Chapter Ten


LAYING FOUNDATIONS
WITH the achievement of independence a new spirit of
optimism and enthusiasm may be said to have taken hold
of the Belmont Community. They were determined to make
the place a success, and their Abbot was full of plans for the
future. The Community was steadily growing, for the ending
of the war in 1918 had brought an influx of novices from
1919 onwards, and it has been said that the monastic life
was led at that time 'with a great deal of austerity and
simplicity, in a notable state of real poverty, and much
cheerfulness'. These novices of the immediate post-war years
were markedly different from the pre-war type of novices.
Hitherto most novices had come straight from school, and
as often as not from a monastic school, so that they were
already well acquainted with the monastic routine and spirit,
even if they were ignorant of the ways of the world. But those
who now came had almost all had active military service;
many of them had had years of great danger and hardship
in the trenches, and they had knocked about the world.
They were therefore older and considerably more experienced
than their predecessors, and had come by devious ways to
the cloister, many of them only after a hard mental struggle,
and the more so as they were mostly converts. And because
of all this, and because they had experienced the futility of
life as ordinarily lived, they realised all the more the implica-
tions and the ideals of the religious life. Altogether about
twenty such postulants came to Belmont in the first few
years after the war, and of these nine persevered and were
solemnly professed.

At the same time, however, there were other men of a
somewhat different type who also knocked on the doors of

177
THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
St Michael's during these years. The earliest of these had
also been disillusioned of worldly ideas during the war, and
had turned to religion; but they found they were not
educationally equipped for clerical studies, or else they felt
called rather to the life of labour instituted by St Benedict
for those who did not desire to undertake the duties of the
choir in Latin; and so they wished to be laybrothers. It has
already been shown that there had been laybrothers at St
Michael's in the earlier years of the house, but since the death
ofBr Robert Adams in 1899 the monastery had been without
any, and the other houses of the Congregation (with the
exception of Fort Augustus) had never encouraged them.
But the first two who came to Belmont in 1920 were soon
followed by others, some of whom stayed permanently, and
some (the usual percentage) failed to persevere, and the
consequence was that in ten years there were nine professed
laybrothers and also a laybrother-oblate in the Community.1

As a result of all this the Belmont Community, which had
numbered a dozen on the outbreak of war, had by 1920
increased to over twenty, and in the next two years had
exceeded thirty. In this connection a particularly encouraging
sign was the coming of the first postulants from the Alumnate
into the noviciate in January 1923. These, the first-fruits of
the little school, numbered five, and their clothing was a
great source of joy to Abbot Kindersley, but most unhappily,
of the five who were clothed only one persevered to Solemn
Profession. Still, it was a start, and that first group have since
been followed by many more from the school.
One consequence of the recent change in the status of the
monastery and the severing of the ties with the Archdiocese
was that the church was no longer a Cathedral. Accordingly
in 1920 the Archbishop's throne which stood in the sanctuary
was removed, or rather it was transformed into an Abbot's
throne by taking away one step. At the same time the
platform, which had been of stained deal, was reconstructed
in oak, the throne itself was embellished with finials, and
the centre panel which bore the monogram and coat of
arms of Bishop Brown was taken out and another, showing
1 in 1935 there were eleven laybrothers in the house.

