Former Houses: Beeleigh

The Abbey of Beeleigh in Essex was founded from Newhouse by Robert de Parndon. This house was first located in Great Parndon before 1172 and in 1180 it was transferred by Robert Mantel to Beeleigh. In 1249 there was enshrined at its high altar the heart of St. Roger Niger of “Bileye,” who was most probably one of the earliest members of this community after it was settled in Beeleigh. He had become successively archdeacon of Colchester and Bishop of London. He was buried in London in St. Paul’s Cathedral except for his heart, which was encased in lead (this was a quite usual practice) and brought back to the place after which he had been named. Despite the public veneration paid to him, there seems to be no evidence for his actual canonisation. It was suppressed in 1536 and went into private ownership. Today it is a private home, though much of the original abbatial buildings remain, in particular the Chapter House. The Maldon Archaeological and Historical Group have recently published a book detailing their excavations at Beeleigh which is available here.

For more on former Premonstratensian houses in Great Britain please go here.

Visit of Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos

On Saturday 14th June members of the community were delighted to be able to attend Pontifical High Mass in the Extra-ordinary Form of the Roman Rite at Westminster Cathedral, celebrated by Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. The sight of a packed Cathedral, with the majority of the congregation made of families and young people, was a great sign of a new revival of the Catholic faith in this country.

 

“The leaping flames from the torch dispelled the fog, and the people stood in the splendour of the noonday sun. ‘That torch’, said the one beside me, ‘is the Catholic Faith, which is going to light up England’” - St. Dominic Savio’s vision of England

O Jesus, Convert England! O God, have mercy on our country!

 Image ©2008 Vernon Quaintance

Solemnity of Our Holy Father Norbert

6th June is the Solemnity of Our Holy Father Norbert

 ”He who has God on his side is troubled at nothing”

Our Holy Father Norbert

Former Houses: Warburton

 The village of Warburton lies only a few miles outside of Manchester, due east of Altrincham. The village was home to a community of Premonstratensians from 1190-1271. The Priory was established as a dependent house of Cockersands Abbey in Lancashire by Adam de Dutton and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Werburga. Nothing now survives of the priory; the site on which it stood is now a mediaeval church. The surrounding area gives testament to the activity of the canons – a nearby road is known as ‘Abbey Croft’.

 

 

The Triumph of St. Norbert

Saturday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart was marked in the rite of our Order as the feast of the ‘Triumph of St. Norbert’. This feast recalls the zeal exercised by Our Holy Father Norbert in defending and strengthening the doctrine of the Real Presence, which was strenuously tested in the north of Belgium about the year 1124. The heretic Tanchelm had caused spiritual desolation in Antwerp and the neighbourhood, by his denunciation of the Church, the Priesthood and the Sacraments. He declared himself to be God and would see his bathwater for the veneration of those foolish enough to give him credence. Though he had been beheaded by an angry priest upset at his words, his false doctrines still lived and continued to exude their deadly poison. Bishop Burchard of Cambrai had employed various means to overcome the heresy, but so far his many attempts had been so many failures. In his perplexity he remembered Norbert, appealed to him and Norbert quickly responded to the invitation. He carefully selected from amongst the brethren those distinguished by their piety, zeal, and erudition and with them set out for Antwerp. They speedily gained the admiration of the people and then their hearing. The frequent sermons and instructions were attentively listened to and the Antwerpians soon realised that they had been deceived. The heretical doctrines of Tanchelm were repudiated and the people returned to the practice of their ancient faith. In recognition of the service he had rendered, Norbert was acclaimed by the people “Apostle of Antwerp” which title he holds to this day, and from the Canons of St. Michael, he received the gift of their church. In time an abbey was built up around it and from it were founded the well known Abbeys of Averbode, Middlebourg and Tongerlo. Iconography of St. Norbert frequently shows Tanchelm at his feet with his invalid Eucharist spread abroad.

