Tyburn Monastère du Cœur Eucharistique de

Adoratrices du Sacré Cœur de Jésus de Montmar tre OSB
Tyburn Monastère du Coeur Eucharistique de Jésus
3 rue du Couvent,52210, Saint Loup sur Aujon, France. T:+33 03 25 84 40 72
Tyburn Talk
www.tyburnconvent.org.uk
Fol-
C H R IS TM AS 2014
Christmas Message
Hope in Darkness
The story of Mother Adele Garnier and the
Apparition of Our Lady of Pontmain
At the conclusion of the Extraordinary 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. Challenges often present themselves 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, decided to remain together. So
we spent this sorrowful period 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 children, Mme de Crochard
and Mme de Crozé
thought of going to Mgr
Wicart, then Bishop of Laval, 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)... ‘’ These ladies, accompanied by
Mlle Garnier and Lucie de
Crochard went to the bishop’s palace. Despite their
pressing entreaties they
could obtain nothing. The
two sisters resolved to depart Brittany hastily. Rumours were circulating that
‘’The Prussians were advancing...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 extraordinary way, such as we had
never seen before. It was
the sky of Pontmain! Without yet knowing it we had
the answer of Mary, who,
appearing to young children, 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 debris of the army of Le Mans
littering the road, the dead
horses, the men, many of
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
them bearing the marks of smallpox, 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 impossible to find room for all. Mlle Garnier 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 Vilaine, 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 learned the first details of the manifestation of Mary’s bounty to
France. We were almost the first
pilgrims to Pontmain - my mo-
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 Joseph for a new chaplain. We
are grateful to the many good
priests who journey out to the
monstery to celebrate Holy
Mass.
ther, Mlle Garnier and myself, a
very few weeks after the Apparition. We were free to ask
questions of the blessed visionaries and of numerous witnesses - the Parish Priest, the sisters of the school, the parents
and, from the information gathered together, and at the request 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 creation 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 Pontmain 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 January 11th,1871, just a few
days before the Pontmain apparition, 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 promises 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 promise of encouragement, a
testament of hope, those
blessed words :
‘’My Son permits Himself to be moved. ‘’
Mother Adele Garnier
Tyburn Monastery, St Loup
- a growing spiritual centre
One feels that one has received a great
privilege when one witnesses the phenomena that is peculiar to the beginnings of a new monastic foundation. As
soon as the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
is seated upon His throne on the Eucharistic 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 number 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 reservation.
Our new Mother General
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.
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.
RMM Xavier McMonagle
1976 Sechura,
Peru
2005 Rome,
Italy
1980’s Amalgamation
Largs, Scotland,
2009 Ngakuru,
New Zealand
1996 Bombay
New Zealand
2003 Vilcabamba,
Ecuador
2013 Saint -Loup-sur-Aujon,
France
2003 Guatapé,
Colombia
Left: Newly ordained Rev. Fr Elie OSB
Above: Rev. Fr Emmanuel OSB who gave
a talk on M.Foundress earlier this year.
On 22nd November, two of our sisters had the blessing of attending the ordination to the priesthood of Rev. Fr. Elie-Marie
The first Sunday of Advent, 2014, marked the beginning of the Year PETITDEMANGE and ordination to the diaconate of Br. David
of Consecrated Life. We ask you to join us in prayer as we cele- Marie SAUGE-MERLE monks of Abbaye St-Joseph de Clairbrate the Year of Consecrated Life in union with all religious
val, Flavigny. We also have had the joy of receiving a newsletthroughout the world.
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.
We wish you all a blessed and
Holy Christmas
from the Tyburn Nuns at
Saint Loup sur Aujon, France