Each year on 17th December the Pluscarden community has a special and traditional celebration of "O Sapientia". By the light of candles, and warmed by a log fire, the community sings the Vespers Antiphon addressed to Christ as Divine Wisdom; also the Carol "Shepherds in the fields abiding". As well as other prayers, there is free conversation among the brethren, and a mazer of warm punch is passed around, warm mince pies are consumed, and hot coffee drunk. It's a most pleasant and monastic start to the final run-down to Christmas.
2016 Photo Calendar
You can now download our 2016 photo calendar.
Dom Cyprian Silver Jubilee
Visit from Dr. Sebastian Brock
The Re-Dedication of the Pluscarden Abbey Church
Re-dedication ceremony to take place
The Re-Dedication Mass will take place at Pluscarden Abbey on Thursday 5th November at 11.00, followed by lunch.
A consecration cross at Pluscarden Abbey
Pluscarden Abbey was founded in 1230, and presumably dedicated within a few years of that. The original Dedication Crosses may still be seen on the walls in the Transepts. Very considerable destruction occurred in 1390, at the hands of the Wolf of Badenoch, followed by extensive re-building and repair in the mid to late 15th century. Surely that would have been followed by a second Dedication. Evidence of this is the presence of four Dedication Crosses in the Chancel, situated in areas of later stone repair. After the Reformation of 1560, monastic life at Pluscarden ended, and the Monastery buildings gradually fell into ruin. In 1948, however, a band of monks from Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire came up to resume monastic observance at Pluscarden, and to begin the long, slow process of restoring the buildings. This work is still not complete. In all the years from 1948 to the present, no re-Dedication of the Church, after its centuries of ruin, has taken place.
The re-Dedication on 5th November will therefore be a very significant event, rich in symbolism and ritual, including the re-anointing of the original dedication crosses, and the solemn dedication of the Altar, with water and oil, and fire and incense. The liturgy will end with the placing of the Blessed Sacrament in the new Tabernacle, to be situated for the first time in the centre of the sanctuary, so that everyone in Church can clearly see it.
All are warmly invited to the Mass of Dedication, which is likely to last around 3 hours. It will be followed by lunch, probably beginning somewhat after 2.00 p.m. For those who wish and are able to stay, the afternoon will end with Vespers, Exposition, Te Deum and Benediction at 6.00 p.m.
Please note that anyone wishing to stay for the lunch needs to indicate this via: pluscarden.blessing@gmail.com or by post to Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin IV30 8UA, or by phone 01343 890 257.
Solemn Profession of Br. Joseph Carron
On 25th March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Br. Joseph Carron made his Solemn Profession. During the course of the Conventual Mass, in the presence of the monastic community and many friends and family members who had made the journey, he pronounced his solemn vows of Obedience, Stability and Conversion of Life. He is pictured above, receiving the sign of peace from Abbot Anselm at the conclusion of the profession ceremony.
Br. Joseph comes from Birmingham and has been with us since 2008. During his period of monastic formation, Br. Joseph has worked in the kitchen and the garden, as well as completing the usual course of studies. He has also proved to be a very able Master of Ceremonies.
Pentecost Lectures 2015
“CLOTHED IN MERCY”: MONASTIC PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN MATURING
The 2015 Pluscarden Pentecost Lectures
to be presented by Fr Erik Varden O.C.S.O.
26th – 28th May 2015 at Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin
Each year the Abbot and Community of Pluscarden Abbey sponsor a series of four lectures by an invited Theologian on an aspect of Catholic Theology. Previous Lecturers have included Fr Vincent Twomey S.V.D., Professor Lewis Ayres, Professor John Haldane, Fr Aidan Nichols OP, Fr Thomas Weinandy OFM Cap, Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, Fr Paul McPartlan and Fr Tom Herbst OFM. The Lectures are held on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after Pentecost in St Scholastica’s Retreat House at the Abbey. They are open to all who wish to attend and are free. Limited accommodation is available at the Abbey and those who wish to stay should book as soon as possible. There are also many places to stay in the Elgin area: contact the local tourist office: 01343 542666.
Lecture Schedule
1. Tuesday 26 May at 3.00 pm
2. Wednesday 27 May at 10.30 am
3. Wednesday 27 May at 3.00 pm
4. Thursday 28 May at 10.30 am
The Lecturer
Erik Varden OCSOFr Erik Varden O.C.S.O. is currently superior of Mount St Bernard Abbey. He was born in Norway and gained his Master’s and a theological doctorate at Cambridge University. Also a musician, he studied Gregorian Chant under Dr Mary Berry and later co-founded the Chant Forum. Following monastic profession he went to Rome to study for a second doctorate in Syriac studies. He will deliver four lectures which examine the following:
The Theme
Where do we come from? Where are we going? The Western world no longer has a shared narrative to account for the origin and finality of life. As a result, our world is awash with conflictual accounts of the nature and development of human flourishing. These lectures will argue that today’s Church must respond to this quandary. They will suggest that, in so doing, we can be helped by insights from Christian Antiquity. Drawing on sources from the fourth and fifth centuries, predominantly from the Christian Orient, they will propose elements for a Christian anthropology. It will emerge that many contemporary challenges bear an uncanny resemblance to issues faced with ingenuity and depth in the time of the Christian Midrashic tradition and of the first generations of monks. The perspective of the lectures will be “monastic” in a twofold sense. Many of the texts used will come from the monastic patrimony. More essentially, we will attempt a monastic reading of these texts, that is, areading which, while remaining responsibly attentive to questions of context and semiotics, strives always to go further, to reach the living core of the sources considered, in search of wisdom to live by now.
Fr Erik will be drawing on the following quotation from St Athanasius:
“You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains. The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is redrawn on the same material. In this way also, the all-holy Son of the Father, being an Image of the Father, came near to our place, that he might renew the human being made in accord with himself. Therefore also he said to the Jews: ‘Unless one is born anew.’ He did not mean birth from one’s mother, as they suspected, but the re-birth and re-creation of the soul, showing forth that which is according to the image.”
Athanasius the Great, On the Incarnation of the Word
For further information or to book accommodation, please contact us.