Sister Wilhelmina’s order expands to English abbey founded by St. Thomas More’s family

London, England, Nov 29, 2024 / 09:18 am (CNA).

The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles have opened a new location at St. Mary’s Abbey in Colwich, Staffordshire, England. 

The Benedictines became well known after the body of their founder, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, who died in 2019, was discovered well preserved in 2023.  

The order was welcomed by Archbishop Bernard Longley of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, who invited them to consider the property. The Abbey had been up for sale since 2020 because of a decline in vocations.

“We informed the local ordinary, Archbishop Longley, about the sisters soon-to-be in exile in his diocese and we certainly were not expecting an invitation to stay, but that is exactly what happened!” Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell, the Benedictines of Mary’s first abbess, wrote in a spring 2024 newsletter. “His Excellency has welcomed us most graciously to remain in the (arch)diocese of Birmingham.”

The Benedictines of Mary have now completed the deal, with financial help received from Stanbrook Abbey, who loaned them £2.5 million (over $3.1 million) to complete the purchase. In August, four sisters moved to Colwich to begin their apostolate in England. 

Colwich Abbey was founded, amongst others, by three great-great-granddaughters of St. Thomas More, who came together in 1623 at Cambrai, Flanders after the dissolution of the English monasteries in the 1500s. 

The link to St. Thomas More is significant for the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, whom the Mother Abbess described as ‘a saint of joy and grace under fire, grace that holds up under the challenges of an age.’

The Mother Abbess added her hopes that the new community in Staffordshire will be “a place of expansion, especially for future foreign vocations to our community.” 

St. Mary’s Abbey, which has been occupied by Benedictine nuns since the 1830s, has a rich Catholic heritage, having its origins in a convent in 17th century Cambrai in the Spanish Netherlands, which established a daughter house in Paris in 1652. 

The nuns who were suppressed in the French Revolution moved to England and eventually settled in Dorset, where St. Benedict’s Priory was formed. Now the Benedictines want to play their part in reviving monastic life in England. 

“It is our great hope and desire that our community can revive monastic life in this beautiful and historic sanctuary,” the Mother Abbess told The Catholic Directory. “The Sisters have already brought the Benedictine ora et labora to the Midlands, and we await God’s timing for the next step in this exciting endeavor.”

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster founded the traditionalist Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles order in Gower, Missouri, and died on May 29, 2019. However, when her body was exhumed on April 28, 2023, to be moved for interment in the abbey church, the sisters discovered a well-preserved body. In August 2024, Bishop James Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri confirmed, following a medical examination of the body, that no signs of decomposition were found.

The Mother Abbess explained on the community’s website about the process of how they bought the English property.

“The Sisters discovered that 15 miles away, St. Mary’s Abbey in Colwich was for sale. A week after their arrival, the Sisters visited the Abbey grounds, and were quite taken by the buildings, the historical value of the place, and its rural setting. 

“With a formal invitation from the archbishop, it became clear the Lord wanted the Benedictines of Mary to stay in Staffordshire, and to do all in their power to restore Colwich Abbey to its former glory.”

England is traditionally known as the “Dowry of Mary,” an ancient title given to Our Lady in 1381 by King Richard II in Westminster Abbey, who sought the protection of Our Lady amidst political troubles. England took the title “Mary’s Dowry” — meaning the country was ‘set aside’ as a gift, or dowry, for Our Lady, who would give the country her protection. A rededication was made in 2020. 

Speaking of the title, and the community’s own commitment to Our Lady, the Mother Abbess told the Catholic Herald: 

“England belongs to Our Lady, as does this community, the members being entirely consecrated to her, collectively and individually. We are very grateful to be stepping into such a beautiful heritage, and by her prayers and intercession, being her instruments in assisting with the revitalization of monastic life within her land.”