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Douai

Oblate

June 2004

No 22

From the Oblate Director

Oblations
ON Thursday May 13 Marie-Louise Bland and Renata Clayton made final oblation taking the names, Frances and Mechtilde respectively. This was the first occasion on which oblations had been made at the Conventual Mass and received by the abbot. All agreed that this was a most important step forward. To have the community present and to make oblation during the community Mass makes oblates become much more integrated with the community. Several letters expressing their appreciation were received from oblates who had been present on the occasion.

Deacons
On Sunday June 13 Oblate Novice Peter Griffiths was ordained deacon in Birmingham Cathedral and will minister in his parish of Alcester, Warwickshire.
On Tuesday June 29 Oblate Ron O’Toole, deacon in the parish of Cromer, Norfolk, will celebrate the silver jubilee of his ordination by Bishop Christopher Butler OSB.
We offer both of these our congratulations and prayers.

Prayers
for the mother of Oblate Mechtilde Renata Clayton who died in Edinburgh in May.

Handbook for Oblates
Canterbury Press, in conjunction with the Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota are going to publish a Handbook for Benedictine Oblates to complement the Benedictine Handbook published last year. It is the intention that the majority of chapters of the book should be by oblates. If any of you has ideas for a topic and would like to write a chapter please let me know.

Oblates Congress in Rome
The information we have received so far is that there will be only ten places available for oblates from the British Isles. Considering the nature of Benedictine monasteries that each is independent, this seems rather unfortunate to say the least since there are more than ten monasteries in these isles which have oblates, we counted at least seventeen, so that several communities of oblates would have no representation at all.

Development
The monastic community were delighted to learn early in May that the Secretary of State had rejected the objections to the development of the former Douai School site, and the housing development can go ahead. This means that we shall be able to start our own building work shortly. It will mean temporary disruption, but the long term gain in new refectories, kitchen and more guest accommodation will make it all worth while.

Oblate Retreat at Minster
During the weekend after Easter I was delighted to be asked to give a retreat for the Oblates at Minster Abbey. It was a good experience meeting them and the monastic community. That explains why there is so much about Minster in this issue. They gave me a great welcome, and I am sure if any Douai Oblates would like to visit or stay there you would be most welcome, but do contact the guest mistress first (address below).‡

St Mildred, Minster, St Walburga & Eichstätt

ST MILDRED was born in the seventh century: her parents were Merewald, king of Mercia, and his second wife Ermenburga (also known as Domneva), great-grand-daughter of Ethelbert, the first Christian King of Kent. For her education Mildred was sent to the monastery of Chelles, near Paris. She refused an offer of marriage and returned home to enter the abbey which her mother had founded at Minster-in-Thanet on land provided by Egbert, king of Kent, in reparation for the murder of Ermenburga’s two brothers whilst they were in his care. Instead of financial compensation Ermenburga had asked for as much land in Thanet as her tame stag could run around in one go. This amounted to about half the island, which was thickly wooded. At that time Thanet was still a real island, cut off from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel and could only be reached by boat.

Mildred became second abbess, after her mother, and was blessed by St Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury about 690. She gained a reputation for gentleness and care for the poor. She died about 700, after a long illness, and her tomb became a place of pilgrimage.

Mildred’s successor was St Edburga, who built a new monastery and chapel to which St Mildred’s remains were moved near the site of the present building. The first monastery had been where Minster parish church now stands.

About 840 Thanet was overrun by the Danes and the monastery destroyed; most of the nuns and the local people who had taken refuge in the monastery, which was largely of wood, were burnt to death, but Mildred’s remains were saved as they were covered with a stone slab. The site became crown property and King Canute gave it to St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury in 1027. In 1031 in thanksgiving for a safe journey to Rome the king authorised the monks to remove St Mildred’s remains to Canterbury, which they did by night, hotly pursued by the local people who did not want to loose their saint.

The property became known as Minster Court and later Minster Manor. It was again destroyed by William the Conquerer who had the whole of Thanet laid waste so that the Danes might not be able to establish a foothold there. The oldest part of the existing buildings, the western range, dates from the second half of the eleventh century and the north wing, the Great Hall, was built in the twelth century. At the south end of the west wing is a half ruined tower which was at the west end of the Norman Chapel, the foundations of which were excavated in 1929.

A few years after St Mildred’s death, St Walburga entered the double monastery at Wimbourne in Dorset. When her relative, St Boniface, who had gone as a missionary to Germany, asked for some English nuns to go out there, it is not surprising that Walburga went. There is a tradition that on way she called at Minster, since the abbess, St Eadburga, was a friend and correspondent of Boniface. In the museum at Fulda, where Boniface was the first bishop and where he is buried, there are several letters from Boniface to Eadburga thanking her for gifts of manuscripts, garments and vestments. (Is it too fanciful to think that Walburga might have taken some of these gifts with her?)

Walburga went first to Tauberbischofheim where she studied medicine, and then went to become abbess of the double monastery of Heidenheim, which her brother, Wynnebald, had established, and of which she became the sole superior on his death. After her death in 779 she was buried first at Heidenheim and later her relics were moved to her brother’s shrine at Eichstätt. For a fuller account of St Walburga see Douai Oblate, February 2000.

