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ABBEY MARKS CENTENARY OF MONKS` ARRIVAL

By County Press Reporter - Monday, March 12, 2007
THE 100th anniversary of the arrival of monks at Quarr was celebrated with a special mass.
Bishop Crispian Hollis, Roman Catholic bishop of Portsmouth, presided at a mass of thanksgiving at Quarr Abbey, home of the Benedictine community.
During the service a commemoration was made of Bishop Cahill, who, as bishop of Portsmouth, welcomed persecuted religious men and women, who came from France at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Solesmes were exiled from France in 1901. The community found refuge on the IW and in 1907 the monks moved from their temporary home at Appuldurcombe to their present site at Quarr.
It was Bishop Cahill who encouraged them to buy Quarr Abbey House on the estate of the ancient Abbey of Quarr founded in 1132 and destroyed by Henry VIII in 1536 during the reformation.
In June, 1907, the first group of monks settled at Quarr, restoring monastic life after an interval of 400 years.
At the mass of thanksgiving, nuns from four convents, Sisters of Mercy, Newport; Presentation Sisters, Ryde; Sisters of Christ, East Cowes; and one nun from St Cecilia’s Benedictine Abbey, Ryde, were invited to join the choir.
Abbot Cuthbert Johnson reminded the congregation that in 1901 the community of Solesmes, which had begun its life as an Abbey in 1837, the same year as Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne, found a home close to the royal residence at Osborne House.
Abbot Cuthbert, the fourth Abbot of Quarr, said: “As a result of anti-religious laws promulgated by the French Government on July 1, 1901, more than 17,000 religious communities went into exile.
“At the time this was seen as a major catastrophe for the church in France but it was through this historical event that religious life took root in new soil in England.
“Today, as part of our celebration of this centenary year marking the return of monks at Quarr, we are giving thanks for the welcome given by the diocese of Portsmouth and remembering especially Bishop Cahill.”
  • Picture in the Friday, March 16, County Press.