Chapter Four

IV

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH

FROM 1862 to 1873 Belmont was ruled by Prior Bede
Vaughan, of whom something has been said already. Like all
the Vaughans of his generation, Roger Bede Vaughan had a
natural dignity and a very striking presence, while his
spirituality was profound yet simple. To him principally
fell the task of laying the foundations of community life at
St Michael's, and of moulding the spirit and traditions of
the house in its early years. It will be of interest, then, to
quote here a description of the man by one who knew him
well. At the celebrations in connection with the Golden
Jubilee of the monastery in 1909, one of the sermons was
preached by Dom Wulstan Richards, who had been a
fellow-novice with Bede Vaughan at Downside in 1854, and
later served with him on the staff at Belmont. In the course of
his sermon, after dwelling on the early life of his subject, he
described in these words the one-time Prior of St Michael's
who became Archbishop of Sydney:
'His noble presence, the force and elevation of his character, his
deep spirituality, his inspiring eloquence, made a profound and
lasting impression on the young monks who came under his
guidance. The years of his rule were years of keen intellectual
life (for the monks), of earnest study and high aspiration. He
himself lived in a region of high ideals, of great thoughts and
earnest purposes. There was about him a certain aloofness, a
detachment of spirit. A born ruler of men, his personality made
laws for them without the need of precept, and obedience
anticipated the word of command. Always accessible to his
children, inviting confidence and winning it to the opening of
their hearts and the solving of their difficulties, when the inter-
view was over he retired again into the inner sanctuary of his
own life and to the study of St Thomas with whom he lived in
loving converse during the years that he was maturing his great
work The Life and Labours of St Thomas Aquinas.

60

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 61

To aid him he had the invaluable assistance of Dom Anselm
Gillett, as Sub-Prior and Novice Master. To him he detailed
much of the detail of administration, that he might devote
himself to the one thing necessary, the spiritual and intellectual
training of his young monks. From his boyhood Prior Vaughan
knew that his heart was weak, and that he would probably die a
sudden death. This conviction grew with the years, so that he
withdrew more and more into the solitude of his own heart. He
lived as one apart, as one that stood on the confines of that great
other world. But this conviction of the imminence of death, so
far from paralysing his energies, braced them to the high resolve
to do with all his soul's might whatever duty called him to do.'

For eleven years he guided the house through its teething
troubles, and then duty called him to the other side of the
world, to continue the work in Australia that had been begun
by two other great Gregorians, Archbishops Ullathorne and
Folding. Actually Dr Folding had been trying to get him as
Coadjutor for the past ten years, i.e. almost from the start
of his Priorship at Belmont. But even then, in 1863, he found
himself baulked by Bishop Brown who also wanted the
Prior to be his Coadjutor. Bishop Brown's disapproval of
Colonial bishoprics, as weakening the E.B.G., has already
been mentioned, but his anger became greater when he
heard of the Archbishop's efforts to secure the services of
Prior Vaughan. In fact Archbishop Folding not only wanted
the Prior, but also hoped that he would bring with him a
substantial contingent from Belmont!1 This was, of course,
out of the question, and the departure of even the Prior alone
was successfully opposed by both Bishop Brown and the
English Congregation. Three years passed, and then the
matter cropped up again, for in 1866 Dr Folding renewed his
invitation, and the Procurator-in-Curia wrote to the
President-General asking him to let Prior Vaughan go to
Australia. A month later Dr Folding, who had already
applied to Rome for ex-Prior Sweeney, as his Coadjutor,but
had been told in reply to send two more names, and that the
leaders of the E.B.C. thought that Prior Sweeney would not
do, now again wrote to the President-General begging to be
given Bede Vaughan, though he admitted that Bishop

1 Letter of March, 1863, to Abbot Gregory.
62 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
Ullathorne had written a strong letter to him against Prior
Vaughan being allowed to leave England. Still nothing
happened, and in May, 1868, Dr Folding applied to Rome
for Prior Vaughan, despite the objections of the President.

