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According to an ancient tradition recorded by Saint Bede the Venerable, the Catholic Faith was brought to South Wales during the reign of King Lucius, by the missionaries Saint Fagan and Saint Darnian, who had been sent by Pope Eleutherius (175-189 AD). Although dismissed by some as mere legend, supporting evidence has been unearthed in recent years by archeologists: namely, the Caerwent Paten bearing the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ.
The first Martyrs for The Faith in Wales are recorded as being Saint Julius and Saint Aaron, who were executed at Caerleon, the Roman garrison. Perhaps even at this early stage, the Faith was first brought to Gobanium (the Roman settlement at Abergavenny), the outpost built at the confluence of the Usk and the Fenni.
Abergavenny, like Rome, possesses seven hills viz: The Sugar Loaf, Deri, Rholben, Llanwenarth Breast, Blorenge, Great Skirrid (‘The Holy Mountain’ or ‘St. Michael's Mount’) and the Little Skirrid.
During the Celtic period, Saint David, the Patron of Wales, is known to have been in the area, but it is Saint Teilo whose name is especially remembered. When, in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD, the new overlords sought to establish themselves, they brought Benedictine monks from the monastery of Le Mans to found St. Mary's Priory. This was never a large monastic settlement; it probably never exceeded ten monks in total. At the Protestant Reformation, the monasteries were ‘dissolved’, (ie: abolished) their lands and properties were conferred upon henchmen of King Henry VIII. The Abergavenny Priory survived a little longer than most, not closing until 1542, when it was made the Parish Church of the town, whilst the former Parish Church, St.John's, was turned into a school.
Except for the short reprieve of the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, for the remainder of the 16th century, and into the early 17th century, the Catholics of Abergavenny worshipped in a barn located in Monk Street. Thereafter, in the attic Chapel of the Gunter Mansion in Cross Street. The Altar-reredos fresco of the Adoration of the Magi, discovered in 1907, is preserved in the Abergavenny Museum.
Holy Mass was celebrated for the Catholics of Abergavenny throughout the dark days of cruel persecution. The spiritual administration of the district came into the care of the Jesuit Fathers, who had established a seminary and college at The Cwm near Welsh Newton. Saint David I,ewis S.J. (also known as {Fr. Charles Baker') was pastor for thirty-one years. He had been born in Abergavenny. He was assisted for a time by Saint Philip Evans S.J. ({Captain Evans'). Both were Martyred in 1679, following the false allegations of the liar Titus Oates: David Lewis at Usk, and Philip Evans at Cardiff.
Several other Martyrs for the Faith are known to have passed this way, and most likely celebrated Holy Mass when possible, namely, Saint John Lloyd (pastor of the Llanarth area), Saint: John Kemble, Blessed Philip Powell OSB, and Blessed Edward Powell. The Venerable Augustine Baker OSB was born In Abergavenny, and was converted to The True Faith in 1600. It was to a great extent by his advice and exertions that the Congregation of English Benedictines or Black Monks, after being driven from their monasteries and almost completely suppressed under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, were able to avoid total extinction, and reform in exile with Papal approval, founding monasteries for exiles in such as Paris, Rheims, Dieulouard, Doua, St. Malo, Valladolid, Compostella, and Lamspring. The Pope commissioned these monks in exile "to work hand in hand with the secular clergy for the conversion of England, as new Augustines" , and so a stream of Benedictines were to take part in the secret provision of Mass and the Sacraments for their persecuted brethren in England and Wales, for which many of them lost their lives. Augustine Baker was a great mystic, and the author of {Santa Sophia'. He was also chaplain to the Benedictine nuns of Cambrai.
In 1687, eight years after the martyrdom of St. David Lewis S.J., the Franciscan friars took over the pastoral care of Abergavenny and district . Since that time there has been a resident pastor in Abergavenny; a brass plaque near the Pulpit records their names. In 1690 they built a Chapel behind their house at the top of Frogmore Street, near Lewis' Lane. The accession of a Catholic King, James II, was encouraging to Catholics throughout the realm, and particularly in Abergavenny, where the Council and many townspeople adhered to {the Old Faith'. Hope was short-lived. William III failed to abide by his words of tolerance and respect in the Treaty of Limerick. Catholics were henceforth barred from commissions in the army, could not teach, could not be lawyers.... in fact, they were reduced to servitude. Many of the Catholic nobility and gentry who had enabled The Faith to survive, were reduced to penury or paid forfeit.
And yet, in Abergavenny they kept the Faith! By 1740, possibly the lowest ebb for the Faith in post-Reformation Wales, half of the Catholics in the. country were located in the Abergavenny district... and the Franciscans found it necessary to build a new Church... and then to add a gallery, in order to cope with the Faithful attending Mass.
The Franciscans had produced catechetical material for teaching the Faith in Welsh, the language spoken in Abergavenny. Most of the Priests who ministered here were fluent in the {hen iaith' (Old Language); some of them originated from Abergavenny district ( Fr. Gregory Watkins served six stints as Parish Priest between 1776 and 1809).
In 1857 the Franciscans handed over pastoral care to the Benedictine Monks. They sold the old property and bought a site at. Pen-y-pound, where the foundation stone of the present Priory Church of Our Ladye and Saint Michael, was laid on 19th May 1858. The statue of St. Joseph commemorates Fr. Charles Wilfred Price OSB who was Parish Priest at that time. Simon and Lydia Andrus were the benefactors whose generosity made the new Church possible. The Benedictine Bishop of Newport, Thomas Joseph Brown, opened the Church on 15 May 1860, in the presence of a congregation of Catholics and their non-Catholic guests.
