The Abbots of Tewkesbury, the Cathedral Priors of Gloucester and the Westminster Succession by Richard Barton (1991) (Some revision 2016) (Copyright) Many of you will have read with interest two brief articles which appeared recently in the Gloucestershire Echo regarding the visit of five members of the Anglican Benedictine community at Burford to the Abbey Church at Tewkesbury. You may recall – ‘Monks and nuns will be seen once again in Tewkesbury Abbey when they hold a special service there for the first time in 450 years…’ Being an avid hoarder of newspaper cuttings I was somewhat amused, when filing these cuttings, to find another article from the same newspaper, dated 12th July 1984, which read, ‘Historical Mass – History was made at Tewkesbury Abbey today when a Benedictine monk took a Mass for the first time since the Reformation… In fact, two Benedictine monks, Father Ambrose Crowley of Kemerton and Father James Donovan of Cheltenham, took oart in the 8.00am concelebrated Mass.’ 1 Recalling Vespers at Gloucester Cathedral, sung by the monks of Prinknash Abbey in 1980 and again in 1989, as well as the blessing of their third Abbot there in 1979, I was not surprised to learn that members of the Prinknash community had also participated in a service at Tewkesbury Abbey some years ago. Whilst links between modern day Benedictines and former Benedictine Abbeys and Priory Churches have manifested themselves in recent years with such celebrations as these, the interest of post-Reformation Catholic Benedictines in the mediaeval monasteries is not a new phenomenon. During the negotiations paving the way to Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Dom John Augustine Birdsall O.S.B., Missioner at Cheltenham and President-General of the English Benedictine Congregation, wrote the following words to Sir Robert Peel: ‘Most of the monks in England are (now) engaged in ordinary pastoral charge and the care of congregations… be it not forgot that they are descendants of that body of men to whom the inhabitants of this island and all lovers of learning and research are particularly indebted both for valuable records of lore and the magnificent buildings which even in ruins yet ornament the land and astonish the beholder.’ Birdsall had been one of William Cobbett’s most valued correspondents when the latter wrote his, ‘History of the Protestant Reformation.’ From the very beginnings of the English Benedictine Congregation there had been a determination to emphasise their continuity with the mediaeval houses. For instance, in 1621 the four continental communities which made up the revived Congregation were ‘appropriated’ to the extinct ancient abbeys of St. Albans, Westminster, Bury St. Edmunds and Glastonbury. Whilst not attempting to claim actual property the Congregation wished to claim a direct association. This feeling motivated the appointment of titular abbots to these four titles from 1818 (‘Exploratum’) and, more recently, to the titles of Evesham and St. Mary’s in York, as well. Birdsall, himself, became Abbot of Westminster in 1830. Since 1899 (‘Diu Quidem’) any abbot who resigns his office as superior of a monastery of the English Benedictine Congregation can adopt, if he wishes, the title of an ancient abbey. Interestingly between the years 1643 and 1803 the only English Benedictine abbots with jurisdiction would have been the Abbots of the monastery of St. Adrian and St. Denis at Lambspringe, in the diocese of Hildesheim. During the year 1976, Dom Basil Whelan, F.R. Hist. S., a monk of Belmont Abbey and author of ‘The Annals of the English Benedictine Congregation 1850-1900’, was appointed by the Congregation as titular Abbot of Tewkesbury. Abbot Basil, who was given this honour largely for his work as annalist, was the first monk to have been appointed to Tewkesbury. He held the title until his death in November 1984. There is no particular pectoral cross associated with this title but Abbot Basil used the cross of Dom Gregory Gregory, who was Abbot (with jurisdiction) of St. Mary’s Abbey in Sydney until he 2 returned to England in 1861. Abbot Gregory had local connections as he was brought up in Charlton Kings before entering the Benedictine noviciate at Broadway. In 1834 he accompanied Archbishop Polding to Australia. Abbot Whelan was succeeded by Dom Alan Rees who had served for seven years as Abbot of Belmont before taking the Tewkesbury title. He died in 2005 and, three years later, was succeeded as titular Abbot of Tewkesbury by Dom Aidan Shea. The Worcester News, August 4th 2008, gave the following report of his ‘installation’: A new Abbot was installed in Tewksbury Abbey last week, for the first time for hundreds of years. Abbot Aidan Shea was installed as titular Abbot of Tewkesbury by the vicar Canon Paul Williams. Canon Williams explained that the Benedictine community at the Abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540. Abbot Wakeman, the last actual abbot of Tewkesbury, then