Abbey church with February snow

As we have noted to our Portsmouth Oblates, especially during our Days of Recollection, the word “oblate” is derived from the Late Latin word, oblatio, always bearing the religious connotation suggesting a special offering to God. In fact, an early form of the word is offerre, meaning “to offer.” Chapter 59 of the Rule of St. Benedict, in the translation commonly known as RB80, is titled “The Offerings of Sons by Nobles or by the Poor.” Farm families throughout Europe and elsewhere in the Middle Ages tended to be large and it is easy to imagine that, with a monastery perhaps not far from the homestead, parents would send their eldest son to live with the monks. This symbiotic relationship allowed for the lad to be educated, taught a trade (think husbandry) or a skill (think calligraphy), and to be fed, clothed and cared for in ways spiritual and moral. As he grew and matured, the young man might then have the choice of returning home, having mastered many things of utility to his family. Others might make the decision to stay in the monastery and profess solemn vows. It is not unusual to hear of such a young monk eventually being elected as abbot of the community.

The Portsmouth Oblates and Friends are also cordially invited to attend the annual Providence Catholicism and Culture Symposium presented by the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture on Thursday, March 6, at the University Club at 5:30 p.m. Executive Director Dr. Darryl De Marzio has assembled a stellar panel of speakers who will address the topic of Pilgrims of Hope. Co-hosting this event with the Institute is the Humanities Program at Providence College. The panel will include Francis X. Maier, author and senior fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; Fr. Ryan Connors, Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence; and Peter Nguyen, Executive Director of the St. Thomas More Teaching Fellowship. More information may be found on the Institute’s website, along with instructions on how to register.

Fr. John George of Downside with Anthony Dore of the Manquehue Movement

As the Manquehue group spent their final week with us before flying home to Chile, their last days happily overlapped with an official visit from two English monks. Fr. Ambrose McCambridge of Ealing Abbey in London and Fr. John George of the Community of St. Gregory the Great at Downside Abbey arrived on business for the English Benedictine Congregation (EBC), working to prepare the congregation’s next General Chapter, scheduled for the summer of 2026. To be convened at Kylemore Abbey in the scenic Connemara region of County Galway, it will mark the first time that the quadrennial chapter will be hosted by this community of Irish sisters, aggregated into the EBC in 2022 at the last General Chapter, held at Buckfast Abbey. Two other women’s houses, Jamberoo in Australia and Mariavall in Sweden, were also united with the men’s houses, bringing the total number in the congregation to fourteen. Fr. Ambrose and Fr. John are part of the larger Preparatory Commission sent out “to travel around for advice” from the monks and sisters around the world in order to assist Abbot President Christopher Jamison and his council in setting the final agenda for the 2026 General Chapter. At a meeting held with Portsmouth monks on February 20, they offered two “prompting questions”: What do we need to know that only you can tell us?; and: What are your needs from the Congregation that only you can tell us? The evening also provided opportunity for a special farewell dinner, prepared by Gaetano Russo of the Stillman Dining Hall staff. We happily extended further Benedictine hospitality to both the English as well as the Chilean contingent. With the Manquehue Apostolic Movement officially connected with the EBC, it was not lost on anyone that breaking bread in the Linenfold Room together that night were representatives of the EBC from three continents.