcome.html"]http://oultonabbeyplaygroup.org/Welcome.html[/url]

This community is rather traditional, they have a[i][b] Latin Mass[/b][/i] at 3pm once in a while (not every month yet) given by a local priest. Their priest is wonderful and says a very solemn Mass.

They pray the little hours like [i][b]Terce, Sext, None[/b][/i]... they are quite orthodox in their faith and very attached to the Holy See. They have [i][b]Lauds and Vespers in Latin[/b][/i] every day, sometimes on Feast day the whole thing is in Latin. They have good contact with Stanbrook, and Buckfast Abbey (monks)

But they really need prayer and support.

Here is a video I made to make them better known:
[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=85596"]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=85596[/url]

I'm going to spend some more time there, and I love going there.

[sistersintigo]

Has anyone else seen this news article?

[url="http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Nun-74-fight-right-state-pension-Court-Appeal/article-2606465-detail/article.html"]"desperate to retire"[/url]

[Studiumecclesiae]

Thank you, I had never read it. Very interesting!

Here is the Oulton Nuns website:
[url="http://cloisters.tripod.com/uk_osb_oulton/"]http://cloisters.tri.../uk_osb_oulton/[/url]

I'm going back there next week.

I've got one other video with LATIN PSALMS to promote them and they marvellous liturgy:
[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?media=113729"]http://en.gloria.tv/?media=113729[/url]
Enjoy

Edited December 13, 2010 by Studiumecclesiae

[strgzr99]

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1290786857' post='2189377']
Has anyone else seen this news article?

[url="http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Nun-74-fight-right-state-pension-Court-Appeal/article-2606465-detail/article.html"]"desperate to retire"[/url]
[/quote]


One could argue that she has paid for her pension with her [i]services[/i]to the people of the UK, if not her money, paid in taxes. She was not compensated, but her order was, and, I am sure, far below the going rates.

[Studiumecclesiae]

I know that these nuns are struggling. No vocations, and I know how generous they are. Really if they could have some people entering.

I am just realizing how tired the Mother Superior is. So striking!