LAYING FOUNDATIONS 179
the arms ofSt Michael, inserted. Whilst the church had been
a Cathedral the Prior was Provost, and the first stall on the
gospel side of the choir was that of the bishop, the Prior
having his on the epistle side. But now the brass plate on the
bishop's stall, and the name-plates of all the canons on their
stalls, were removed, and the Abbot moved over to the
gospel side.
At this point it may not come altogether amiss it a lighter
note be struck by a reference to what became known as 'The
Belmont Ghost'. It happened that late in 1921 Hereford was
full of journalists from London and from all over the country
because of a famous murder trial, that of Major Armstrong
of Hay, which was then taking place in the city. When the
proceedings were adjourned for the Christmas holiday, thus
giving two weeks of freedom to the reporters, they found
that thev were in an interesting and historic countryside,
and set to work to provide their papers with 'copy'. They
discovered that there was a Benedictine Abbey in the
neighbourhood, and naturally enough presumed that it was
in ruins; but investigation showed that this was not so, and
that there were real live monks there living in modern
conditions. This made a first-rate story for them, and one
mischievous young reporter, faced with the double facts of
Christmas-time and a monastery, fabricated for his paper, as
a joke, a tale of what he called 'The Abbey Ghost'. This set
his fellow-reporters all agog with excitement, and thereafter
the abbey grounds were filled with earnest seekers after
sensation. So it happened that one night Br Sylvester Sullivan,
a laybrother, locking up the church on his nightly rounds,
found several reporters in the churchyard, and these at once
waylaid him, begging him to give them the details about the
now well-authenticated ghost. For some reason he decided
to humour them, and rose splendidly to the occasion, telling
them how figures were often seen there amongst the graves,
and showing them where the old monks were buried. He
thrilled them, too, with tales of mysterious lights seen in the
choir at night, and told them how, when he was unable to
get off to sleep, he would often feel spirit hands passing
gently over his face. Considering that Br Sylvester was in

l80 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY

daily life a completely unimaginative man, and considered
by some to be rather simple, he excelled himself. All this was,
of course, exactly what was wanted by the journalists, and
duly appeared as real history, providing a basis for the
fabrication of more marvels which were reported not only in
the sensational press, but also in the more dignified London
dailies. There were stories of how monkish figures were seen
at midnight in the choir, and how when their appearance
was reported to the Abbot, he immediately ordered his
monks to assemble and sing High Mass! Abbot Kindersley,
like Queen Victoria in other circumstances, was 'not amused'
by these stories, and he steadfastly refused to be interviewed.
But at last he was cornered by two reporters, whereupon he
contented himself with saying that if any of his monks came
to him saying they had seen ghosts, he would give them a
good dose of medicine and watch how they took their meals.
This provided a climax, and there was an article of high
praise in John Bull, a paper then in its period of greatest
popularity, on real manly religion with no nonsense. The
topic then died down, as new sensations were discovered
elsewhere; but Br Sylvester received a severe reprimand from
the Abbot in Chapter, which he received with a beatific
smile, because he thought he was being praised.

It will be remembered that Abbot Kindersley had,
amongst the works that he proposed for his Community, the
care and promotion of religion throughout the county, and
helping with the education of students for the secular priest-
hood. The first of these will be treated of in a section devoted
to the missions, but here it may be stated that he set about
fulfilling the second of these objects soon after he became
Abbot. For in the summer of 1922 he agreed to the request
of Archbishop Mostyn1 that five such students should under-
go their seminary course with the juniors at Belmont,
Mention has been made of the dismay with which both the
then Prior and Abbot Butler had greeted the decree from
Rome of November 1918 which, amongst other things,
demanded that a seminary be set up at Belmont; but
' Former Bishop of Menevia, who had succeeded to Archbishop Bilsborrow
in 1920.

