Douai Abbey

Douai Abbey
Douai Abbey
	Douai Abbey
	51°24′33″N 1°10′19″W / 51.409185°N 1.171846°W
OS grid reference	SU5770468214
Location	Woolhampton, Berkshire
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.douaiabbey.org.uk
History
Status	Monastery
Founded	1615
Founder(s)	Dom Gabriel Gifford
Dedication	St Edmund the Martyr
Dedicated	1933
Events	1615 Founded in Paris; 1818 Moved to Douai; 1903 Moved to Woolhampton
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	10 November 1980
Architect(s)	J Arnold Crush
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1903
Completed	1993
Administration
Province	Southwark
Diocese	Portsmouth
Deanery	West Berkshire
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Rt Rev Philip Egan
Abbot	Rt Rev Paul Gunter OSB

Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Upper Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampton in 1903 when the community left France as a result of anti-clerical legislation. The abbey church is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.^[1]

History

The community of St. Edmund was formed in Paris in 1615 by Dom Gabriel Gifford, later Archbishop of Rheims and primate of France. With his backing the community flourished. Expelled from Paris during the Revolution, the community took over the vacant buildings of the community of St Gregory's in Douai in 1818.

Amid the political upheavals caused by the Dreyfus affair around the turn of the 19th century, the French prime minister Waldeck-Rousseau introduced an anti-clerical Law of Associations (1901) that "severely curbed the influence of religious orders in France".^[2] This led to the community being given the minor seminary of St. Mary in Woolhampton by Bishop Cahill of Portsmouth, moving from Douai to Woolhampton in 1903. The abbey church was opened in 1933 but only completed in 1993 due to financial constraints.^[3]

The monastery was greatly expanded in the 1960s with the building of the new monastery designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd. The abbey had in its charge Douai School until the latter's closure in 1999. In 2005, two monks returned to Douai, France to form a community there and restore the historic links to English monasticism.^[4]

Jacobitism

The monastery and its community have traditionally maintained strong links to the Stuart dynasty and the Jacobite cause; with King James II of England buried in the monastery in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris (the community's home from the early 17th century till the French Revolution and the community's relocation to Douai in northern France), members of the House of Wittelsbach (present pretenders to the Jacobite claim) being educated at the community's former boarding school (at their present location), and the immediate past abbot, Geoffrey Scott OSB, is a member of the Jacobite Society.^[5]

Present

In July 2014 a monk was ordained priest, the first priestly ordination since 2007. As of 2020, the community consisted of 23 monks.^[6] The monks serve in parishes across five dioceses.^[7] The patron of the monastery is St Edmund King and Martyr, whose feast day is 20 November.

Music

The Abbey Church houses two pipe organs, a smaller organ^[8] of 1978 in an Italian style by Tamburini and a larger organ^[9] of 1994 in a modernised English Classical style by Kenneth Tickell.

Because it contains these organs, and especially because of its unique and reverberant acoustics, the Abbey Church is frequently used as a recording location by musical performers. Commercial albums recorded there include:

Carlo Gesualdo - Tenebrae by The Hilliard Ensemble (March 1990).^[10]
Pierre de la Rue - Missa Cum Iocunditate, Motets by The Hilliard Ensemble (1997).^[11]
The Old Hall Manuscript by The Hilliard Ensemble (1990).^[12]
Cristobal de Morales - Mass For The Feast Of St. Isidore Of Seville by the Gabrieli Consort & Players, directed by Paul McCreesh (2003).^[13]
A New Venetian Coronation 1595 by the Gabrieli Consort & Players, directed by Paul McCreesh (2012).^[14]
Handel Organ Concertos by Baroque Belles and David Willcocks (1999).^[15]
MacMillan And His British Contemporaries by the choir of New College, Oxford (2006).^[16]
Rutter: Requiem by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge (2003).^[17]

List of Abbots

1900–1904: Lawrence Larkin
1904–1905: Ambrose Bamford
1905–1913: Stanislaus Taylor
1913–1921: David Hurley
1921–1929: Edmund Kelly
1929–1969: Sylvester Mooney
1969–1989: Gregory Freeman
1989–1990: Leonard Vickers
1990–1998: Finbar Kealy
1998–2022: Geoffrey Scott
2022-present: Paul Gunter^[18]

