The news comes following the story which broke earlier this year, revealing that the Sisters were looking to acquire a monastery in Europe after experiencing difficulties attaining a visa for a Dutch postulant.
After having set up temporary residence for some of their European Sisters in a makeshift religious house in the family home of a Sister who hailed from England, it was discovered that the historic St Mary’s Abbey nearby at Colwich – which has noted connexions to St Thomas More – was for sale.
In the subsequent months, the Sisters made a spiritual and financial appeal to supporters, as well as seeking the intercession of St Thomas More as a patron, for help in acquiring it.
The Catholic Herald can now confirm that with the help of the religious Sisters at Stanbrook Abbey, which was itself founded by Helen More OSB, a relative of St Thomas, the Benedictines of Mary have now completed the move and legal purchase – though the financial hurdle involved is not entirely overcome.
“We are counting on your help to pay the money that is due for St Anne’s monastery, the final $3.5 million to pay for Saint Joseph’s Priory in Ava, and now Colwich as well,” announced Mother Cecilia Snell OSB.
“We now also owe £2.5 million to Stanbrook Abbey for the purchase, to be paid over two years…
“I dream of the day when I do not have to ask for financial support, but this is perhaps the humiliation the Lord has tied to the tremendously good news of expansion and rapid growth of the community. There are no less than 15 new members arriving to our three American houses in the coming months, and quite a few discerning in England.”
The Benedictines of Mary are a traditionalist women’s religious order who were founded by the late Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster OSB – who received international media attention in 2023 after her corpse was exhumed and found to be miraculously incorrupt.
The Sisters wear a traditional habit and follow the liturgy of the hours in Latin, according to the 1962 rubrics. They also attend the Tridentine (Latin) Mass.
The order has rapidly enlarged and acquired popularity since its foundation. Having outgrown their mother monastery in Gower, Missouri, they expanded to another, at Ava, in the same state.
Now, the order is completing moves into two further religious houses: one, which will be named after St Anne, at Evansville in Indiana; the other is Colwich Abbey, in the West Midlands of England.
Amid declining vocations across the Church, particularly with regards to religious life, the Benedictines of Mary have been noted for their unusual popularity and success. Mother Cecilia has reminded supporters that both spiritual and financial aid helps maintain their rapid and optimal rate of growth and flourishing.
“As God sends the vocations, we believe He will take care of us, as He always has!,” Mother Cecilia says, while noting: “Mother Angelica once said, trust is ‘one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach’.”