INTRODUCTION THIS SKETCH of the history of St Michael's, Belmont, has been written, at the direction of Father Abbot, to mark the Centenary of the foundation of the Monastery. Such an anniversary is a happy occasion in the life of any religious house, and a pledge that the blessing of God has rested on its works, and on the daily life led within its walls. As we look back over the years and note the many difficulties, and indeed crises, which have had to be overcome in the course of a century, we cannot fail to see how the Divine protection has preserved the House. We are not unmindful that this is St Michael's Abbey, and that therefore the great Archangel has been our advocate before the throne of God, who appointed him our special patron. 'JVbn accedet ad te malum. . . Qyoniam Angelis suis mandavit de te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.' With the prayers of a hundred years rising from generations of monks these walls have now been hallowed, and we have every confidence that in the mercy and the providence of God they will continue to resound, through the new century now opening before us, with the praises of God, and will shelter yet unborn generations of monks and of boys. St Michael's has had an unusual history, in that its functions now differ so radically from those it originally fulfilled, so that its story falls naturally into two divisions, roughly equal in length: the fifty years during which it was the Common Noviciate for the whole English Benedictine Congregation and a House of Studies for the Juniors of the Congregation, and then the roughly fifty years of its existence as a normal independent monastery. It is a story of quiet, steady growth and development, with, in the nature of things, little that is exciting or sensational to be recorded. vii In any religious house the years glide by with little to mark their passage, and that is as it should be. ' Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis.' It has been wisely remarked: 'Happy the House without a history'. The very absence of the unusual or the dramatic is the measure of its well-being.  In compiling these pages the author has drawn chiefly on the archives of the monastery, but he also wishes to acknow- ledge the work of two predecessors in this field, the late Dr E. Newlyn Smith, and the late Dom Gregory Buisseret. The former compiled a brief outline of the history of the house, making use of the archives and of Abbot Kindersley's Diaries, and the latter added certain reminiscences of his own as well as certain details not given by Dr Newlyn Smith, particularly as regards the material growth of the House. Father Gregory was a great lover of Belmont, and he delighted to gather and preserve whatever items regarding its history he could come by. In offering these pages to his religious brethren, and to the friends of Belmont outside the monastery, the present writer humbly hopes that he has given offence to none, and that his readers will bear with his manifest and manifold deficiencies. March 21, 1956. C.B.W.