Gallery

Abbey
Abbey and school
Abbey church

References

^ Historic England. "Douai Abbey Church (1156252)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
^ Schultenover, David G. (1999). "An Anthropological View of the Modernist Crisis". Journal of Religion and Society. 1. ISSN 1522-5658. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
^ The Rt. Rev. Abbot Geoffrey Scott, O.S.B., The History of Woolhampton Parish Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine November 2005
^ April 2011, Douai Abbey Newsletter archived.
^ James II, British Royal Family History. Retrieved 6 February 2013
^ The Benedictine Yearbook. London: English Benedictine Congregation Trust. 2020. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-901089-58-8.
^ The Benedictine Yearbook. London: English Benedictine Congregation Trust. 2020. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-901089-58-8.
^ NPOR N09904, [1]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ NPOR D03336, [2]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Hilliard, Gesualdo: Tenebrae. Retrieved 25 February 2021
^ Discogs, [3]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [4]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [5]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [6]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [7]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [8]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Discogs, [9]. Retrieved 10 March 2021
^ Monks of St Edmund's from douaiabbey.org.uk retrieved 14 March 2018

External links

[NHLE-1] Historic England. "Douai Abbey Church (1156252)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2017.

[2] Schultenover, David G. (1999). "An Anthropological View of the Modernist Crisis". Journal of Religion and Society. 1. ISSN 1522-5658. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2007.

[3] The Rt. Rev. Abbot Geoffrey Scott, O.S.B., The History of Woolhampton Parish Archived 21 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine November 2005

[4] April 2011, Douai Abbey Newsletter archived.

[5] James II, British Royal Family History. Retrieved 6 February 2013

[6] The Benedictine Yearbook. London: English Benedictine Congregation Trust. 2020. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-901089-58-8.

[7] The Benedictine Yearbook. London: English Benedictine Congregation Trust. 2020. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-901089-58-8.

[8] NPOR N09904, [1]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[9] NPOR D03336, [2]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[10] Hilliard, Gesualdo: Tenebrae. Retrieved 25 February 2021

[11] Discogs, [3]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[12] Discogs, [4]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[13] Discogs, [5]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[14] Discogs, [6]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[15] Discogs, [7]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[16] Discogs, [8]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[17] Discogs, [9]. Retrieved 10 March 2021

[18] Monks of St Edmund's from douaiabbey.org.uk retrieved 14 March 2018

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

v t e English Benedictine Congregation
Independent houses	Ampleforth Abbey Belmont Abbey Buckfast Abbey Curzon Park Abbey Douai Abbey Downside Abbey Ealing Abbey Jamberoo Abbey Kylemore Abbey Mariavall Abbey Portsmouth Abbey St. Anselm's Abbey St. Louis Abbey Stanbrook Abbey Worth Abbey
Dependent houses	Priory of the Incarnation Monastery of Christ the Word
Schools	Ampleforth College Douai School Downside School Portsmouth Abbey School St. Anselm's Abbey School St Benedict's School St. Louis Priory School Worth School
Former houses	Colwich Abbey Fort Augustus Abbey Lamspringe Abbey Sherborne Abbey Westminster Abbey
Churches	Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny St Francis Xavier Church, Hereford Church of St Mary and St Michael, Llanarth Church of the Holy Ghost, Midsomer Norton St Begh's Church, Whitehaven
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth
Bishops of Portsmouth I: John Vertue II: John Cahill III: William Cotter IV: John King V: Derek Worlock VI: Anthony Emery VII: Crispian Hollis (Bishop Emeritus) VIII: Philip Egan
Churches Portsmouth Cathedral - Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist Our Lady and St Edmund's Church, Abingdon St Joseph's Church, Aldershot Holy Ghost Church, Basingstoke Corpus Christi Church, Boscombe Sacred Heart Church, Bournemouth Sacred Heart Church, Saint Aubin Our Lady of the Annunciation Church, Jersey St Thomas Church, Jersey St Joseph's Church, Maidenhead St Joseph's Church, Newbury St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Newport Sacred Heart Church, Reading St James's Church, Reading Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Saint Peter Port St Edmund's Church, Southampton St Joseph's Church, Southampton Our Lady Queen of Peace and Blessed Margaret Pole, Southbourne St Peter's Church, Winchester
Patronal Feasts of the Diocese St Edmund of Abingdon (16 November) Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (8 December)
Schools All Hallows Catholic School Alton School Beaulieu Convent School Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School Blanchelande College Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School Christ the King College, Isle of Wight De La Salle College, Jersey Farleigh School Farnborough Hill The Marist School, Sunninghill Oaklands Catholic School Our Lady's Abingdon St Anne's Catholic School, Southampton St Edmund's Catholic School, Portsmouth Saint George Catholic College St Joseph's College, Reading St Mary's School Ascot St Peter's Catholic School, Bournemouth Salesian College, Farnborough
See also: Catholic Church in Jersey Catholic Church in Guernsey Little Chapel Douai Abbey St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough St Cassian's Centre, Kintbury Quarr Abbey St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde Apostolic Vicariate of the London District
Catholicism portal Hampshire portal Berkshire portal Oxfordshire portal

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	United States
Geographic	MusicBrainz place