EALING ABBEY

IS GROWING. • • WWORK has begun on restoring and extending the abbey church of St. Benedict at Ealing, the only Benedictine Abbey in London. A large part of the original church, begun in 1899, was destroyed by bombing in October. 1940, leaving the truncated nave which now serves
the needs of both the abbey and the parish of some 4,000 people
attached to it.
To., begin with, it is planned to complete the nave and to build twin transepts flanking the sanctuary. Beyond this the choir will later be built, and the whole church will be rounded off with the Lady chapel at the " east" end in traditional English style. Above the sanctuary there is to be a massive tower and belfry to link the two parts of the church into a balanced whole.
Then there is the problem of extending the actual monastery buildings. At present. the novitiate and juniorate have to be housed in Victorian villas along the north side of the plot of land occupied by the abbey. One day. it is hoped, these will he replaced or supplemented by buildings more suitable for their purpose and more in keeping with the Benedictine tradition.
The estimated cost of rebuilding and extending the church, and of developing and replacing the abbey buildings, is about f.250.000. and the monks are appealing for contributions to help make Ealing Abbey worthy of its position as the only Benedictine abbey now in London.
The English Congregation. to which the monks of Ealing Abbey belong, is directly linked with pre Reformation monasticism in this country. Dorn Sigebert Buckley, the last monk of Westminster Abbey, which was restored as a Benedictine house under Mary Tudor after Henry VIll's suppression of the monasteries. invested several with the English habit in 1607.
These exiles founded monasteries in France, at Douai, at Paris, and in Lorraine, and from here English monks crossed the channel to help in the reconversion of their country during the 17th and 18th centuries. The FrenchRevao: lotion drove two of these found tions out of the country, and they resettled in England ultimately at Downside arid Ampleforth. Ealing Abbey was founded from Downside, starting as a Benedictine parish in 1895 when Cardinal Vaughan asked Downside for a foundation in London. Prior Ford purchased an old Georgian house in Ealing. formerly the residence of Mrs. Fitzherbert. the wife of King George IV; one of the rooms had been used as a chapel. The parish grew into a priory,
and became an abbey only three years ago, in May, 1955,