But by this time Bishop Brown was, for the second time
contemplating resignation and, as he said, 'placing himself
under the authority of the Prior ofSt Gregory's as a simple
monk 1 But unfortunately for this project, he happened to be
at this moment on the worst of terms with Downside, because
of the election of an Ampleforth monk (Dom Adephonsus
Brown) to be Prior of Downside, which election he held to
be not only highly undesirable but actually invalid, and on
that account he was threatening to refuse to ordain Down-
side monks. Both the Procurator-in-Guria and Prior Vaughan
held that the election could never be shown to be invalid,
and Archbishop Folding, for his part, rejoiced in the election
which he thought a very good thing. He said it was due to
the new spirit derived from the new system of training at
Belmont, by which the exclusive spirit of the various Houses
was being broken down. He also added that he had heard
that Bede Vaughan was now to be Coadjutor to Bishop
Brown, and said that he himself longed for a Coadjutor in
all his troubles and would have Prior Vaughan if he could.
He himself was, he declared, quite incapable of continuing,
he had had much feting and flattery, and had had enough of
it 'Could I retire, never more to be heard of, simply to
attend to myself and my poor soul's concerns, I should
indeed be happy.' Some light is thrown on this matter in the
manuscript notes of Abbot Cummins, who was on the staff
at Belmont at this time, and who wrote:
"Bishop Brown and Archbishop Folding had both proposed to
ask for Prior Vaughan as Coadjutor, and it was doubtful for
some  time which of the two offers he would accept. The Arch-
bishop had stayed at Belmont and knew the Prior personally,
but he left the suggestion of names for his coadjutor very much to
Abbot Gregory, who was a friend and admirer of Canon Romuald
Woods,2 and it was understood that if the Pnor opted for New-
port, Canon Woods would be next on the list for Sydney.

1 He was now seventy-two years old

Romuald Woods lived for nearly forty years (1868-1907) at Belmont, and
is buried there.

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 63

I doubt if he would have accepted; he was too timid and
afraid of responsibility. He refused the Priorship of Ampleforth,
and though he loved preaching, and taking temporary "supplies ,
and giving conferences to nuns, he shrank from the burden ota
parish, and he never wanted to leave Belmont. I remember his
agitation one morning when it seemed that the Prior had agreed
to accept Newport, leaving the Sydney nomination to him. He
would have made a tolerable bishop as preacher and a presentable
prelate, but might have failed as administrator and ruler.
And so time passed by while this state of uncertainty con-
tinued, but with the passage of time Bishop Brown's desire
for retirement, and at least for assistance, like Dr Folding's
similar desire, increased in intensity. And so, on October 5,

1871 (when he had, in fact, nine more years to live), he wrote
in this way to the President-General:
'At my age a prolonged period of life is most uncertain, and it is
very important that doubts should not arise re property or other
interests of a diocese after the death of a bishop whose information
is needful but can no longer be had. I would gladly hand over
for study all books or other documents I possess; but who would
be found willing to study them, unless he be someone to whom
satisfactory information is of great importance for his interest, as
also for duty ? .

"Such a one would be a Coadjutor; but experience warns
against the complications which have arisen from Coadjutors,
and moreover, a large annual sum would be deducted from what
I have with a fair amount of self-sacrifice got together for a
diocese which I found penniless. In the interest, therefore, of my
diocese, and of whoever may succeed me in it, it seems to me
desirable that I should resign my office, whilst yet able to furnish
solutions of apparent difficulties; but my apprehension is lest I
might thereby deprive the E.B.C. of a member who cannot be
as yet spared. . .
'It is for this that I now write, to enquire whether in the
interest of the E.B.C., my early retirement may be not un-
advisable. Treat with me as on an affair of pure business without
delicacy or reserve. I never sought my present office, and as God
seems to have made me the recipient ?)1 of some goods I think
He may now be served by another in ways for which I am less
suited, with better results for religion.
'Yet I do not wish to be idle for so long a time as my actual
health and vigour shall last. Without affecting any uncalled for
humility, it is my wish to forget and to have forgotten that I

