Buckfast Abbey

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 18, 30 April 1903, Page 27

Buckfast Abbey

On Shrove Tuesday took place the Solemn Benediction of the new Abbot of Buckfast Abbey, in South Devon. There was a goodly gathering, clerical and lay, on the occasion, in the temporary abbey church, on the wall of which abuts the fine old fifteenth century tower, the only surviving fragment of the old monastic building of Buckfast. The Abbot-elect, the Right Rev. Father Boniface Natter, received the Abbatical Benediction ati the hands of the Lord Bishop of Plymouth, who celebrated the Pontifical High Mass ; and the assistant abbots were the Abbot of Erdington, near, Birmingham, the Abbot of Dourgne, in the vicinity of Toulouse. The Abbot of Ramsgate was also presents- and a seat of honor in the choir was assigned to Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, as the principal benefactor of the revived foundation. Fort Augustus Abbey was represented by Dom Oswald Hunter-Blair, and there was a numerous muster of the clergy of the diocese of Plymouth, both" secular and regular. The offertory Included a cheque for a thousand pounds. An eloquent discourse was preached after the Gospel by the Right Rev. Mgr. Croke-Robin-son, Domestic Prelate of the Pope ; and it should be added that just as the invited guests were sitting down to luncheon, after the ceremony, a telegram arrived from Rome, conveying the congratulations of the Holy Father to the new Abbot and community of Buckfast, and his patexnal blessing to them and to all their benefactors*