In search of "something"” “

Eucharist: “the Church lives by this mystery. But the Christian community is invited, in this Year of the Eucharist, to gain a heightened awareness of it with a more heartfelt celebration, with a prolonged and fervent adoration, and with a greater commitment of brotherhood and service to the least of our fellowmen. The Eucharist is source and epiphany of communion. It is the principle and project of mission”. These words, pronounced by the Pope during the celebration opening the Year of the Eucharist in the Vatican on 17 October 2004, seem to have been taken to heart by the Cistercian abbey of Mount St. Bernard, the only one in the United Kingdom where there are ten Benedictine monasteries; it is situated just a few kilometres from Leicester and Nottingham, in the English Midlands. And the Eucharist, which modulates the whole of its day, seems to have had surprising results, as the SIR correspondent Silvia Guzzetti reports. A POINT OF REFERENCE. Eucharist and adoration. For the inhabitants of the area, Mount St. Bernard’s Abbey has by now become a point of reference. But not only for them: “Catholics and non-Catholics, believers, atheists and agnostics come here in search of something. I think that the monastery is a point of permanent reference in a world in continuous change”, says the abbot Father Joseph Delargy, who came here from the South of England 19 years ago when he was only 24 years old and who has led a community of 38 monks for the last three and half years. This place has survived for 170 years and will continue to survive”. “Our guest house – Father Delargy continues – is open to anyone; believers and non-believers alike can come here and feel at their ease, they can be themselves. I think this sense of authenticity together with the search for spiritual direction and contemplation is one the deepest needs of man in our time”. “Unfortunately – the abbot continues – our ability to ensure spiritual direction is limited by the low number of monks. But something is changing”. NEW VOCATIONS. “Adoration, prayer and the Eucharist, at the centre, each day, of our monastic life that begins at 3.15 every morning, are producing results – says Father Delargy -; new vocations are growing at Mount St. Bernard’s Abbey. They have been growing over the last five years and the interesting aspect is that a quarter of them come from abroad, in particular from Europe, with Norway, Finland and Germany leading the way, but also from Asia, Malaysia in particular. We ask all aspiring monks why they thought of us rather than a monastery in their own country. But if they have a genuine vocation, we accept them because we are convinced that the Lord acts in mysterious ways that we are unable to understand”. The new vocations have enabled the monks to revive a sector that has always been an important part of their life, farming. “ Ora et labora, pray and work, we are reminded by the Benedictine Rule, which has also given its foundations to contemporary Europe. We are thinking of producing milk and butter and selling them directly, together with other dairy products, in the shop of our monastery”. But there are not only religious vocations. “Among the most important innovations of the monastery – adds the abbot – is an association of laypeople, a group of people who feel a vocation to participate at least in part of our life. They are people who have written to us for years, finally we are in a position to respond and have given rise to this group of laypeople who pledge to live the monastery’s dimension of prayer and contemplation in their everyday life, sharing some weekends with the monastic community during the year”. A NIGERIAN SAINT FOR ENGLAND. The abbey also had the privilege of having welcomed into its community a man who would become the first Nigerian saint. “St. Cyprian, to whom our monastery has dedicated a chapel, is the first Nigerian saint”, explains Father Delargy. “He was fifty years old when he arrived here after a long experience in Nigeria where he had founded schools and parishes. He decided to abandon everything because he believed in the contemplative life”. His body was exhumed and sent back to Nigeria on 20 January 1964. The Pope made him a saint during his visit to Nigeria on 22 March 1998. “The name of Cyprian dates to the time when he joined the Cistercian community. Each year in August, in the nearby school at Grace Dieu, we celebrate a Mass dedicated to him, in which hundreds of Nigerians participate. But English Catholics too are greatly devoted to him. We are thinking of publishing all his sermons. The tendency is to consider him a saint for Nigeria and for Africa. But he is also a saint for England”.