LAYING FOUNDATIONS l8l
apparently he did not have the same objection to a small
number of students, or else perhaps financial considerations
overruled it. It was, however, made clear to the young men
that in no circumstances would they be acccepted as novices
for the Abbey, this being a necessary precaution against
future possible misunderstandings, and it was understood at
the same time that the Archbishop would not receive ex-
novices wishing to be secular priests, or at least would do
nothing to encourage them. In fact no such applications
were ever made by the secular students, though there were a
few cases of novices or juniors becoming secular priests. The
arrangement on the whole worked well, though some thought
the students a somewhat disturbing influence in the house,
and it continued for twenty years, i.e. until 1942. It had the
advantage that, the classes being much smaller than those in
most seminaries, more individual attention could be given
than would normally be possible, and moreover the students
had the opporutnity of living a fuller liturgical life than would
have been possible for them elsewhere.
And so, in one way and another, within a very short time
there was a surprising degree of activity within the walls of
St Michael's. Apart from the outside work, of which some
account will be given separately, the full liturgical offices
were being kept up, and the reputation of Belmont in this
sphere, which had always been exceptionally high, was well
maintained; the novice-master (at first Dom Gregory
Buisseret, and then from 1923 to 1934 Dom Romuald
Leonard) had under him a large number of novices of whom
there was a steady flow in the nineteen-twenties; the juniors
and church students had their philosophical and theological
courses; and at the same time the small school was being
carefully tended. All this meant much work and there was
much activity, all of which was closely controlled by the
Abbot, who constantly impressed on the young community
that they were the forerunners of many yet to come, and
that it was they who were laying the foundations and forming
the traditions which would count for so much in the years to
come. The priests at this time were all of pre-war vintage,
though in reality there was very little difference in age between

I02 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
them and the first few sets of post-war ex-service novices,
and they (the priests) were the steadying influence in the
house. To them, indeed, it sometimes fell to throw the sober-
ing light of reality on some of the unrealisable ideals and
theories of the younger and inexperienced spirits. We are
still too near to those days to assess them impartially and.
objectively; many of us still alive experienced them ourselves,
but they were years of steady growth both in numbers and.
in experience, formative years for the Community as a.
whole, and one influence at least may here be mentioned.
Throughout the twenty years from 1920 to 1940 a predomin-
ant part was played by Fr Romuald Leonard, first as Prior
and Novice-Master, and later as Abbot, and his personality
and views had a powerful effect on the spirit and the policy
of the house. And this period was also decisive in another
respect, for it saw the adoption in 1926, not without some
misgivings, of the policy of maintaining an enlarged school
for boys intended for the lay professions, which irrevocably
marked out the path of development which the monastery
was to follow, and which taxed its resources to the utmost.1
And this courageous venture, very largely the fruit of Dom
Anselm Lightbound's enthusiasm and vision, has been blessed.
by God, and has already been the means of giving a Catholic
and Benedictine education to hundreds who otherwise might
not have had that blessing, as well as being the source of a
considerable number of vocations to the noviciate.
Abbot Kindersley's long term of office2 was, then, a most
fruitful one, and he himself considered at the end of his life
that one of his special consolations was the fact that whereas.
when he became Cathedral Prior in 1915 the Belmont
Community numbered only eleven monks, he lived to see
this number increased to fifty, of whom some thirty were
priests; and he regarded this great growth as a clear sign that
God's blessing had rested on the house in a very special
way. And this growth led him to hope that at last he might
be able to see one of his most cherished dreams put into
effect. This was that Belmont should somewhere and some-
1 For some account of the development of the School, see pp. 197, sqq.
2 He was re-elected Abbot for a second term of eight years in 1928.

LAYING FOUNDATIONS 183

how found an off-shoot, a daughter-house, thereby rendering
more effective her work for souls, and spreading the influence
of the House.1 So it was, then, that when in March 1930
news came that the Holy Father had expressed a wish that
the English Benedictines should make a foundation at
Nairobi, in Kenya, for the purpose of providing a school for
the English families in East Africa, and when it also became
known that the other Houses had pleaded inability to under-
take such a task, Abbot Kindersley eagerly stepped into the
breach and stated that Belmont was willing to make the
attempt. In fact he called for volunteers from the Community,
and there was considerable excitement in the House at the
prospects thus opened up. But three months later, on June 2,
he learnt to his great disappointment that the whole plan
had been cancelled by Rome. Thereupon the Abbot turned
his eyes nearer home and considered the possibility of making
a new foundation in England. In pursuance of this he pro-
posed to Downside that the mission at Beccles (which has a
remarkably fine church and an exceptionally large presbyt-
ery) might be handed over to Belmont, who would turn it
into a dependent Priory, and eventually open a school there.
Of this scheme he had great hopes, and in fact it was very
nearly attempted; for when, in September 1931, the matter
was discussed in the Downside Chapter, the Community
there were evenly divided for and against it; but the failure
to secure the necessary majority meant that the plan had to
be abandoned.