The Eichstätt connection is significant. In 1936 on the very same day the abbess of Eichstätt received two letters, one informing her that the former monastic property in Minster, which in 1538 at the dissolution of the monasteries had become a secular dwelling, whose chapel had been allowed to fall into ruin, was for sale; and the other telling her to be ready to vacate the abbey as it was going to be taken over by the Nazis (in fact this did not happen). She needed to find a possible place of refuge for her community, so she visited Minster, liked the place, and arranged for an American foundation, St Emma’s, to buy it for her, since Germans could not buy property abroad at that time. Seven nuns arrived from Eichstätt to make the foundation in 1937. The Benedictines were back, direct descendants of the nuns who had built the monastery at Eichstätt in 1035 over the tomb of St Walburga, who had come to Germany at the time of St Boniface’s mission, calling at Minster on the way.

Although the monastery at Eichstätt had been suppressed in 1806, the nuns had been permitted to live out their days in their buildings. Several were still there when Ludwig I restored the monastery in 1835 so they had an unbroken exisitance.

At Minster the nuns took over the remaining Saxon and Norman buildings and developed the farm. During the war they were cut off from their mother house, Thanet became a military zone, the monastery was commandeered by the Royal Artillery, Manston aerodrome was only a mile away, and the nuns, being German citizens had to move to St Scholastica’s Abbey, Teignmouth, Devon. This enabled them to learn English and adapt to English customs. An English nun, Dame Monica Haig had been sent to look after the monastery buildings while the army were using them to make sure damage was kept to a minmimum, and Dom Christopher from Prinknash had looked after the farm and after the war taught the nuns English farming methods.

A prefabricated chapel was put up which burned down in 1987, so preparing the way for the present stone chapel of Our Lady & St Andrew which was built in 1993.

Eichstätt has had an enormous influence in the spread of monastic life for women. It was from Eichstätt that the first Benedictine nuns had gone to the United States in 1857 when Benedicta Riepp went to Pennsylvania to make a foundation, and begin the great work of ministering to the German emigrants. In the 20th century there were also foundations in Colorado at Boulder, now Virginia Dale, and in Pennsylvania, St Emma’s Greenburg.‡

Poem

AFTER the retreat in May, Francis Buxton posted the following poem on the oblate forum: for the benefit of those who don’t have internet access we print it here.

I've just returned from three happy days at my spiritual home - Douai, St Edmund King and Martyr. For three days we talked profitably, mainly about humility and on the second afternoon we went for a walk . . .

In Greyfield Wood
mild May moves
through the wakened wood
to bird-song,
leaf-rustle
and the tinkle of trickling streams,
unwinds the tight-wound fern frond springs,
creates a carpet bluebell-bright
white stitchwort starred
and goose grass furred . . .
enchanting!
How strange, that goose grass,
riotous bane of gardeners,
looks perfect here;
that lesser stitchwort,
chickweed’s cousin,
works amid the bluebells
beautiful beyond compare;
and both of them, ordinary, undervalued,
appropriate in God’s garden,
teach us humble serviceability.
What could one ask more than this . . .
except to meet, in the group of oblates, two people that up till then I had only met through Oblateforum! ‡

Book Review
FROM A BENEDICTINE KITCHEN Recipes from Minster Abbey £6.50

  THIS marvellous little book is filled with interesting recipes that have been written mostly by the Benedictine nuns from Minster Abbey. The nuns are from various countries – Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Romania, Scotland and the United States, and their recipes reflect this multinational background.

The book divided into 6 sections, and at each section there is a ‘table of contents’. These sections are:

This is a small spiral bound cookery book which is very practical to use in the kitchen. The cover is of a texture that can be wiped with a damp cloth and the pages are waxed. The print is clearly defined and kind to the eyes, and the drawings are simple but full of fun.

The book has a personal ‘feel’ to it and much thought has gone into producing this. Each page has something unique to share with you, like a blessing, a reflection, or a little commentary explaining where the recipe is from and how it came to be.

It is full of useful tips and very informative. It contains a wonderful religious theme throughout, with some of the recipes named after saints, like St Aelred’s Shepherd’s Pie, St Domneva’s Tuna Bake, or St Patrick’s Irish Brack.

On trying some of the recipes, I found them easy to follow, and not too onerous or time-consuming. The recipes have a practical approach and I liked the option the book gave me to use my own common sense where necessary.

I share the cooking at home with my husband and my forte is in producing main courses. My weaknesses lie mainly in baking so, on one occasion, I decided to see if I could improve these skills.

My husband, the community and my fellow oblates at Douai Abbey were to be my judges…! I baked Easter Biscuits, St Patrick’s Brack and Feast Day Lemon cake. I was pleased with the outcome, and I surprised myself. They were delicious and not a crumb was left!

There are so many unusual recipes to choose from that this is an ideal cookbook for not only everyday cooking but also for when one is looking to cook something different.

It is a delightful book to read and there is no doubt that once you sit down to read it, you’ll start getting peckish!

Buon appetito!

Zina Neagle
(Francesca, Oblate OSB)

The Douai Bookshop has sold out, we will be getting some more, but if you would like a copy, please order direct from: Sr M Bernard Weston OSB, Priory of St Mildred, Minster Abbey, Ramsgate, Kent, CT12 4HF ‡

Douai Oblate is the Newsletter for the Oblates of Douai Abbey. It is published at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks, RG7 5TQ, phone 0118 971 5338, fax 0118 971 5303, e-mail oblate@douaiabbey.org.uk June 13, 2004

Go to Oblates Page  : To Douai Oblate April 2004.
Douai Abbey Registered Charity No. 236962

14/06/04(GH)

Gervase Holdaway OSB, Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berks. RG7 5TQ