1 The word at this point in the manuscript is indecipherable.

64 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
ever was more than a simple religious, therefore to lay aside the
emblems of episcopacy in every way, hoping they may not be
thought of by anyone; and to make myself useful under obedience,
in any way that may be in my power. I would teach any class in
Latin and some other matters, or Theology, only begging that
I may not be compelled to become a member of the Monastic
Council. . . .'
In reply to this touching and wise letter, Abbot Scott
wrote that the Bishop should be urged to retain his present
position, and to see frequently Prior Vaughan, or anyone
else in whom he had confidence, to explain to him the state
of the diocese. In November of this year, 1871, it seemed to
be a settled fact that Prior Vaughan was to be the Bishop's
Coadjutor, and that he would be succeeded as Prior by Fr
Raynal; but in the following February the Bishop was still
wanting him, but this time as his Vicar-General. It was not
till twelve months later that the matter was finally settled.
Prior Vaughan was appointed to be Coadjutor of Arch-
bishop Folding of Sydney as titular Archbishop ofNazianzen,
and he was consecrated on March 19, 1873.

Thus the Priorship of St Michael's was vacant, and there
were generally supposed to be two candidates for the vacant
post. The popular choice was Canon Hedley, but the man
generally considered in official circles to be the more likely
to be chosen was Canon Raynal. These two men were of
very different characters and temperaments. At the Chapter
held at Belmont in February 1873, Dom Wilfrid Raynal was
elected Cathedral Prior. This made the position of Canon
Hedley a somewhat difficult one, as he could hardly have
comfortably remained under the new regime. However,
Bishop Brown was now in his seventy-sixth year, and could
not longer continue without help, and it was only seven
months later that Canon Hedley was appointed his Auxiliary
Bishop. The new prelate was consecrated at St Michael's on
September 29, 1873, by Archbishop Manning, with Bishops
Brown and Chadwick (of Hexham and Newcastle) as
Assistants, and in the presence of three other bishops: Drs
Collier, O.S.B., Ullathorne, O.S.B., and Herbert Vaughan
(the future Cardinal). Also present were the President-
General (Abbot Placid Burchall), and many clergy, regular

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 65

and secular, as well as the Marquis of Bute and most of the
leading gentry of the diocese. The new bishop went to live
at St Francis Xavier's in Hereford, and at the same time he
became editor of the Dublin Review.

The election of Prior Raynal inevitably entailed many
-changes in the Belmont staff, of whom two had become
bishops and a third was to accompany his friend, the former
Prior, to Australia. Canon Romuald Woods became Sub-
Prior, an office which he was to fill for as long as Prior
Raynal was Prior (i.e. for twenty-eight years), and he was
succeeded as Procurator by Dom Romuald Riley; while
Dom Cuthbert Doyle began a fifteen-years tenure of the
office of Novice Master in place ofAnselmGillett. Fr Jerome
Vaughan, the future founder of Fort Augustus and brother
of the former Prior, at the same time became Junior Master.
It was a notable and very able team which the new Prior
had thus assembled round him. Canon Romuald Woods
became an almost legendary figure at Belmont by reason of
his long residence there and his personal characteristics, and
inevitably there were many stories told of him. He was
literary and studious in his tastes, but he was much in
demand for the giving of retreats and conferences, and this
entailed many absences on his part from the monastery. So
much was this the case that it is related that a novice who
had been at Belmont for some months innocently enquired
once who the nice old man was who sometimes came there,
and whom they occasionally saw in the refectory and choir.
It was the Sub-Prior of the monastery. A description of him
by Dom Wulstan Richards many years later is worth
quoting:
'For forty years he lived in this monastery. He never changed nor
wished to change his state. He was the very embodiment of monas-
tic stability. Strong, gentle, loved, ... he was during all these
years, though in his beautiful simplicity all unconsciously, a model
of what a good monk should be, and he brightened whilst he
edified, by his personal charm, his playful humour, his ever
fresh enthusiasm.'
Of Prior Raynal much might be written, but on his character
opinions differ widely amongst those who knew him. Some-
thing has been already written of him in these pages, and
66 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
everyone knows that he played a decisive part in the training
of all the young monks of the Congregation for twenty-eight
years. In that lengthy period almost any Superior would be
bound to tread on some toes, and so possibly to cause hard
feelings to rankle; and that may possibly account for some
severe judgments that have been passed on him. An example
is the following by one who knew him well:
'He was a mod monk, a man of piety and observance, absolutely
unworldly a careful administrator, of most edifymg behaviour
in conversation, with some lovable traits of character, always
respected even if not always admired and loved But he was not
fitted to be the head of a noviciate and house of studies. He was
narrow, intolerant, self-opinionated and suspicious; he was not a
Sudent'and not literary; he was foreign-born and hardly
stood the English character, or even the niceties of the English
language. He had no sense of English humour, no acquaintance
witn English literature, or with English life, or with any life
outside A cloister. Born in the Mauritius, an orphan from his
early years, brought to Downside as a child, he had never known
an English nursery, or apparently any nursery at all. He had no
relations and, as some one said, he had never known any female
relative nearer than a grandmother.'1
But very different, and probably juster, views of him were
held by others, e.g. by Dom Hilary Willson, who was Novice
Master at Belmont from 1888 to 1899, and who considered
that Prior Raynal had a decisive and beneficent influence on
hundreds of monks through his conferences and personal
guidance; that he was not suspicious of his assistants, but
gave them a free hand and encouragement. He, and many
others, looked back to Prior Raynal for the rest of their lives
with gratitude, though it is probably true that he was narrow
and humourless and too much a stickler for the letter of the
law and in particular for Canon Law, so that at times he
would become so enmeshed in scruples and niceties con-
cerning it as to be unable to take any action or decision. But,
be that as it may, not only the intellectual and spiritual life
of the monks of his day, but also even the material buildings
of the Belmont of today, derived very largely from the wisdom
and the devotion to God's glory always evinced by Prior
1 Abbot Cummins.

