Sisters in search of a new home have found one

Pictured centre, Mother Winsome

By Dom Cuthbert Brogan OSB

Prinkash Abbey, Wiki Image by Enid Fletcher

The Benedictine monks of Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire are delighted to announce a new and important venture on the historic Prinknash Abbey estate in Gloucestershire.

The monks have offered one of the properties on the Prinknash estate to the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary OSB - an autonomous community of nuns established within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham following the Benedictine Rule and currently living at Kingstanding in Birmingham.

The Prinknash community converted to the Catholic faith in 1913 on Caldey Island. The monastic community belongs to the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation of the order of St Benedict, the largest of the Benedictine Congregations which comprise the Benedictine Confederation, and whose monasteries include St Benedict's own monasteries of Subiaco and Monte Cassino.

The Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary OSB were received into the Catholic Church at the Oxford Oratory in 2013. They are part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, established by Pope Benedict XVI and are aggregated to the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation.

The refurbishment of buildings at the new monastery for nuns will include new guest and retreat facilities for individuals and groups, especially of young people. The work is expected to take two years.

Mgr Newton, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, said he was extremely grateful for the generosity of the Prinknash community in offering the sisters a permanent home to live out their monastic vocation.

The Abbot Administrator of Prinknash said: "Prinknash is a much-loved and historic centre of prayer and monastic hospitality. We ask Almighty God's blessing on this new venture. Our hope is that the presence of these two distinct monastic communities on this outstandingly beautiful and historic estate will enrich this oasis of peace for the many who visit, and be a powerful witness of monastic generosity and prayer."

In January 2020, CoR reported on the Sisters’ plight as they sought a new home:

At the time, the Superior, Mother Winsome, said: “We’d ideally like to stay in the archdiocese of Birmingham but we’re open to suggestions. However with elderly Sisters it would be helpful for us not to be too remote. We’re hoping to find a purpose built convent, as a small-ish house wouldn’t be quite big enough.”

After being received into the full Communion of the Catholic Church and vacating their former convent, they stayed for an initial period of monastic formation at St Cecilia’s Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Whilst there,  an American Dominican,  who was at that point staying at Maryvale in Birmingham,  paid a visit.  Mother Winsome explains: “We outlined our circumstances and said to the visitor : please go back to Maryvale and beg John Henry Newman to give us a home!”

On return to Birmingham the Dominican in question mentioned to someone that they’d encountered “some homeless nuns” and was told a convent was becoming available, just up the road from Maryvale. Mother Winsome had to act quickly to seal the deal: “I had just an hour to get off the Isle of Wight that day because of the times of the tides!” she recalled. Mother Winsome travelled to meet the outgoing Superior of the Birmingham convent - who was wondering what to do with all the contents of the property. Mother Winsome replied: “Please leave it all, we have nothing!”

There was the slight matter that the Ordinariate Sisters also had absolutely no funds to acquire the property - but, said Mother Winsome, “we were confident the Lord would provide!” Within days an anonymous donor stepped forward and the lease of the property was agreed. So they moved, in August 2013, to their present location in Birmingham, just up the road from John Henry Newman’s first ‘Catholic’ home after his conversion, Maryvale.

In 2020, the Sisters expressed confidence that their prayers to England’s new saint would lead them safely to their own new home soon.

To read more about how Anglican Sisters became Catholic Sisters, visit:   https://www.sbvm.org.uk/