The weekend of 14th and 15th May witnessed a historic return of Benedictine monks to the site of the Abbey of St Edmund, Bury St Edmunds, whose millennium is being celebrated by the town in 2022. Monks of the English Benedictine Congregation from Douai Abbey and Ampleforth Abbey were joined by the Bishop of East Anglia, Alan Hopes, as well as Anglican Benedictine monks and nuns and the Anglican clergy of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, which hosted the ecumenical celebration of monastic life.
While the shrine of St Edmund was established as a pilgrimage destination in the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds from the end of the 9th century, it was not until the reign of King Canute that the secular priests who cared for the shrine were replaced by Benedictine monks and St Edmunds became an abbey – an event that, according to tradition, occurred in the year 1020 when a new community was formed by monks from Ely and St Benet’s Abbey, Holme. Accordingly, celebrations were planned for 2020, but delayed until this year owing to the pandemic.
