BUCKFAST ABBEY - true heroism

Until I began this blog to say Buckfast Abbey to me conjured up only thoughts of monks making wine and a famous Brother Adam who was a world renowned expert on bees. But now I realise there is something heroic about this monastery. There are the foundatrions of many monasteries that have been brought down still standing but only Buckfast can claim to have been restored on its very foundations in modern times. At the beginning of the 11th centurey the Benedictines were in the original monastry having cleared swamps and trees and made farming land and pastures for their livestock. It passed over to the Cistercians until Henry VIII knocked it down. In 1882 Benedictines came from France and bought the land where the Monastery had been and decided to rebuild it on its very foundatons. One snag was that they did not know where the foundations were until a monk digging in a garden found them. The great work then began and it was no mean feat. Monks had to climb 150ft on scaffolding at times bringing stones or equipment and the winds blew around them - there was no safety railings. One monk did fall but thankfully was not too badly injured. Just think then this was towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. How did they manage in the early centuries? The mind boggles. Often when they were out of stone they would pray to Our Lady and always their prayers were answered. The whole enterprise they put into Our Lady`s hands. They found the base where the statue of Our Lady had been and bult onto that a modern statue of the Virgin. What a story! Buckfast in Devon is a wonderful place to visit and perhaps you will be forgiven if you buy a bottle of the famous wine and drink a toast - to Our Lady. And do not forget the honey. Our Lady of Buckfast, pray for us.