Hyning Monastery Christmas Newsletter 2007

Last year we wrote of our move from Slough and our beginning to settle at Hyning and Brownshill. This process of building up our new communities has continued throughout 2007 and we have adapted well to all the changes, both of personnel and of jobs, within the community. We continue to have close contact with our schools at Slough and during the year several sisters have been back for various meetings and notably for the past students’ reunion in April which five sisters attended. We are grateful to the Daughters of St. Paul who are unfailing in their kindness and give us accommodation when we are in Slough. We have also been glad to welcome several school groups from St. Bernard’s here, as well as having many individual visits from both staff and ex-pupils. They are always very welcome. We also keep the contact with the school at Westcliff and Sr. Mary Joseph attended the past students’ reunion there in September.

Uppermost in our minds as we consider the happenings of this year is the death of our Sr. Elizabeth. She came to Hyning with the sisters from Slough but had never really been well following major surgery last year. She was determined to be present at Sr. Mary Anthony’s Golden Jubilee Mass on 15th September but it was a big effort for her. The following week she went into hospital where she stayed for three weeks, but returned to us when it became clear that, medically, nothing more could be done for her. For the last month of her life she was bedridden, but our local doctors and nurses were very helpful and with their support and that of wonderful carers we were able to look after her at home. Our Prioress General and Sr. Odile from France were here for a week in early November and Sr. Elizabeth recognised and spoke with them. Sr. Odile is a doctor and her medical knowledge was invaluable to us during her stay. Sr. Elizabeth died very peacefully in the evening of 19th November and her funeral took place on 27th. She had no immediate family being the last survivor of seven siblings, but had a goddaughter, Maureen to whom she was very close. Fortunately Maureen and her husband Peter were here in June and had a good visit with Sr. Elizabeth.

2007 has been a sad year for several of the community who have lost family members. On January 8th Sr. Mary Colette’s father, Joe, who had been staying here for Christmas, died in Lancaster Infirmary. Despite his many illnesses over the years his death was unexpected and a shock for his family. The same was true for Sr. Mary Joseph’s sister, Marie who died on October 20th. She had been in hospital but was looking forward to going home and to a cruise holiday before Christmas, but died after a massive heart attack. In May Sr. Mary Stella went to Perpignan to visit her sister, Jenny, who had cancer. Jenny too died on 28th June. Sr. Mary Stella returned to France for Jenny’s funeral and was a great support to her niece and nephews there. On July 21st it was Sr. Mary Johanna’s stepmother, Ethel, who died after a long struggle with cancer. We confide all these to your prayer as also our families who mourn them.

Of course our families have had their joys too with weddings and new babies. We wish Denise (Sr. Michaela’s sister) and Charlie and Esther (Sr. Mary John’s niece) and Nick long and happy lives together. We also welcomed great nieces and nephews: Jenny to Christopher and Julie-Ann (S.M. Bernard’s nephew); Jake to Stephanie and Paul (S. Michaela’s niece); Leo to Louise and Rob (S.M. John’s niece) and finally Honor to Clarissa and Richard and Xanthe to Claudia and Dan. Clarissa and Claudia are Sr. Mary Anthony’s nieces and their children were born two days apart.

July, August and September were particularly eventful months for us. Our annual retreat was due to take place at Brownshill and Sr. Mary and Sr. Mary Joseph duly left us on 23rd July, a few days early in order to see their families living in the south prior to the retreat. This was just at the time of the terrible floods which affected Gloucestershire so badly. Sr. M. Cecilia was ready to leave on 25th when the message came from Brownshill “No water”. By the 27th when most of the rest of the community were due to leave it had become clear that Brownshill was not going to have its water restored very quickly and the decision was taken to re-locate the retreat to Hyning. Fortunately Dom Timothy Wright OSB who was to preach it kindly accepted this change of venue. And so on July 28th our two sisters returned together with Sr. Frances, Sr. Maria and Sr. Ernestine. Normally a cup of tea is welcome on arrival, but on this occasion the visitors elected to have a shower first instead! We realised how wise this decision for relocation was when the lack of water at Brownshill continued for more than a week - even if the four sisters who were expecting to hold the fort at Hyning for ten days during the absence of the others, were secretly a little disappointed as they had been looking forward to the change of routine!

Having the retreat at Hyning had a knock-on effect and caused complications for travel afterwards as many sisters were expecting to go straight from Brownshill to our generalate house in France. Apex tickets booked well in advance were now rendered useless and sisters were booked on Eurostar trains leaving in the morning, easily possible when travelling to London from Brownshill but not from Hyning. Nevertheless all arrived safely and enjoyed the meetings, remote preparation for our General Chapter, with sisters from all our Bernardines houses represented. On one day all the sisters who wished to go were invited to our monastery of Péruwelz in Belgium. We have recently taken the difficult decision to close this monastery in three years time and thus enable us to strengthen our two houses in France.

On the way home from France several sisters took the opportunity to visit the exhibition ‘Sacred’ at the British Library and found it inspiring. August 15th feast of the Assumption is the patronal feast of all Cistercians, and traditionally the day when any jubilarian sisters meet at the Generalate house. Sr. Mary Anthony and Sr. Mary Lucy were among those celebrating Golden Jubilees as was Sr. Christine Marie, their ‘sister of profession’. We were pleased to welcome Sr. Christine Marie to both our English houses at the end of August. She has recently spent four years at our house in Bafor, Burkina Faso and has now joined the community in Mikkabi, Japan.