Prinknash Abbey

Prinknash Abbey (pronounced locally variously as "Prinidge/Prinnish"[1]) (IPA: /ˈprɪnɪdʒ/[2]) is a Roman Catholic monastery in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the village of Cranham. It belongs to the English Province of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation, which is itself part of the worldwide Benedictine Confederation. It is noted for its manufacturing of incense, and is the largest manufacturer of incense in Europe. [3]

Prinknash Abbey
The Abbey of Our Lady and St. Peter at Prinknash
St Peter's Grange, Prinknash Abbey
Monastery information
OrderBenedictine, Subiaco Congregation
Established681 at Gloucester as St. Peter's Abbey
Disestablished1539
Reestablished1928
Mother houseBenedictine monks of Caldey Island
DioceseDiocese of Clifton (Roman Catholic Church)
People
Founder(s)Abbot Serlo (1072–1104), re-founded under Ælred Carlyle (1928)
Important associated figuresDom Bede Griffiths, Ælred Carlyle, Stephen Horton

History

For nearly 900 years the land known as Prinknash (locally pronounced “Prinich” or “Prinish”) has been associated with Benedictine monks. In 1096 the Giffard family, who had come to England with William the Conqueror, made a gift of the land to Serlo, Abbot of Saint Peter's, Gloucester. A large part of the present building was built during the abbacy of William Parker, the last Abbot of Gloucester, around the year 1520.

It remained in the abbey's hands until the suppression of the monasteries in 1539 when it was rented from the Crown by Sir Anthony Kingston who was to provide 40 deer annually to King Henry VIII, who used the House as a hunting lodge. Prinknash Park continued to be used as a home for the gentry and nobility of Gloucestershire during the next few centuries and each generation left its mark on the property.[4]

On 1 August 1928 a Deed of Covenant was made out by the twentieth Earl of Rothes, the grandson of Thomas Dyer Edwards, a Catholic convert, whose wish was that Prinknash should be given to the Benedictine monks of Caldey Island. These monks had converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1913 under the leadership of Abbot Ælred Carlyle, although he left monastic life in 1921 to work as a missionary priest in Vancouver.[5]

Caldey Island was eventually sold to the Cistercian monks and on 26 October 1928 six Benedictine monks arrived from Caldey to convert the house at Prinknash into a monastery. The rest soon followed and after some years of poverty they managed to purchase all the land around the house to make Prinknash as it is today. Fr. Wilfrid Upson, who had been appointed Prior after Carlyle's departure, was elected the first Abbot of Prinknash in 1937.[6] The bones of Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, are kept at Prinknash.[5]

Stained glass of the west end of the new abbey

The community continued to grow, beginning with 25 monks. There are now 9 at Prinknash itself and more are spread over three monasteries, a foundation being made at Farnborough in May 1947 and in Pluscarden in Scotland later that year. In 1939 a foundation stone for a new abbey was laid at Prinknash by Cardinal Hinsley, but the Second World War intervened and the previous impracticable building plans were eventually redrawn by F.G. Broadbent.

The monks moved into the new abbey in 1972 and the old abbey was re-roofed, re-furnished, and converted into a retreat and conference centre, known as "St Peter's Grange". However, by 2008 the now smaller community of monks had decided to move back to St Peter's Grange, and this took place on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (30 June).

Horarium

In addition to the daily canonical hours, the monks pray Mass at 8:30 am from Mondays to Saturday. On Sunday, they celebrate Mass at 9 am, as well as a Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 11 am. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Sunday Masses are not celebrated with a congregation.[7]

Art

In 1972–3, Brother Patrick, a monk of Prinknash, contributed the design and manufacture of a number of items at Clifton Cathedral, Bristol. These included the votive candelabra hanging in the Lady Chapel, made from twenty stainless steel equilateral triangles (a regular icosahedron), and the decorative screens to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.[8]

Notes

1. ^ According to their website and their video about making incense:

References
  1. Ltd, Not Panicking. "h2g2 - A Conversation for Pronouncing British Placenames". h2g2.com.
  2. Wells, J C (1990). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow: Longman. p. 558. ISBN 0-582-05383-8.
  3. "Prinknash Incense". www.prinknashabbey.org.
  4. "History of Prinknash". Prinknash Abbey Trustees. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  5. Anson, Peter. Abbot Extraordinary. A Memoir of Abbot Aelred Carlyle, Monk and Missionary. Faith Press, 1958, pp.131–132.
  6. Downs, James. A Monk and His Movies, 23 October 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  7. "Mass and Divine Office". www.prinknashabbey.org. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  8. Harrison, Peter (2020). Guide to Clifton Cathedral. Bristol: Clifton Cathedral.

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