A d o r a t r i c e s d u S a c r é C œ u r d e J é s u s d e M o n t m a r t r e O S B

T y b u r n M o n a s t è r e d u C o e u r E u c h a r i s t i q u e d e J é s u s

At the conclusion of the Ex-traordinary Synod on the Family, which was held in October this year, the Synod Fathers said in their message to the faithful:

“In your homes there are light and shadow. Chal-lenges often present them-selves and at times even great trials. The darkness can grow deep to the point of becoming a dense shadow when evil and sin work into the heart of the family.”

At such times of darkness, it is often very difficult for us to perceive any light, any hope. Here is a story which may help us through the shadows which sometimes oppress us. It is taken from an account written by Lucie de Crochard. Mother Adele Garnier, our foundress, was her governess.

Lucie de Crochard writes,

“At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, my mother and her sister, Mme de Crozé, de-cided to remain together. So we spent this sorrowful pe-riod in the hôtel de famille at Laval. Mlle Garnier was the friend of all and the confidante of each, aiding fully in maintaining warm contentment in such a large group.

On 17th January, 1871,

deeply anguishing for their home town and their two families consisting of so many young girls and chil-dren, Mme de Crochard and Mme de Crozé thought of going to Mgr Wicart, then Bishop of La-val, to ask him for special

prayers, a vow to the Most Blessed Virgin, so as to obtain that the enemy, who had passed through Le Mans, might not come to the city (of Laval)... ‘’ The-se ladies, accompanied by Mlle Garnier and Lucie de Crochard went to the bis-hop’s palace. Despite their

CHRISTMAS 2014

My very dear daughter,

May the holy and

adorable will of God

be our only

satisfaction and joy!

In this will we are

assured of finding the

true good, that alone is

able to satisfy our love.

Everything else merits

not even a desire, nor

any regret.

Never forget this.”

Mother Foundress’

letter to

Mother Mary Claire

3 r u e d u C o u v e n t , 5 2 2 1 0 , S a i n t L o u p s u r A u j o n , F r a n c e . T : + 3 3 0 3 2 5 8 4 4 0 7 2

www.tyburnconvent.org.uk

Fol-

pressing entreaties they could obtain nothing. The two sisters resolved to de-part Brittany hastily. Ru-mours were circulating that ‘’The Prussians were ad-vancing...It was said that definitely the bridges over the Mayenne were going to be blown up.

‘’In the evening, despite advice to the contrary, Mlle Garnier wished to go to the house of the Jesuit Fathers at St Michel across the water. Her absence caused alarm ...On her return the cold was intense; the night had come; she made us all go out onto the steps to admire the incomparable sky where thousands and thousands of stars were sparkling in an extraordina-ry way, such as we had never seen before. It was the sky of Pontmain! Wi-thout yet knowing it we had the answer of Mary, who, appearing to young chil-dren, was tracing in that so beautiful sky the comforting words: Pray, my children, my son permits himself

to be moved.

Coming out of Laval we had before our eyes the most piteous sight: the de-bris of the army of Le Mans littering the road, the dead horses, the men, many of

Hope in Darkness The story of Mother Adele Garnier and the

Apparition of Our Lady of Pontmain

Christmas Message

Tyburn Talk

them bearing the marks of small-pox, dragging themselves along miserably in the snow. It was only with great difficulty that our convoy could move forward. At Bain-de-Bretagn it was impossi-ble to find room for all. Mlle Gar-nier and I spent the night in the carriage, in the middle of the square which was thronged with troops who envied us this shelter.

We called a halt at Guipry, a quiet locality on the outskirts of la Vilai-ne, where we had been happy in other times. Our stay in Brittany was brief. The armistice soon led us to return to Laval, and we lear-ned the first details of the mani-festation of Mary’s bounty to France. We were almost the first pilgrims to Pontmain - my mo-

ther, Mlle Garnier and myself, a very few weeks after the Appa-rition. We were free to ask questions of the blessed visio-naries and of numerous witnes-ses - the Parish Priest, the sis-ters of the school, the parents and, from the information ga-thered together, and at the re-quest of M. le Abbé Richard who was in charge of the first ecclesiastical investigation of the apparition of 17th January, it was Mlle Garnier who made the first image of Our Lady of Pontmain, of which all others are but copies.’’

In a letter written in 1871 to Mme de Crozé, Mother Adele Garnier writes about the crea-tion of this first image: ‘’I am delighted with the gathering together of (information) that you have been able to make regarding the veil of Our Lady being black. It seems M.Vincent went officially to Pontmain and that he finds the fact (of it being black) well substantiated by witnesses...I have not been able to start my

picture afresh yet.’’ At the top of this letter she had drawn a sketch design of Our Lady of Pontmain.