became the first Bishop of Gloucester. then the Benedictine Community has always maintained its connection with Tewkesbury by appointing a titular abbot. “It is a way of honouring someone for their work for the Benedictine community,” Canon Paul explained. Abbot Alan Rees of Belmont Abbey was the last person to hold the title, and when he died recently Abbot Aidan Shea was appointed in his place. He was, for the 16 years before his retirement, Abbot of St Anslem’s in Washington USA. On hearing of his appointment Canon Paul made contact with him and invited him to Tewkesbury to preach at the Abbey, which he did this week. During the service he installed him in a special seat in the choir. “He will be the first titular Abbot of Tewkesbury to have a special seat in Tewkesbury Abbey. Abbot Aiden said that he was delighted with the honour and will be keeping in close contact the Canon Paul. He added, “Tewkesbury Abbey is stunning, it is one of the few place that inspires one to be absolutely still.” “It is completely unselfconscious, it is just here It is extraordinary.” Another link between the mediaeval monasteries and the English Benedictine Congregation is through the appointment of Cathedral Priors. Dom Daniel Rees was Cathedral Prior from 1997 to 2007 and his obituary in the Independent states: ‘His service to the English Benedictine Congregation was recognised by his appointment in 1997 as Cathedral Prior of Gloucester - an honorary title recalling a time when Benedictine monks formed the chapters of nine English cathedrals. The invitation he received from the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester to preach there gave him much pleasure.’ Nine of the mediaeval cathedral chapters of England were served by Benedictine monks. These included Canterbury, Winchester, Durham, Coventry, Rochester, Bath, Norwich, Ely and our own cathedral church at Worcester. The superior of the monastic chapter was the Cathedral Prior, not an abbot, whilst the superior of a secular chapter, such as Hereford, was the Dean. The Dissolution of the Monasteries naturally effected this system of cathedral government, however, in some cases the transition was significantly smooth. At Worcester, for instance, Henry Holbech, who had been appointed Cathedral Prior in 1536, became the first Dean of that cathedral in 1541. 3 In more recent times it is is interesting to note that the present Abbey Church of St. Michael at Belmont was once the pro-Cathedral of the Diocese of Newport and Menevia from 1859 until 1920. Its superior was a Cathedral Prior and the Chapter was made up of Benedictine monks. St. Peter’s Abbey in Gloucester was also a Benedictine community. Its last abbot, William Parker (alias Malvern) died in 1539, some six months before his prior, Gabriel Morton, surrendered the monastery to the King. On 2nd January 1540. On 3rd September 1541 the See of Gloucester was created by Parliament and the former Abbey Church became the Cathedral with its own secular Dean and Chapter. The first Bishop of Gloucester was the last Abbot of Tewkesbury with jurisdiction and the first Dean, William Jennings, had been the last Prior of St. Oswald’s in Gloucester. In time the new diocese of Gloucester, together with Peterborough and Chester, was confirmed by Pope Paul IV in 1555, along with its secular Dean and Chapter. After the succession of Queen Elizabeth, three years later, its Bishops and cathedral clergy ceased to be in communion with the Holy See but Rome still considered it, in some respects, a ‘sede vacante,’ at least until the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850. Therefore, unlike at Worcester, Gloucester never had a resident cathedral prior and monastic cathedral chapter. Whilst the papal bull of 1555 (‘Praeclara Carissimi’) acknowledged that holders of land formerly belonging to suppressed abbeys could hold them in perpetuity this was somewhat different in the case of former monastic cathedrals as their properties had not fallen into the hands of private persons. When the English Benedictine Congregation was formally revived in 1619 it soon claimed all the ‘rights (jura), privileges, ranks, honours, liberties, goods (bona), graces, indults, faculties and other prerogatives which formerly belonged to our Order or Congregation in England’ (Mandatum 1628). As an expression of this claim the new congregation revived the nine mediaeval monastic chapters in readiness for such time that the Catholic Church be restored in England, a view held, by some, to be a real possibility as the reign of King Charles I unfolded. In 1629 the General Chapter formally elected nine cathedral priors and, in July 1633, a papal bull, ‘Plantata’, of Urban VIII, confirmed these appointments, forbidding these titles to be ever given up. The bull also provided for like appointments to Peterborough, Chester and Gloucester, which, although they had been former Benedictine monasteries, had never had monastic cathedral chapters.