14 comments on “Caldey, Prinknash and Nashdom – A Shared Pictorial History”

1. Richard G. Roy

   October 8, 2017

   

   As Anglicans they were not “playing at” being monks. They followed the Rule of Saint Benedict and observed all the canonical hours and lived by the labor of their hands.

   Reply
   • Richard Barton

     October 8, 2017

     

     Thank you Richard. Yes the postcard is a fascinating contemporary historical document and represents the views of the Church Association which was an Anglican organisation established in 1865 and was particularly active in opposing Anglo Catholicism, Ritualism and the Oxford Movement. We must also remember that the Anglican establishment was wary of Aelred Carlyle and his community in contrast to the respect with which many bishops held the Cowley Fathers or Mirfield Fathers. On Facebook people have seen this card as expressing a Roman Catholic view. This is, of course, unfair as the Catholic Church would have taken little interest in Painsthorpe or Caldey as it was busy trying the house its own communities who were finding a refuge in the UK from the restrictions imposed by the French Government at that time.

     Digging deeper, Father Aelred Baker OSB of Prinknash, the contemporary biographer of Aelred Carlyle, has just written an excellent review of Hugh Allen’s ‘New Llanthony Abbey – Father Ignatius’s Monastery at Capel-y-ffin’ in ‘Pax’ and he begins by saying the following, ‘Bishop Walter Fere used to say that a Religious Order needs two things to succeed – a founder and a consolidator. The Order at Llanthony is a prime example of one that certainly had a founder in Fr. Ignatius Lyne, but never found a consolidator, and therefore ended in failure. Our community had a founder, not nearly as eccentric as Ignatius, but equally untrained, impulsive, and sometimes wildly improvident. But we have to thank Leo Packer and Wilfrid Upson for putting down roots early on, and establishing an orderly and consistent form of life that could consolidate what Aelred had started’. If we look at The Anglican Benedictine ‘sons’ of Aelred Carlyle we would probably agree that, at Pershore, Denys Prideaux and later, at Nashdom, Martin Collett made similar contributions to Packer and Upson. Perhaps amongst all the earnestness of those who sought a serious religious life at Llanthony and then at Caldey there was a romantic playfulness and experimentation which resulted from the founders being inexperienced and having not been formed in a solid tradition.

     Reply
2. Paul Waddington

   October 13, 2017

   

   All very interesting. I note that you have not included the modern Prinknash Abbey. Probably a good decision.

   Reply
   • Richard Barton

     October 14, 2017

     

     There is Broadbent’s drawing of the completed monastery but I was a bit concerned about copyright reproducing contemporary cards.

     Reply

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4. Simon Biggs

   September 13, 2018

   

   Hi Richard.

   I also collect Caldey Postcards.

   Would it be possible to get in contact with me.
   Some of yours I have never seen before.
   I also have some other interesting items Caldey related.
   You

   Many thanks.

   Simon.

   Reply
   • Richard Barton

     September 13, 2018

     

     By all means email me on btsarnia@gmail.com and we can ‘talk Caldey’

     Reply

5. Pingback: Elsewhere: Benedictine Mementos from England | The Amish Catholic

   • Richard Barton

     October 23, 2018

     

     Thank you so much for your enthusiastic response which has brought a number of your followers to my blog site. Some of the other articles may be of interest to you especially ‘Pious Dreams’

     Reply
6. Finbar Boyle

   October 25, 2018

   

   Sadly the statue of O.L. of Prinknash was stolen some years ago from the Church in the new monastery. the Community are back in St. Peter’s Grange DG.

   Reply
7. fabfin

   October 25, 2018

   

   Sadly the statue of OL of Prinknash was stolen from the Church some years ago.The Community are now back in St. Peter’s Grange. Great postcards, many of which I haven’t seen- all the best from a monk of Caldey’s Grandaughter in Scotland!

   Reply
   • Viola Nagel

     September 21, 2022

     

     My deceased husband, Canadian Jim Nagel, was a friend of Nashdom Abbey and in close touch with Father Abbot Wilfrid, also because Jim was then involved in establishing a Christian community in Glastonbury.
     In Jim’s, I found 2 copies of Nashdom Abbey Record, Numbers 58 and 59. Also, there is a thin leaflet , “Litany of Jesus Praying”. Please contact me, if interested.

     Reply
     • btsarnia

       September 21, 2022

       

       Thanks, Viola, for your message about Jim and for your kind offer. Recently, I have been busy thinning my own collection of books and pamphlets but the Anglo-Catholic History Society would probably be very interested. With kindest regards Richard
     • Viola Nagel

       September 21, 2022

       

       Thank you, Richard, for the prompt response — and for your suggestion re the history society mentioned above.

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