St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde

St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde is an abbey of Benedictine nuns in the Isle of Wight, England.

Under the Patronage of the Sacred Heart

Founded in 1882 and dedicated to the Peace of the Heart of Jesus, St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight, belongs to the Benedictine Order, and in particular to the Solesmes Congregation of Dom Prosper Guéranger. The nuns live a traditional monastic life of prayer, work and study in accordance with the ancient Rule of St Benedict.

As one of the institutes devoted 'entirely to divine worship in the contemplative life' (Vatican II, Perfectae Caritatis, 9) and following the tradition of Solesmes, St Cecilia's Abbey lays principal emphasis on the solemn celebration of the liturgy, with Mass and the Divine Office sung daily in Gregorian chant. The Second Vatican Council recognised the contemplative life as belonging 'to the fulness of the Church's presence' (Ad Gentes 18) and noted that such communities 'will always have a distinguished part to play in Christ's Mystical Body' (Perfectae Caritatis, 7). As Lumen Gentium (4) expressed it, 'For even though in some instances religious do not directly mingle with their contemporaries, yet in a more profound sense these same religious are united with them in the heart of Christ and co-operate with them spiritually.'

The Community's history has two sources:

Florence de Werquignoeul

With other great abbesses of that period, she helped to revive the order which was suffering from destruction without and from compromise within.

In 1604 Florence and four companions left the Cistercian house at Flînes for the purpose of observing the Rule in its entirety. She established the monastery of Paix Notre Dame at Douai in 1604. Foundations followed, and in 1627 another Paix Notre Dame grew up at Liège. In 1882 this house made a foundation at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, dedicated to the Peace of the Sacred Heart, Pax Cordis Jesu. This is the origin of the present Community. At the request of the Bishop, it opened a small school for girls which flourished for some years but was given up in 1922 when the expanding community moved to the site at Appley Ryde, vacated by the return to France of the exiled nuns of the Abbey of Ste-Cécile de Solesmes.

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