Oxford Benedictine Oblates - forthcoming meetings

The Sodality of St Benedict of Norcia and St Scholastica will hold its next meetings on the following Wednesdays at the church of SS Gregory and Augustine, 322 Woodstock Road, Oxford: January 13th, February 3rd and March 2nd.

St Benedict and St Scholastica

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The meetings, which last for an hour, begin at 7pm, following on from the 6pm Mass in the church. We are very grateful to Fr John Saward for his welcome and support.

Our aspiration is to be linked to the developing foundation at Norcia, St Benedict's birthplace.


Newcomers will receive a warm Benedictine welcome.

Oxford Benedictine Oblates

Last night we held the first meeting of our revived Benedictine Oblates group here in Oxford. For the last couple of years we have languished somewhat but over the summer we made plans to revive it, and have resumed meetings. Our aspiration is to be linked to the developing foundation at Norcia, St Benedict's birthplace.

St Benedict and St Scholastica

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Under the name of the Sodality of St Benedict and St Scholastica we aim to meet initially on the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm in the church of SS Gregory and Augustine; the meeting follows on from the 6pm Mass, and is designed to last for an hour. We are very grateful to Fr John Saward for his welcome and support.

Although only some of us were able to meet last night we found it a suitable, indeed successful format, and certainly achieved a prayerful quiet that to my mind savoured very much of the Benedictine ideal and spirit.

We followed the structure of an Oblate manual from 1937 which had been provided by one of our group, and are grateful to him for his work in producing a traditional and reflective office. Another member had the excellent idea of our turning the month's calendar of Benedictine saints into a litany, which worked well. We had two readings - one from Bishop Fulton Sheen on the Rosary ( it was, after all, the Feast of the Rosary ) and one from St Gregory the Great on the Gospel in the EF for last Sunday. This included an example from the life of his monastery on the Coelian Hill, which seemed eminently apposite. We ended by saying Compline in the traditional Benedictine form.

We hope this can become a regular part of the devotional life of Oxford, and anyone interested would be most welcome to join us at our next meeting on November 4th.

Traditionalist Benedictines in Britain?

One of my friends, together with other like-minded men, is looking into the possibilities of living out the Benedictine monastic life with strict adherence to the Rule of St Benedict and with the Traditional form of Mass and the Office. At the moment there is no house in this country, unlike some houses on the continent or in the United States, which offers these various elements in combination. Some British houses offer one or other part of the envisaged regime, but not the whole which they seek.

This group of young men who are discerning their vocation to the traditional Benedictine life would like to hear from others who might be interested, or who can offer support, advice and prayers. They are having a year of discernment, which started last Advent. Please keep them in your prayers.

Their blog can be read here, and it outlines their vision. They can be contacted by email at traditional.benedictines.gb@gmail.com

Oxford Benedictine Oblates

Last night I attended the first meeting of the Oxford Benedictine Oblates group.

St Benedict and St Scholastica

Pray for us

This is an initiative organised by Fr Richard Duffield, Cong.Orat., who has ties to Ampleforth Abbey, to draw together anyone in the area interested in Benedictine sprituality, with or without oblation to a specific abbey. When we met we found we had links, either formal or informal, to Ampleforth, Douai, Downside, Belmont, Prinknash and Buckfast as well as the recently established foundation at Norcia.

The meeting, scheduled as weekly, begin with a period of recreation and hospitality, then the reading of the day's Chapter from the Rule of St Benedict with a commentary before moving into the Oratory church for lectio divina of one's choice, and then the singing of the monastic form of Compline, the anthem to Our Lady and sprinkling before departing into our own Great Silence.

On the basis of yesterday evening this looks to be a promising group and one which I felt offered a spiritual path worth further exploration. My own experience of Benedictine life is mainly from Belmont and the retreat at Quarr last July, but I have also visited Ampleforth, Buckfast and Prinknash. As I mentioned recently in a post I have been, over twenty years ago, on a retreat led by Esther de Waal on adapting the Benedctine Rule and life to lay conditions.

The meetings begin at 8pm in the Oxford Ortaory and are scheduled last for about an hour and a half.

Fr Richard has set up a website/blog which can be viewed at Oxford Benedictine Oblates.