paxabbey at The Abbey of Our Lady of Exile, Mount St Benedict, Tunapuna, Port of Spain 00014 TT - A Short History of the Monastery
| A Short History of the Monastery |
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There were 3 stages on the way to joining the Congregation of the Annunciation:
I. The Brazilian Congregation. The Brazilian Congregation, as such, goes back to the 16th century. However, by the end of the 19th century, it had sunken to a rather low state, so much so, that the Roman authorities decided it was time to bring about a change or a reform. Since any change was resisted by the Benedictines in Brazil, the only other course was to introduce a REFORM. One of the newly founded Belgian monasteries, St Andre of Bruges, was chosen as the means of this reform. The man at the centre of the affair was Dom Gerard van Caloen, who went out to Brazil in the 1890's, and eventually became abbot of Olinda. Looking round for some European monks to spearhead the reform movement, he approached the Abbey of Maredsous. He wrote personally to the future Abbot Columba Marmion in 1897, then a young monk in Maredsous, but his superiors refused him permission to go. Instead, they chose another monk of Maredsous, who was only a novice, to go to Brazil, Mayeul de Caigny. Dom Mayeul, within a very short time, became a fully fledged member of the Brazilian Congregation and in 1907 was appoointed Abbot of Bahia by van Caloen. The story of how he set about the foundation in Trinidad is one which I cannot go into here, but when Mount St Benedict was established, it formed part of the Brazilian Congregation, from 1912 to 1927. The two General Chapters held during this time, in 1915 and 1922, objected to the system of Parishes in Trinidad. It was also made clear that Trinidad was out of favour with the Brazilian abbots, and that Dom Mayeul was himself persona non grata, at least with the Abbot of Bahia and his monks.
II. The Belgian Congregation. The Belgian Congregation had been founded in 1920, folowing the end of the First World War. Such were the anti-German feelings in Belgium, that the Government would not allow any direct communication between the two existing Belgian Abbeys, Maredsous and Mont Cesar (Louvain). At this time, these two monasteries belonged to the Beuronese Congregation. Abbot Columba Marmion was Abbot of Maredsous from 1909 to 1923, and it fell to him to initiated and pust through the establishment of the new Congregation. There was one difficulty, in that you required at least three monasteries to form a Congregation. Eventually St Andre, depsite its association with the Brazilian Congregation, decided to join in with Maredsous and St Andre.
III. The Belgian Congregation was given the papal seal of approval in 1920. Glenstal, founded by Maredsous in 1927, became part of the Belgian Congregation. By that time other monasteries from other countries had joined. Portugal, Poland and others. Mount St Benedict applied to join the Belgian Congregation in 1927 and was immediately accepted. Fr Hugh van der Sanden was the person who organised all this, because Dom Mayeul had already retired to St Leo's in Florida. The movement to join the Belgian Congregation proved beneficial to Mount St Benedict. It seemed to give a new elan vital to the monastery, and withing 20 years it had become an Abbey, under Adelbert van Duin.
From Mayeul to the present
Dom Mayeul de Caigny, Abbot of the Abbey of San Sebastian, Bahia, Brazil, founded the Abbey of Our Lady of Exile in 1912. Abbot Mayeul had written to the Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad, in October 1911, asking permission to send some of his monks to the Island, as he stated that there was the threat of religious persecution in Brazil. The Archbishop extended an invitation for him to come and choose a suitable locality for his monks. The Abbot chose his site on January 17, 1912, and on October 06 of the same year three of his monks arrived in Trinidad to establish monastic life there. The monastery was dedicated to Our Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Exile, as this story recalled the experience of the monks who, like Mary, were also fleeing the threat of persecution. The beginnings were of a very humble nature. From 1914 Abbot Mayeul supervised the development of the Monastery until he resigned in 1923 and retired to the Abbey of Saint Leo in Florida, USA, where he is buried today. Mount St. Benedict, as it is more popularly known, was granted canonical status as a Conventual Priory on March 06, 1915. Dom Mayeul was succeeded by Dom Hugh van der Sanden, a Dutchman, who encouraged local vocations. During his term the Monastery was affiliated to the Belgian Congregation (Congregation of the Annunciation) in 1927. It was also under his tenure that the Monastery began a seminary in 1943 to prepare young men for the diocesan priesthood. In that same year the Monastery established a Secondary School. Dom Hugh was Superior until 1947, when the Monastery was raised to the rank of an Abbey, and Dom Adelbert van Duin was elected as the first Abbot. Dom Bernard Vlaar, another Dutchman, succeeded him. Dom Hildebrand Greene from Guyana was elected the First Caribbean Abbot of the Monastery in 1979, and he was instrumental in establishing a monastic daughter house in Guyana in 1988. In 1995, with the election of Dom Francis Alleyne, Mount St. Benedict had its first Trinidad born Abbot. In 2003 he was appointed Bishop of Guyana and was replaced by Dom John Pereira. The major ministry of the monks has been spiritual direction and pastoral counselling to the pilgrims who visit the Abbey on a daily basis. Hospitality is extended to all, and people of all faiths: Christians, Hindus and Muslims, and people who profess no faith are all received at the Abbey. In 1967, a Vocational School was established at the Monastery to teach young people a skill such as woodwork, bookbinding, plumbing, welding or some other technical craft to gear them for life. The Monastery has been involved in parochial activity, Pastoral Counselling, Agriculture, Apiculture, Education, Credit Unions, Coaching of young swimmers, Liturgical Renewal, Retreats, and Cottage Industries, such as Yogurt production. “Pax Yogurt” has become very popular in recent years, and this has replaced our former honey production. There are plans to expand this even further. In order to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the Abbey, the monks produced a CD. It consists of some of the compositions of Bro. Paschal Jordan, who is the Superior of the monastic foundation in Guyana.