IN their temporary chapel be
side the ruins of the 700year-old Church of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin, the Carmelite friars. of Aylesford, Kent, will make an all-night vigil on Tuesday, the eve of the Feast of All Saints, to mark the first anniversary of their return to the priory where St. Simon Stock was elected Prior General of the West and is believed to have received the brown scapular from Our Lady.
The Prior, Fr. Malachy Lynch. invites as many Carmelite tertiaries as possible to join in the vigil with the friars.
The vigil will end with Mass at dawn.
In the light of the coming declaration of the dogma of Our Lady's Assumption, great significance is seen in the fact that after their long exile, the Carmelite friars were not only able to return to Aylesford but to find something still remaining there of what may well be one of the first —if not the very first—church in this country dedicated to the Assumption. It was dedicated in 1247.
Novices
Moreover, everything is going in favour a complete home-coming. Not only are the friars preparing to rebuild the ancient church next year. hut they are also recruiting a considerable number of young men whose coming will enable them to refound the English province of the order ; and next year the friars will receive the relics of St. Simon Stock from Bordeaux. where they have been preserved for hundreds of years.