The Church and Presbytery were erected to the design of Joseph Bucknall, who had undertaken work for Pugin, and had obviously picked up sound concepts of scale and elegance. Thanks to Bucknall's skills, the Church also has a very fine acoustic, which makes it the favoured venue for orchestras and choirs and organists of the locality. The High Altar reredos, depicting the Choirs of Angels adoring the Blessed Sacrament, was installed twenty five years after construction of the Church began, in 1883 and was provided by John Baker-Gabb in memory of his father. This Altar was dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. The pinnacles of the Altar are surmounted by figures of the seven Archangels listed in The Talmud.
Baker-Gabb also erected the chantry Chapel of the Sacred Heart in the south aisle, where the stained-glass window refers to two of his forbears: St. David Lewis and Venerable Augustine Baker, and the patrons of their Religious Orders: St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Benedict. The oil painting and small statue depict St. David Lewis. The marble rondo, carved in Rome, portrays John Baker-Gabb wearing the uniform of a Papal Chamberlain, in which capacity he served Pope Leo XIII for many years. The wooden paneling, contemporary with St. David Lewis, came from Coldbrook House, now demolished,
The splendid stained-glass east window depicts from left to right: St. Thomas a Becket, St. Benedict, Our Blessed Lady holding the Christ-Child, St. Joseph, St. Scholastica, and St. Margaret of Scotland. The window above the Lady Altar again depicts Our Lady and St. Joseph. Beside this Altar, the window shows St. Martin of Tours and St. Helen. Next to the Confessional in the south aisle, the window portrays St. Winifred and St. James. Two oil paintings in the Sanctuary are from the previous churches: the Blessed Trinity surrounded by the instruments of the Passion, and the Descent from the Cross. Then, above the Sacristy door, St. Michael the Archangel.
The Parish owns a fourteenth century {Pax', a representation of the Crucifixion used for exchanging the Sign of Peace during the ancient liturgy. This is now on, permanent exhibition at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. A medieval Holy Water stoup is located near the Confessional.
Among the medieval ecclesiastical treasures of Wales are the vestments preserved at Our Lady and Saint Michael's. These include: a red velvet chasuble dating from the reign of King Henry VII. The craftsmanship is of such a high standard, it is suggested that this could only have been made by the ladies of the Royal Court, and was possibly donated by Queen Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII who visited the area at the end of the 15th century. Other vestments are attributed to the Court of Queen Katherine of Aragon . One chasuble was made for Abbot Robert Wharton, the last Benedictine Abbot of Bermondsey, in 1521. Queen Mary Tudor appointed him Bishop of Hereford . In 2003, the restored orphrey of a cope dating from the reign of Henry VII, depicting his symbol of united rose and lily (claiming the thrones of both England and France), has been remounted on Comper-Bellini silk. These vestments are still worn for important feasts/occasions and are exhibited from time to time, along with a collection of Chalice Veils from the Stuart period.
Devotion to St. Michael the Archangel has been a feature of Catholic life in Abergavenny for many hundreds of years. A Chapel dedicated to him once crowned the eastern summit of The Great Skirrid; indeed, at the time of St. David Lewis, who led hundreds of Catholics there for the annual Michaelmas pilgrimage, the Altar was still intact amidst the ruins. Alas, only a couple of stones now remain, but the Pilgrimage still takes place on the Saturday nearest Michaelmas each year. We preserve a rescript of Pope Clement X which reads:-
"Pope Clement X grants a Pienary Indulgence to those who devoutly visit the Chapel of St. Michael on. the Skirrid Fawr on 29'" September -Michaelmas Day. Anyone making this Pilgrimage and wishing to gain the Indulgence is required, first, to go to Confession and Holy Communion; then, on the Holy Mountain itself, to pray for peace among Christian Princes, for the rooting out of heresies, and for the exaltation of Holy Mother Church. Given at St. Mary Major{s, Rome, under the Seal of the Fisherman, on 20th July 1676, and valid for seven years "
The Parish is now in the care of the Benedictine Monks of Belmont Abbey, just twenty-three miles away, near Hereford. The monastery of St. Michael and All Angels at Belmont was begun in 1854, as a co-foundation of the Benedictine monasteries of Downside, Douai and Ampleforth, as a {common novitiate' to train their young monks. It was a marvel of the post-Reformation world: here the monks wore the habit daily, sang the liturgy to Gregorian Chant, and followed an observance not possible previously in the time of persecution. Seeing the Choir full of young monks, animated by the loftiest aspirations, the famous Abbot Gueranger, founder of Solesmes, described Belmont as an idea! and {the most observant monastery in Europe'.
Until the foundation of the Cardiff Archdiocese. Belmont served as the Cathedral for the Diocese of Newport & Menevia. The professed monks were the Canons of the Chapter, making Belmont the only monastic Cathedral in the post-Reformation world. In Catholic days, the monastic cathedrals were a special feature of ecclesiastical life in the UK: Canterbury, Durham, Norwich, Bath, Gloucester, Rochester, Winchester, Ely, Peterborough, were Benedictine cathedrals.
In 1903 following the anti-Catholic laws passed in France, Breton nuns belonging to the {Daughters of the Holy Spirit' took refuge in Wales. Coming to Abergavnny in 1906, the Sisters ran a thriving Convent-School far many years, taught in the Parish School, and still (Deo Gratias) minister in the Parish in various capacities.
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