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 67
Raynal. 'Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae', might well be his
epitaph.

Indeed the list of improvements and extensions to the
church and monastery during Prior Raynal's regime is an
impressive one, and many of them were due directly to his
own initiative and exertions. The first outstanding improve-
ment was the setting up of the screens behind the choir stalls
in order to give some degree of privacy to the priests saying
Mass in the Lady Chapel and in St Joseph's Chapel. It is
said that the idea originated when the choir was being
decorated with evergreens at Christmastide, 1874. One of
the monks had made these into a screen behind the stalls,
and the result was so admired that Cuthbert Pugin was com-
missioned to design permanent screens in stone, and they
were set up in the following year, which also saw the long-
delayed completion of St Benedict's Chapel which had been
built thirteen years earlier. The Lady Chapel also was
embellished through the zeal of Dom IAdephonsus Cummins,
who collected subscriptions for the altar and reredos in
thanksgiving for his ordination. He had been sent from
Ampleforth as a professor to Belmont before his own studies
were completed, and was made a Canon of the diocese
whilst still a deacon. In 1875, also, St Joseph's Chapel was
completed by the relatives of Br Francis McElroy, who died
after only two years at Belmont; and this year also saw the
painting and gilding of the roof of the choir and sanctuary1
as an act of thanksgiving for the coming of age of Mr Wegg-
Prosser's eldest son, John Francis, on August 22. This cost
£3500, and some of the work was done by members of the
Community. It is interesting to find a pencilled draft of a
letter to Mr Wegg-Prosser from the Canons, who had heard
that he intended some such act of thanksgiving, in which
they
'venture to express the hope (and they crave pardon for doing
so) that it will please you on this occasion to complete the
Tower, as they think such a work will be a more noble monument
to the glory of God, and a more fitting commemoration of the
auspicious event in view, than almost anything else you can
1 This was repainted in a new design in 1959.
gg THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
do. ... The addition of a glorious lantern to our Pro-Cathedral
would be a joy to the diocese.'
At that time the tower was only about half its present height,
and a temporary and very unsightly sloping roof rounded it
off. Apparently Mr Wegg-Prosser, if he ever received this
letter preferred to decorate the sanctuary and choir, lor the
tower was not completed until 1882, and then it was chiefly
through the munificence of the Marquis of Bute and Mrs
Helen Brymer. 
Four years later, in 1879, there was a further crop of
additions and improvements. In that year the kitchen,
scullery, larder and dairy were built (it is difficult to
imagine how the monastery existed for so long without them);
and this work was done mainly through the generosity of the
same Helen Brymer, of Bath, to whom the Community were
greatly indebted during the next ten years for very many acts
of material kindness (including most of the cost of building
the Grange, and providing for the upkeep of the boats). The
same year also saw the erection of the statue of St Michael
in the grounds. This was the gift of the father of Dom
Joseph Colgan who later was for many years Procurator at
St Michael's, and the statue was blessed by Bishop Clifford
of Clifton Yet another addition in that year was the Laundry,
which is now called Wood Cottage, and which remained the
laundry until 1923. And finally 1879 saw another very
important improvement: the provision of an adequate
water supply. Hitherto all the water for household needs
had had to be pumped by hand from the well under the
house up to the tank in the attic; but it was now decided to
try to find a spring in the vicinity. There was much marshy
ground at the west end of Spring Grove, close to where the
stone for the buildings had been quarried, and there borings
were started. At first the only result was the discovery of
coal, but soon a good spring was tapped, and an automatic
ram was installed which from a fall of sixteen feet raised a
flow of water 116 feet to the house tanks nearly a mile away.
This ram worked with very little attention for over fifty years.
But to return to the point that had been reached: the

