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Anglo-Catholicism in the Church of England, 1895–1913: Abbot Aelred Carlyle and the Monks of Caldey Island
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
Extract
From 1906–13, Abbot Aelred Carlyle (1874–1955) enjoyed immense popularity as an Anglo-Catholic, and, according to some, could have easily become the spokesman for this section of the Anglican Church. Through perseverance and diplomacy, he singlehandedly founded the first Benedictine monastery in the Church of England since the Reformation. Unlike others who sought and failed to bring Roman Catholic practices into the Established Church, Abbot Carlyle enjoyed the explicit ecclesiastical sanction of an Archbishop of Canterbury for his work, and with this seal of approval he could dismiss critics and disbelievers. By 1910, Abbot Carlyle and his community on Caldey Island, South Wales, had become a paradise for High Churchmen. The Abbot's charismatic and hypnotic personality attracted many who nostalgically longed for the glories of a medieval and united Christendom. Armed with a High Church theory of Benedictinism, Caldey became an enclave of ritualism, the “naughty underworld” of the Edwardian Anglican Church. Caldey was, at its peak, an exemplar of pre-Reformation Roman Catholic monasticism. In 1913, the experiment was in ruins. Carlyle refused to yield to the reforming zeal of the Bishop of Oxford and his attempts to force Caldey to conform to the comprehension of the Anglican Church. The result was sensational: a group of monks renounced the church of their baptism and sought admission to the Church of Rome.
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References
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21 Aelred Carlyle to Frederick Temple, 24 January 1898 (Caldey: Davidson Papers, London: Lambeth Palace Library).
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34 CarIyle to Rev. J. Green, 15 February 1898 (Carlyle Papers; Slough: Nashdom Abbey Archives).
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46 Ibid.
47 Owen to Davidson, 29 December 1911 (Caldey: Davidson Papers).
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74 Benediction was given according to the Roman rite on Sundays and Wednesdays. The Blessed Sacrament was in continued Reservation and Exposition took place on high holy days and the monthly day of recollection. See “Ceremonial of Caldey” and “Customary and Ceremonial.”
75 “Ceremonial of Caldey.”
76 Ibid. These were both condemned by the Report of the Royal Commission, 41–43.
77 “Ceremonial of Caldey.” The schedule of psalms was contained “in the commune de tempore of the Monastic Breviary.” Carlyle favored the edition “issued by the House of Descles et Cie of Tournay, finally revised for the use of the Benedictines in the year 1912. All members of the Congregation … are bound to attend the recitation of the Divine Office in choir.”
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84 Halifax to Edward, 20 July 1980 (Halifax Papers). Halifax was part of a party consisting of the prominent Anglo-Catholics W. J. Birkbeck, Athelstan Riley, and Sir Samuel Hoare.
85 Halifax to Agnes, 20 July 1908 (Halifax Papers).
86 Ibid.
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92 Mackay to Halifax, 10 November 1910 (Halifax Papers).
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97 Ibid.
98 These priests would be exempt from the educational requirements, normally a university degree, and the deacon year spent in a parish. Moreover, they would not be required to use the Book of Common Prayer, and Abbot Carlyle would become their ecclesiastical superior, not the Bishop of St. David's.
99 Davidson to Gore, 7 March 1912 (Caldey: Davidson Papers).
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102 Gore to Davidson, 10 April 1912 (Caldey: Davidson Papers).
103 Gore to Davidson, 19 March 1912 (Caldey: Davidson Papers). In spite of the recommendations of the 1887 Lambeth Conference's report on religious brotherhoods, Caldey had no Episcopal Visitor.
104 Davidson to Carlyle, 20 May 1912 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
105 Carlyle to Davidson, 29 August 1912 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
106 Gore to Carlyle, 24 October 1912 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives). Carlyle had hoped that Gore would personally visit Caldey, but the Bishop's busy schedule would not permit this plan. Both priests, who were Anglo-Catholics, knew Carlyle and were sympathetic to the Anglican Benedictines.
107 Carlyle to Stone, 9 January 1913 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
108 Stone and Trevelyan to Gore, 21 January 1913 (Stone Papers; Oxford: Pusey House Library).
109 Ibid.
110 Gore to Carlyle, 8 February 1913 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
111 The ownership of the property was vested in Abbot Carlyle alone. The three established Anglican brotherhoods, the Cowley Fathers, the Society of the Resurrection, and the Society of the Sacred Mission, had legislated that their property would be vested in a trust under the supervision of the Anglican Church. The Established Church always tried to regulate and oversee the property owned by religious brotherhoods. The 1908 Lambeth Conference report on brotherhoods stressed that “provision for due rules as to the possession and disposition of property” should be stipulated in the community's by-laws. “Report of the Committee Appointed in 1897 to Consider the Relations of Religious Communities With the Church to the Episcopate” (Lambeth Conference, 1908) 5.Google Scholar
112 Gore to Carlyle, 8 February 1913.
113 Carlyle to Gore, 11 February 1913 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
114 Including Abbot Carlyle, there were thirty-one monks on Caldey in 1913. Three Anglican priests did not convert. Denys Prideaux, one of the “faithful remnant,” became the founder of a new Anglican monastery at Pershore. The community later moved to Nashdom, Slough.
115 Carlyle, “Questionnaire,” 18 February 1913 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
116 Carlyle, “Notes of the Address to the Community of Caldey,” 18 February 1913 (Carlyle Papers; Prinknash Abbey Archives).
117 Carlyle, “Questionnaire.”
118 Davidson to Gore, 24 February 1913 (Caldey: Davidson Papers).
119 Fowler to Davidson, 11 March 1913 (Caldey: Davidson Papers).
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122 The Church Times (28 February 1913).Google Scholar
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124 The Times (17 March 1913).Google Scholar