Dear Friends,
The month of November started, as ever it does, with the joy of the celebration of all the saints and of
all the departed. In our monastery we mirror these celbrations of the whole Church with celebrations more
particular ot us and to our monastery. We keep a feast fo All the Saints of the Benedictine Order,
mirroring All Saints, nd then we keep the memory of all the departed monks of our community.
The doctrine of the communin of saints requires that we remeber not only our duty to pray for our dead but
also the fact that the strngth of our monastery consists not only of its present memebrs but of those in
the cemetery. During the various vicissitudes of the life of our house accross the years I have often
visited the cemetery to visit the graves of Abbot Cabrol and of the other brthren who ‘usque ad mortem’
were faithful to thier monastic commitment, in order to ask their prayers and help. The prayers of our
monastery for them is one of the most moving ceremonies of our monastic year. When we emerge from Vespers
of the Dead, having celebrated a Requiem Mass in the morning, our monks file out to the cemetery in the
darkness. The grave of each monk is lit by a candle and the whole ensemble makes a moving sight. The chants
and prayers are sung, the graves sprinkled with lustral water, and then we take the young monks on a little
tour of the graves, explaining the stories and community memories of our departed brethren, and the various
anecdotes that live on. In an Order and monastery with a strong sense of tradition, this is an important
moment in each year.
The farm came back to life in November with the return of the cows from their visit to Mr Bull. We have
reason to hope for new births in the cowshed in the Spring. Their return allowed their calves of this year
to be finally weaned.
So great is the egg demand in our shop that we increased the chicken count by fifty pullets. This should
allow us to stock eggs through the Winter months, though the downside of this is that we will be buried
with eggs in the spring when all the ladies in the lower field are in full lay.
Perhaps the highlight of last month was a happy day spent with our brothers at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of
Wight and our sisters at St Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde. After our Mass we headed for the ferry and arrived at
Quarr in time for lunch and a long recreation, and then we went onto Ryde where we presided at Vespers for
their patronal festival of St Cecilia. We took with us the copes made form material given to the Empress by
the Sultan of Turkey whilest she was in his part of the world to open the Suez Canal. We provided the
ceremonies and the nuns sang the chant, as exquisitely as ever they do there. We then had tea and an hour
with the nuns in the large parlour. Ryde is blessed with a large novitiate, and so our novices and theirs
were able to engage in holy exchange on the delights of life as a novice! Our friendships with Quarr and
Ryde have been a great blessing to us in these last years.
The Abbey Press deserves a mention. Brother Alban has thrown himself into typesetting work, freeing me to
concentrate on editing new publications. Next year we will be publishing at least four new titles. I have
invested in a Victorian treadle press, and hope in future to produce more and more of the Abbey’s card
range on it, thereby reducing costs and increasing quality.
And so we end another year. We thank you for all your support and kindness to us in 2005, and we wish you
every blessing for 2006.
Sincerely in the Lord,
rchived 
ews