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 69

beginning of Prior Raynal's rule. When the monastery was
being built it was intended that it should house, in addition
to the Chapter and the House of Studies and the Noviciate,
a diocesan seminary also, and this project was very dear to
the Bishop's heart. But when it was represented to him that
this was impracticable, he agreed that there should be only a
petit seminaire, which in practice meant an elementary school
for about a dozen boys up to the age of fourteen, those boys
being intended ultimately for the secular priesthood. This
plan was put into effect, but it was never very satisfactory,
and the bishop became more and more displeased with the
arrangement. By 1873 his disappointment with it had reached
such a pitch that he decided he could no longer in conscience
continue to pay the £150 a year which he had hitherto been
giving to St Michael's in respect of it serving as a seminary
and a place in which the secular priests of the diocese could
make their retreat, and could stay from time to time. In
some outspoken letters to the Prior and to the Chapter he
expressed strong dissatisfaction that in none of these
respects had his wishes been fulfilled. He pointed out that he
had provided by far the greatest amount for the building
of the monastery and that nothing further had been expected
of him, but that in fact he had done much more. He had
originally meant to build his own seminary, but on being
assured by the E.B.C. that Belmont would serve such a
purpose, at least until the students should be ready to begin
Philosophy at a major seminary, he accepted this plan, and
therefore devoted to the building of Belmont the £5,000 from
Franciscan funds allotted to him by the Holy See, instead of
using it to build his own seminary. To this he added extra
sums belonging to the diocese, and also volunteered to give
^150 a year in consideration of the monastery serving as the
petit seminaire of the diocese. He was also given to understand
that, as in any seminary, a priest for whom he might not
have a vacant mission could find board and lodging for a
time in the monastery, on the bishop paying his expenses.
But in fact, he declared, there was dissatisfaction at Belmont if
he left boys there beyond the age of fourteen, and he feared
that a secular priest would not be welcome if sent there. Thus,
70 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
he said, 'St Michael's replaces a seminary in little else than
enabling the secular clergy to meet there in retreat for five
days once in two years', as they in fact do at other monasteries
which were never held to be seminaries. So now he had to
build a seminary of his own after all, although the money
by which he could have done this long since must now
remain at St Michael's. That was the gist of the bishop's
grievance, and in view of it he felt, he said, 'not free in
conscience to continue paying £150 per annum to St
Michael's, the money being due to the diocese'. This step he
took with great and genuine reluctance.
Just over a year later he received from Fr Jerome Vaughan,
the Treasurer of the Monastic Chapter, a letter stating that
the sum of money which in previous years the bishop had
paid towards the maintenance of the sacristy, the Pro-
Cathedral, and the Canons, had not been received, and
asking that it be remitted. This was about the last straw for
the hard-pressed bishop, and he began his biting reply to
Fr Jerome by saying that it was not clear to him whether his
letter was meant for a joke, or whether it was intended to call
for a serious answer. He then repeated that from the start
all he had promised was the £5,000 for the building of the
house and that it was understood that upkeep was the
responsibility of the Congregation. He had been assured that
in return for all he had done for Belmont nothing more was
expected of him, and that St Michael's would serve as a
seminary for the education of secular students for the priest-
