A MONASTIC VISION
A Benedictine monastery is a sacred space, contoured to the search for God. Born in the hills of Umbria in the sixth century, that vision of a shared life of prayer, lived close to the land and open to all genuine seekers of truth, is alive in the community of Our Lady of Consolation now at Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester, as it seeks to live out the same Benedictine vision in the twenty-first century.
Throughout almost four hundred years of its history, the community has been directed by Divine Providence. Founded in exile in Flanders during the troubled reign of James I and re-established in England in the wake of the French revolution, the Stanbrook community scanned the length and breadth of the country in search of a new home.This search led the sisters from Devon to Cumbria, from Berkshire to Worcestershire and, three times, to sites in North Yorkshire, where the special quality of silence and light, as well as the rich monastic patrimony seemed to point once more to the hand of Providence. Sharing in the Cistercian ideal once lived at Fountains, Byland and Rievaulx, and many other abbeys in the area, the sisters seek to become 'lovers of the place', working in harmony with the National Park ethos to conserve and enhance the natural beauty and cultural heritage of this unique landscape. A living monastic community, as a welcoming space for seekers of the spirit, can transform ruins into icons.
The move
Stanbrook Abbey, our present home in Worcestershire, was built in the nineteenth century at a time very different from our own. The community then needed a large monastery; now, our search for God leads us to design a 21st century monastery, smaller in scale, which seeks to conserve the community's human and financial resources and to be sensitive to ecological and environmental concerns. We wish to live simply and frugally, and to share the graces of our life in a truly Benedictine spirit of hospitality. In our own unique way as contemplative nuns, we hope to draw from the monastic heritage of our new home in North Yorkshire and to contribute to it.
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