“Brothers, do not be surprised and do not be afraid. Unwittingly you have pursued falsehood thinking it to be the truth. If you had been taught the truth first you would have been found effortlessly tending toward salvation, just as you now effortlessly lean toward perdition.”
- St. Norbert to the people of Antwerp (Vita B)

 

The Sacred Heart

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart invites us to make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for all the manifold sins which cause that Heart such pain. St. Hermann Joseph, whose feast we celebrated last week was the first to write a devotional hymn to the Sacred Heart. May he and all the saints of the Order pray for us.

Summi regis cor, aveto,
Te saluto corde laeto,
Te complecti me delectat
Et cor meum hoc affectat;
Ut ad te loquar, toleres.

Quo amore vulnebaris!
Quo dolore torquebaris,
Cum te totus exhaurires,
Ut te nobis impertires
Et nos a morte tolleres!

O mors illa, quam avara,
Quam immitis, quam amara,
Quae per cellam introivit,
In qua mundi vita vivit,
Te mordens, cor dulcissimum!

Propter mortem, quam tulisti,
Quando pro me defecisti,
Cordis mei, cor dilectum,
Totum in te fer affectum;
Hoc est, quod opto plurimum.

Per medullam cordis mei,
Peccatoris atque rei,
Tuus amor transferatur,
Quo potenter vulneratur,
Quicunque te complectitur.

Illo fonte me fecunda,
Salva, sana, fove, munda,
Ex te laute qui manavit
Totum hominemque lavit,
In te hasta dum flectitur.

Dilatare, aperire,
Tamquam rosa fragrans mire;
Cordi meo te coniunge,
Unge illud et compunge;
Qui amat te, quid patitur!

Quidnam amat, nescit vere,
Nec se valet conhibere,
Nullum modum dat amori,
Multa morte vellet mori,
Amore quisque vincitur.

Vivas! vivas! tibi clamo,
Dulce cor, te namque amo;
Ad cor meum inclinare,
Ut se possit applicare
Devoto tibi pectore.

Tuo vivat in amore.
Ne dormitet in torpore;
Ad te oret, ad te ploret,
Te adoret, te odoret
Te fruens omni tempore.

Rosa cordis, aperire,
Cuius odor fragrat mire;
Te dignare dilatare,
Fac cor meum anhelare,
Dulcem odorem sapiat.

Ad te trahe tu cor meum
Nec me spernas, pie, reum,
Ut iam tibi sit vicinum,
Infer intra tuum sinum,
Ut se in te inveniat.

Hic repauset, hic moretur;
Ecce, iam post te movetur,
Te ardenter vult sentire,
Vult patenter introire,
Ut bene de te sentiat,

Tu tuorum iam dulcedo,
Ego totum tibi me do,
Totus in te introire
Volo, noli contraire,
Cor tuum me suscipiat.

 

Martyrs of Nová Riše

On 29th May we remember the martyrs of the abbey of Nová Riše, Abbot Paulus Soucek, Prior Laurentius Novotny, Fr. Norbert Hrachovsky, Fr. Sigismund Zabehlicky and Fr. Siard Nevrkla who were put to death for their faith by the Nazis at Auschwitz.

 

Corpus Christi & St. Juliana of Liège

Corpus Christi is the titular feast of our canonry. We marked this occasion on with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Chad’s which began with Mass of the Solemnity in the Premonstratensian Rite and was followed by all day Exposition. One of the patrons of our canonry Saint Juliana of Liège, a Premonstratensian nun during the 13th century, can be credited with the formal establishment of the feast of Corpus Christi. She was born in 1193 and entered the convent of Mount Cornillon. She entered the convent at the age of 13 and worked in the hospital, caring for the sick and pilgrims. It was during this time that she was favoured with visions and ecstasies from Our Lord who reminded her that there was no feast in honour of His Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist. She urged the Archdeacon of Liège to approve such a feast in the diocese. The Archdeacon became Pope Urban IV and in 1264 extended this glorious solemnity to the Universal Church. St. Juliana led a difficult life and was later forced to flee from her convent. She was canonized in 1869 by Pius IX and further celebrated by Pope John Paul II, who wrote a letter mentioning her on the 750th anniversary of the Feast of Corpus Christi. Her feast day is April 6.