As the dawn precedes the day, so Mary precedes Christ. It was like that with Pontmain and Montmartre (the hill of Martyrs in Paris, where our Congregation was founded).

Our Lady appeared at Pont-main on January 17th, 1871, at the crucial moment in the Franco-Prussian war, with the promise of comfort from her son. What is not known quite so well, is that it was on Ja-nuary 11th,1871, just a few days before the Pontmain ap-parition, that the formula of the National Vow for the building of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre, was first released to the public.

The basilica was the direct result of the requests and pro-mises made by the Sacred Heart in the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1689, but which had been

neglected by the French nation.

It is against this background that, on January 17th,1871, the Blessed Virgin Mary at Pontmain, moved by the supplication to the Sacred Heart, a supplication which was to become national, takes and leaves as a pro-mise of encouragement, a testament of hope, those blessed words :

‘’My Son permits Him-

self to be moved. ‘’

Farewell to

Rev. Fr. Olivier

We gave a warm farewell to our first chaplain at St Loup, Rev. Fr Olivier Günst Horn who returned to his diocese on 13 November. We thank him for the devoted service which he gave our community and keep him in our prayers. We are now praying to St Jo-seph for a new chaplain. We are grateful to the many good priests who journey out to the monstery to celebrate Holy Mass.

Tyburn Monastery, St Loup

- a growing spiritual centre One feels that one has received a great privilege when one witnesses the phe-nomena that is peculiar to the begin-nings of a new monastic foundation. As soon as the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is seated upon His throne on the Eu-charistic pillar, a great stirring seems to begin. The Eucharistic Heart is like a

magnet which draws all souls to Himself.

We begin to find that little by little, an ever increasing stream of people, from all different countries and walks of life, seem to flow into the monastery. They come to worship, adore and pray before the throne of our King.

August was our busiest month for pilgrims on the Via Francigena or Santiago de Compostela routes. We once had a group of pilgrims from England with horses and bikes raising money for Alzheimers. A num-ber of youth, confirmation and scout groups from the dioceses of Langres, Dijon and other parts of France have come for retreats. We were honoured to welcome our Bishop Joseph de Metz-Noblat with all the deacons of the diocese with their wives. All of the seminarians from the Seminary de Lille came to spend a prayerful visit with us. We were excited to receive The Catholic University Centre from Dijon on a discernment weekend with their chaplain and the diocesan vocations director. A number of these groups joined us for all the Liturgical hours and spent hours in adoration. Some even participated in night adoration. Already groups are beginning to book their retreats for next

year. If you would like to come and stay at our monastery we recommend that you make an early res-ervation.

Mother Adele Garnier

Very Reverend Mother Mary Gregory Grace (left) was elected Mother General during the General Chapter held at Tyburn Convent on 9th August, 2014. His Eminence George Cardinal Pell (far let) from the Vatican presided over the elections. VRM General is from Australia. We ask your prayers for her as she begins her new role.

Cardinal Pell also from Australia joined the chapter members in a celebration. He was introduced to many of his fellow Australians.

Our new Mother General

Thank you Reverend Mother Mary Xavier McMonagle

We give thanks for the many years of selfless and devoted service that Reverend Mother Mary Xavier

McMonagle has given to our Congregation during her time as the Mother General. She has been a loving and nurturing spiritual mother in every way. During her time as the first superior, our Rule of Life and Constitutions were revised and the Monastic music for the Liturgical hours and hymnal, in several languages, were produced. Under her supervision 8 new monasteries were established around the world.

1976 Sechura,

Peru

1980’s Amalgamation

Largs, Scotland,

2003 Guatapé,

Colombia

2005 Rome,

Italy

2009 Ngakuru,

New Zealand

2013 Saint -Loup-sur-Aujon,

France

1996 Bombay

New Zealand

2003 Vilcabamba,

Ecuador

RMM Xavier McMonagle

We wish you all a blessed and

Holy Christmas

from the Tyburn Nuns at

Saint Loup sur Aujon, France

The first Sunday of Advent, 2014, marked the beginning of the Year of Consecrated Life. We ask you to join us in prayer as we cele-brate the Year of Consecrated Life in union with all religious throughout the world.

On 22nd November, two of our sisters had the blessing of at-tending the ordination to the priesthood of Rev. Fr. Elie-Marie PETITDEMANGE and ordination to the diaconate of Br. David - Marie SAUGE-MERLE monks of Abbaye St-Joseph de Clair-val, Flavigny. We also have had the joy of receiving a newslet-ter from Flavigny on the life of our Mother Foundress. It will be translated into several languages including English, Spanish, German. Click here for the French version. We will send the English version when it is translated. The newsletter has sparked interest on M.Foundress in several countries already.

Left: Newly ordained Rev. Fr Elie OSB

Above: Rev. Fr Emmanuel OSB who gave a talk on M.Foundress earlier this year.