hood. Actually he had continued to give considerable sums
for the buildings and furnishings, as well as paying £150 a
year for the students. This was a gift of his own free will and
carried no obligation on his part, and he had never promised
to continue it indefinitely. Nor did he ever promise to con-
tribute to the maintenance of the Chapter. In fact the E.B.C.
had never kept their side of the contract. The students were
not properly supervised in their conduct, they were forced to
leave long before completing even elementary studies, and on
the only occasion on which he had sent a priest to make his
retreat at Belmont, permission for this facility had been promp-
tly withdrawn by the Prior without any adequate reason given.
CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 71
"It is manifest, therefore,' he wrote, 'that my purpose and hope
of finding at St Michael's a quasi-seminary, such as was agreed
upon, have become a total failure: the contract is forgotten, and
I am dependent upon favour only. Yet it ought not to be forgotten
to what a large amount St Michael's is indebted to me, for money
which I was in no way bound to contribute; and if I had not so
expended it, I should have wherewith to establish and maintain
a sufficient seminary for all present wants of the diocese, with
capacity for any extent of enlargement.'
He declared, therefore, that it should be manifest that no
further pecuniary aid was due from him, nor could he in
justice to his diocese contribute more; and he was very
surprised that it should be asked for. He concluded with the
parting shot that 'on my side there is very much to lament,
and my conviction is that indemnity to no small amount is
in equity due to my diocese from the E.B.C.'. A fortnight
later he wrote in similar strain to the Prior, and asked when
the Regulars were going to produce a seminary in this
diocese. In view of all this, then, it is not surprising that from
1874 the donation of £150 a year from the bishop ceased,
and that with its cessation the petit seminaire at St Michael's
also came to an abrupt end. It was not until some forty-five
years later that anything of the sort was revived at Belmont.
While on the subject of finance, it is as well to mention
that throughout the existence of the Common House there
was invariably each year a substantial deficit shown by the
accounts. This was a recognised feature, due to the fact that
the amounts fixed by the General Chapter to be paid by the
other monasteries for the so-called 'pensions' (i.e. fees) of
their subjects at Belmont were never sufficient to cover the
unavoidable expenses incurred. Thus in the 1880s the deficit
usually amounted to between £350 and £450 per annum,
and it had to be met by a charge on the other three houses.
At this time also, the 'pension' for novices and juniors at
Belmont was raised from £40 per annum to £50. But the
difficulty that Belmont had in meeting its unavoidable
expenses continued to be an acute problem as long as the
Common House lasted—and, for that matter, for long after.
But in spite of this, there had to be issued in 1878 an appeal
to the public by the President and Regimen, on behalf of
73 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
the General Chapter, for funds with which to increase the
available accommodation at St Michael's. This stated that
"Every corner of the house is occupied. The department of the
novices is grievously overcrowded: the cells of the Juniors are,
every one of them, occupied; and the Prior is now driven to the
painful alternative of sanctioning the removal, before the com-
pletion of their course, of some of the Juniors to their Monasteries
or of overcrowding them as the Novices are overcrowded or of
begging off the admission of fresh candidates until further
accommodation can be provided for them. The lecture rooms
are inadequate to the numbers of the various classes, and all the
inconveniences are resulting, which a too limited space must
inflict upon a too numerous population.'