May St. Juliana, St. Norbert, Blessed Pius IX and all the saints of Our Order pray for us, and for our Canonry.

“Your Order is gloriously Eucharistic, and Eucharistically glorious.”

- Blessed Pope Pius IX

Emilia Podoska

Emily Podoska (1845-1889) entered the Norbertine convent of Krakow at age 25; after three years of teaching, she directed the Zwierzniec Cloister school for five years. Beginning in 1886 she became the novicemistress. In day-to-day life she distinguished herself through conscientiousness and diligence, and in her religious life through a deep love for the Eucharist and an unshakeable confidence in the Mother of God. Thanks to her pedagogical capabilities Sr. Emily soon won the trust of her students; in the convent she constantly strove to impart her love for the Order to the novices. The servant of God kept up regular correspondence to the Norbertine sisters of Bonlieu; therefore she is considered as patroness of the unity between the monasteries of the Order. She was very demanding of herself while showing herself full of kindness toward her sisters. Emily zealously exerted herself on behalf of a reform of the monastic life in the spirit of the Rule of Augustine and the Statutes. In the year 1889 she fell gravely ill on account of an inflammation of the lungs which later developed into tuberculosis from which she soon died at the age of 43 years, May 22, 1889. The diocesan process for her beatification was opened in Krakow in 1993/94, and in June of 1994 her remains were exhumed and transferred to the cloister church. Since that time the process is pending in Rome.

 

God our Father, we thank You for the life and witness of your servant, Sister Emilia Podoska who applied all her energy to the life of her convent, school and novitiate. She carried the Order in her heart and prayed for its welfare. Lord, grant that Your servant be glorified and through her intercession grant us the favour we now ask of you. Amen.

 

 

 

The Translation of St. Norbert

Saint Norbert was originally buried at Magdeburg, the church he had governed as archbishop. At the time of the so-called Reformation the cathedral fell into the hands of the followers of Martin Luther. The pain felt by the Order at this usurpation of the tomb of their revered founder is well recorded by the chronicler Du Pré: “Around 1600, at the time of the Reverend Father Herman Helfenstein, the last Catholic provost, through the tricks and malice of the Protestants, all Catholic religious were either poisoned or expelled and driven out, and others of the Lutheren religion were brought in, who externally wear our habit, retain our officials, practicing some kind of religion…..”

The religious of Steinfeld are thought to have been the first of St. Norbert’s sons to have considered a plan for the translation of his relics to a place where they might once more be properly venerated. Their plan inspired Abbot Lohelius of Strahov to write to Abbot General Despruets in April 1588 who in turn commissioned the Czech abbot to arrange for their translation to Premontre via Strahov. The plan proved fruitless as the Protestant provostof Magdeburg was opposed to the plan; in 1590 he had had the coffin opened whereupon it emitted an extraordinary fragrance that dissuaded him from the idea. Later attempts to translate the relics also failed.

A later abbot of Strahov, Gaspar von Questenberg seized the opportunity to return the relics to Catholic hands in 1625, when the troops of the Imperial Army arrived at the gates of Magdeburg. With the help of the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, the abbot arrived at Magdeburg and took possession of the precious coffin. When the coffin was opened, the body of Our Holy Father was found intact, in a cope of red damask. It is told that the gold ring slipped from the hands of St. Norbert onto the middle finger of von Questenberg and thus gave a heavenly sign of the approval of St. Norbert.

The relics were transferred to Strahov on May 2nd 1627. A wagon drawn by eight white horses brought the body of Our Holy Father into Prague and thence he was borne on the shoulders of eight abbots, accompanied by two hundred coaches of the nobility, a hundred Premonstratensians carrying candles and with the sound of triumphant trumpets. The Chancery of Prague preserved the abjurations of six hundred Protestants who, on the day, or during the octave, of the translation, adjured their heresy. On that occasion the Archbishop of Prague, at the request of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, proclaimed St. Norbert the Patron and Protector of Bohemia.

(Source: B. Ardura, The Order of Premontre, History and Spirituality)