Mount St Bernard's Abbey is a Cistercian monastery of the Strict Observance (Trappists

Trappists

The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict...

) near Whitwick

Whitwick

Whitwick is a village in Leicestershire, England and is an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. It was an important manor in the Middle Ages, which once included Bardon and Markfield, parts of Hugglescote, Donington le Heath, Ratby,...

 in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, founded in 1835. Its present Superior is Dom Joseph Delargy.

The Cistercian order dates back to the 12th century and the Trappists

Trappists

The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict...

 to the mid-17th century. Mount St Bernard's Abbey is the only abbey belonging to this order left in England.

History

Mount St Bernard's Abbey was founded in 1835 on 222 acre (0.89840292 km²) of land given by Ambrose de Lisle

Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle

Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle was an English Catholic convert. He founded Mount St. Bernard Abbey, a Trappist abbey in Leicestershire and worked for the reconversion or reconciliation of Britain to Catholicism....

, who wanted to re-introduce monastic life to the country. He was helped by a loan from Bishop Thomas Walsh

Thomas Walsh (UK bishop)

Bishop Thomas Walsh was a Roman Catholic clergyman and Vicar Apostolic who served the Midlands area of the United Kingdom. He was born in London on 3 October 1776, and ordained priest on 19 September 1801...

, the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District

Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District

The Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District was the title given to the Bishop who headed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in England which was known as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Midland District from 1688 and 1840, then the Central District from 1840 to...

. At first, the monks lived in a four-roomed cottage but later domestic buildings and a chapel were built. The first monks were Augustine, Luke, Xavier, Cyprian, Placid, Simeon and Fr. Odilo Woolfrey. The first monastery was opened in 1837, designed by William Railton

William Railton

William Railton was an English architect, best known as the designer of Nelson's Column. He was based in London with offices at 12 Regent Street for much of his career.He was a pupil of the London architect and surveyor William Inwood....

. The permanent monastery, as it stands today, was completed in 1844 with donations from John Talbot, the 16th earl of Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

, and other benefactors. It was designed by Augustus Pugin

Augustus Pugin

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work in the Gothic Revival style, particularly churches and the Palace of Westminster. Pugin was the father of E. W...

, who offered his services free. In 1848, it was granted the status of an abbey by Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 and its first abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 was appointed, Dom Bernard Palmer. It was united with the Cistercian congregation by a papal brief

Papal brief

The Papal Brief is a formal document emanating from the Pope, in a somewhat simpler and more modern form than a Papal Bull.-History:The introduction of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Eugenius IV , was clearly prompted for the same desire for greater simplicity...

 in 1849.

In 1856 a a reformatory school for young Catholic delinquents was founded at Mount Saint BernardIt closed in 1881 after several episodes of disorder, but re-opened temporarily in 1884-5 to house boys who had burnt and sunk their own reformatory ship moored in the Mersey.

The abbey suffered from financial problems and a lack of monks joining the community through the nineteenth century. This improved in the twentieth century and the church was extended between 1935 and 1939, although it was not consecrated until 1945, by the Bishop of Nottingham

Bishop of Nottingham (Roman Catholic)

The Bishop of Nottingham is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham in the Province of Westminster.The diocese covers an area of and spans the counties of Derbyshire , Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and North Lincolnshire...

. Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi

Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi

Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was an Igbo Nigerian ordained a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria on December 19, 1937...

 was a monk at the abbey from 1950 until his death in 1964.

The Abbey today

The monks get up at 3.15am every day and go to bed at 8.00 pm. The three focuses of monastic life at Mount St Bernard's Abbey are prayer, work and reading with study. They take part in daily liturgical prayer, known as Opus Dei or Canonical Hours

Canonical hours

Canonical hours are divisions of time which serve as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. A Book of Hours contains such a set of prayers....

. They meditatively read the Bible, which is called Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina

In Christianity, Lectio Divina is a traditional Catholic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's Word...

. Silence and solitude are very important to the order and the abbey. Their work includes running their 200 acre (0.809372 km²) dairy farm, pottery, bookbinding, beekeeping and tending the vegetable garden and orchard. They also run a gift shop where they sell the items that they make in the abbey. The abbey has a guesthouse for friends and family of the monks, retreatants and those who are interested in the monastic life.