To conclude this subject, it may be added here that after
Abbot Kindersley's death, the Kenya plan was again brought
forward, for in January 1935 we were again invited by Rome
to undertake the foundation there, this time in conjunction
with Downside, and, so Abbot Leonard informed the
Community, it was this time 'practically a command from
Rome', and so could not be refused. It seems that the plan
was that Belmont should staff the new foundation, and that
Downside should finance it. But once again nothing hap-
pened, for in May of that year word came that it had been
* He would doubtless consider this to be fulfilled by the foundation at Alder-
wasley (1949).
134 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
postponed for two years, and in fact nothing more was ever
heard of it: at least by the rank and file. In subsequent
years, however, there were two other very similar projects
or invitations. One was from Canada, and the other, in
October 1947, was for the foundation of a school and
monastery in Sydney, Australia. Both of these plans were
still-born, or at all events nothing ever came of them.
But to return to Abbot Kindersley, he had derived much
consolation from the growth in the Community's numbers,
and at that time, 1934, death had not yet begun to take its
toll of it,1 so that there had been no check in the steadily
growing numbers (save that of lack of accommodation which
had caused several would-be postulants to be turned away);
and by then also the manifold activities of the Community
had become firmly established. He had, then, much to be
thankful for, as, indeed, had the whole Community. It was
at this point that the inevitable losses by death began to
occur, and the first of these was that of the Abbot himself.
For some years past Abbot Kindersley's state of health
had caused uneasiness, for it was known that he suffered from
heart attacks, and his monks had not forgotten the dramatic
occasion in 1929 when one morning, an hour before he was
due to preside at the solemn profession of four of the Com-
munity, he was found lying unconscious on the lawn. It was
said that he invariably carried with him a capsule which in
the event of a fatal attack might enable him to survive long
enough to receive the Last Sacraments. In addition he had
long been subject to high blood-pressure, and on top of all
this he received a very severe shock from the death in 1930
of his life-long friend, Abbot Edmund Ford, a loss from which
he never really recovered. By the summer of 1934 he was so
enfeebled that even he could not ignore his state, and on his
doctor's advice he left Belmont at the beginning of August
to take three months' complete rest. We never saw him again.
He went to his own monastery, Downside, but his idea of
resting was a very inadequate one, for he persisted in
following the daily routine to which he had been so long
1 Except for the death ofDom Francis Metcaife at a very early age in 1919
and that of a novice in 1930.

LAYING FOUNDATIONS 185
accustomed, not even abandoning the early rising. Eventually
the doctor insisted on him going to bed for a week at least,
but it was by then too late; for a few days later he had a
series of violent heart attacks, and on September 10 received
the Last Sacraments. An improvement followed that lasted
for nearly a month, and so marked was it that on September
29 he was thought to be out of all danger, and in fact he then
called a meeting of the Belmont Council to assemble at
Downside on October 10. But on October 7 there came yet
another heart attack, followed by a further one two days
later. In view of the fact that he was our first Abbot, and also
that he is, so far, the only one of our Abbots to die while
holding office, it seems right that a somewhat detailed
account should be given of his last days. The next news came
in a letter from his friend, Dom Roger Hudleston, written

on October 9:

'Abbot Aelred lapsed into a coma about 1 p.m. and remained so
till 4 when he revived and was able to take a few sips of brandy.
He is desperately weak now, and when he speaks, which he only
does in answer to a question, it is very hard to make out the
words Dr Bradley tells me to say that the Abbot is not likely to
live more than forty-eight hours, unless his amazing vitality
reasserts itself, when he may linger for a day or two longer. Of
any chance of recovery there is now none at all. ...
He quite realises now that this is the end, and spoke of it to me
this morning. Several times lately he has repeated to me some
words which I think are from the "Imitation"1: 0 bone Jem,
Veritas, Dews, fac nos mum Tecum in caritate perpetua , and this
morning after doing so he said to me: "Be sure and tell them at
Belmont that this is my last message to them all. I cannot say
anything which expresses better what I want to tell them. those
words have been my constant prayer for them for many years .
On October n, Prior Romuald Leonard, with Frs Anselm
Lightbound, Gerard Sweeney, and Lawrence Maxwell, went
over to Downside for a last view of the Abbot, but he was
unconscious, and though they waited several hours he did not
regain consciousness. At 9 o'clock on the following evening
we received the news that he had died an hour earlier.
Three days later his body was brought back to Belmont by
road, after a Pontifical Requiem Mass had been sung at
Downside by the Bishop of Clifton. At about 2.30 the hearse
1 It is in Bk. I, Ch. 3.


186 THE HISTORY OF BELMONT ABBEY
slowly drove into the avenue with the church bell tolling
and the flag at half-mast on the tower, while the Community
with lighted candles waited in the cloister. So the Abbot ot
Belmont came home for the last time. Preceded by a pro-
cession of boys and monks chanting the De Profundis and the
Miserere, the coffin was carried to the church, there to rest
under the tower until the morning. At the Dirge that
evening the nave was full of laity and the boys, and at the
funeral next day the church was full half an hour before the
Mass began, with rows of people having to stand. The Mass
was sung by the Abbot-President (Abbot Kelly of Douai),
and the Abbot of Ampleforth was also present, as well as
very many clergy, secular and regular. A long panegyric
was preached by the Prior, and the body was then carried
to the cemetery where it was interred outside the east
window of the church, beside the grave which then held the
remains of Archbishop Vaughan of Sydney; It was the end
of the first stage in Belmont's independent life.
Abbot Kindersley left behind the following very touching
and edifying letter, which was endorsed: For the Superior
at the time of my death':
'I beg of you to thank in my name the Community here who
have shown me such kindness and forbearance and I humbly
beg their pardon for all the bad example I may have given them
and for every injury or hurt I may have done any of them. and
i anything has been done against me by anyone I willingly and
with all my heart forgive him even as I hope God to forgive me
my many offences against Him. And will you please let the
Community at Downside know that I wish the same to be said
I do thank God for the immense graces He has given me: such
as the Catholic Faith, the religious life and the Priesthood, and
I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for every sin by which I
have offended God. To His loving care I commend my soul. And
my own dear Mother Mary I love with all my heart, and beg her
protection and love. To my patrons I recommend my soul
S. Benedict, S. Aelred, S. George S Edward, S. Bernard S. 
Theresa, S. Francis of Sales, and the "Little Flower of Jesus . I
am sorry for the slights I have shown them, and beg the love
of me again. To my patron, S. Aelred and to my father
Benedict, to dear S. Joseph and my own dear Guardian Angel I
recommend my soul, and I beg God's mercy and love and His

LAYING FOUNDATIONS 187
forgiveness of all my sins. I die a true son of the Catholic and
holy Apostolic Church, and I die in obedience to the Will of
God who created me.
My Jesus, mercy. Mary, help.
I ask that the following words be put upon the cards of my
death:
'Fac nos unwn Tecum in caritate perpetua'.
May I ask you, dear Father, to see to all the instructions given
in this envelope, and I ask permission from my superiors to give
away the things I have named. Pray for me.

(Signed): Dom Aelred Kindersley, O.S.B.'
Belmont, 29 October, 1915.

3 April, 1922. January 30, 1933.

This letter was read to the whole Community in the Cale-
factory by the Prior, and it clearly made a deep impression
on all. Our first Abbot had made his farewell.