Events 2003

Fifty members and friends from both the Cardiff and Menevia Dioceses made the journey to Downside Abbey on Saturday 22nd September for a most enjoyable visit. The History Day lecture in May, by Fr Aidan Bellenger was a brilliant account of the lives and sufferings of the early Vicars Apostolic who were responsible for the Church in Wales and the West of England in penal times. The Order of St. Benedict and Downside Priory (later to become an Abbey) figured so importantly in this story that the suggestion of a visit there had been taken up enthusiastically.

We assembled at St. Gregory's Abbey Church for Mass celebrated by Fr. Aidan, who had recently been elected Prior of Downside. His sermon and the conducted tour afterwards outlined the growth of Downside and its treasures since the monks took up residence in 1814 (the year before the Battle of Waterloo) travelling by stage coach from their temporary home in Shropshire and not daring to wear the monastic habit.

The beauty of its chapels, with their paintings, windows and sculptures are treasures indeed ! From a historical point of view the tombs within the Abbey Church are immensely appealing. The head of St. Oliver Plunkett - the last martyr to be executed under the penal laws (1681) lies in a special shrine. The rest of his body is in Armagh where he was Archbishop. In the north aisle lies Bishop Collingridge, a Franciscan who was Vicar Apostolic when Downside was established and Bishop Augustine Baines the last Western District Vicar Apostolic to have jurisdiction over Wales. Also buried within the Abbey Church are Cardinal Gasquet - the famous Catholic historian, a monk of St. Gregory's- and Bishop Walmsley an early V.A. who died in 1797. Buried here is Archbishop Matthew - still remembered by some as a curate in St. David's Cathedral, Cardiff before being made a Bishop and then Apostolic Delegate to Africa.

A fine lunch was followed by a fascinating tour of the magnificent library conducted with great learning and humour by Dom Daniel Rees. A librarian's delight, the modern building with its ancient books and manuscripts, many with a story attached to them, and maps and documents of great value are all stored and guarded with great care. They are being added to constantly and they even have on their shelves our eight millennium booklets

Fr. Daniel -himself a Welshman had set up a small exhibition of items connected with Wales. Photographs, documents and an historic chalice were dominated by a painting of our own Bishop Brown who after just two years as Prior of Downside was made the first and only Vicar Apostolic of Wales in 1840 and then became Bishop of Newport and Menevia in 1850.

Members of the group at Downside Abbey.

22nd September 2001

700th Anniversary of Consecration of the Abbey Church.

The consecration occurred on 28th July 1301 To celebrate this event, parishes in the North Gwent Deanery of the Archdiocese of Cardiff arranged for Mass to be celebrated to mark this historic occasion on Sunday 29th July 2001. More than 200 people were present and Mass was offered in the ruins of the Abbey Church in glorious sunshine. It is believed that this was the first public Mass to be celebrated in this hallowed place, since the closure and sale of the abbey buildings under Henry Vlll in 1536.

CATHOLIC HISTORY DAY 2001

This year's meeting was again held at St. David's Sixth Form College, Cardiff on Saturday 19th May. But on this occasion we had the use of the new lecture hall and all its audio-visual aids.

The day was introduced by our President,, Bishop Daniel Mullins, who retired in June as Bishop of Menevia.

The first speaker was Dom. Aidan Bellenger OSB - a monk of Downside Abbey. This renowned Catholic historian, gave a scholarly account of the revival of the Church in our area under the Vicars Apostolic of the Western district.

Events 2003