But despite this appeal, anything like substantial relief did
not come until the building in 1901 of the east wing: the
part which, until recent years, contained the Library on the
ground floor, lecture rooms and cells on the floor above, and
the Juniorate (later the noviciate) on the top floor.
At the period now reached by the narrative the life of the
old bishop was drawing to its close. He had been a bishop
for forty years (almost half his life), and his had been a life
marked for the most part by courageous struggles against
well-nigh unceasing material difficulties. As Vicar Apostolic
of the Welsh District from 1840 to 1850, and thereafter as
Bishop of Newport and Menevia, he had in his charge one
of the poorest and, from the Catholic viewpoint, least
promising areas in Great Britain; yet where on his accession
he found a desert, on his death he left a flourishing diocese
to his successor. He himself always lived most frugally and
unostentatiously, and he was a true missionary bishop, a
worthy member of the long line of Vicars Apostolic in this
country, of which, when he died, he was the last survivor
but one. Remarkable for learning, administrative ability
and true spirituality, he had been for long years a tower of
strength to his diocese. Nor was it only the diocese that
benefited by his watchful care and self-sacrifice. The debt
owed to him also by St Michael's is, as the proceeding
pages have testified, immeasurable. It was almost entirely
due to his generosity and untiring labours and enthusiasm
that the monastery was built, and his help and encourage-

CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 73
ment never failed it. He, too, it was who started the library
at Belmont with many valuable books whlch had been
donated to the seminary which he had intended to build and 

it was through his suggestion that others, and notably
Mr Biddulph-Phillips of Longworth, added to it
During the last years of his life he lived near Belmont at
Bullingham Manor (which was little more than a farm-
house) and it was there that the end came for him on April
1880' in his eighty-third year. It is related of him that two
years earlier, when over eighty years of age he performed
the remarkable feat for a man of his years of wading waist 
deep into the river to recover his episcopal ring which had
fallen into the water, and which he at once found on the
gravel bed. It was curious that he should have chosen to live
such a remote corner of his diocese (presumably he wished
to be near his Pro-Cathedral), and in point fact not many
people would have cared to live in that particular house

For there were many strange tales told about it, and the
Bishop himself believed that it was haunted by some sort of a
Presence which manifested itself by entering the room and
landing quietly beside one's chair. Moreover, when going up
or down' stairs one was liable to step on awkward soft bodies
as it were that of a cat, when there was nothing visible In
view of all this it is not altogether surprising to learn that
there appear to have been supernatural manifestations at the
time of his death. The late Abbot Bede Cox thus describes
what happened:

Fr Romuald while performing this duty declared that

 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
he frequently heard steps on the staircase passing by the Bishop's
room and apparently mounting to the to the top of thehouse. He
questioned the servants to learn whether they had admitted
anyone into the house at that hour. They were emphatic in their
denial; moreover they were so scared by these same footsteps
that they used to ask the gardener to sit in the kitchen until the
priest's ministry was finished.

One night Fr Romuald determined to find out for himself the
individual who was disturbing the peace of the household. For
this purpose he stood by the Bishop's door armed with a stout
stick and waited for the mysterious steps. On hearing them he
rushed out, flew upstairs with all speed, and searched every
room at the top of the house, but all in vam: no sign of a living
person could be found. After the Bishop's death the noises ceased

A little later, Fr Woods had to say Mass on Sunday for the  
Sisters of Charity. He arrived overnight, and slept in the old
Bishop's room. In the middle of the night he was aroused out of a
sound sleep by the harsh grating of some body along the floor of
the room. This time he was really frightened, and dared not
leave his bed to learn the cause of the strange noise. But next
morning, when day broke looking round he saw that a heavy
fender had been dragged from the hearth and now lay in the
middle of the room.'
It would seem, then, that a poltergeist, a comparatively
familiar phenomenon, had been at work. And incidentally,
these occurrences would seem to give an added significance
to the fact that (as many members of the present Com-
munity will recall) the late Dom Gerard Sweeney, who was
Chaplain to the Sisters of Charity at Bullingham from 1923
to 1938, and as such had to spend every week-end at the
convent, which was a very old house only a stone's throw
from the Manor in which Bishop Brown had lived, often
declared that late at night he, and also the nuns, had several
times experienced supernatural manifestations there which
he minutely described, and which in fact tally remarkably
with those of fifty years earlier described above.