Columba Cary-Elwes

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Charles Columba Cary-Elwes (6 November 1903 – 22 January 1994), was a monk of Ampleforth Abbey in York, England, the founding Prior of the Priory of Saints Louis and Mary in Saint Louis, Missouri, and the titular Abbot of Westminster Abbey in London.

Born in London to a distinguished Catholic family, Cary-Elwes was educated at Ampleforth College from 1914 to 1922. After several years in the family wine business, he was clothed in the Benedictine order at Ampleforth. In 1925 he professed his simple vows, and the following year he made his solemn vows. He matriculated at Oxford to study modern languages (French and Spanish) at the university's Benedictine foundation, St Benet's Hall, in 1927, before studying theology at Blackfriars from 1930 to 1933, when he was ordained a priest.

After taking his degree, Cary-Elwes returned to Ampleforth, where he served as Monastic Librarian, as a teacher in the school, and a housemaster. He led services at the chapel at Helmsley for several years. In 1951 he was appointed Prior of Ampleforth, and four years later, was selected to be the founding prior of the new foundation at Saint Louis, where he served until June of 1967. His colleague, Fr. Timothy Horner, OSB, wittily discusses the early years of the Priory and school in his history, In Good Soil: The Founding of the Saint Louis Priory and School, 1954-1973[1]. Despite his advanced age, Cary-Elwes left in 1968 for East Africa to conduct spiritual retreats and inquire about establishing a monastic foundation in that region. His travels took him to Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. During 1969, he taught at a major seminary in Nairobi. In 1970, he served as the Pope's French interpreter during the Holy Father's visit to Uganda, after which Cary-Elwes returned to Ampleforth.

The interest in monastic foundations had not dimmed, however, and so in 1972, he was "loaned" (as his Ampleforth obituary describes it)[2], to the Benedictines of Glenstal Abbey in Ireland, to help establish a monastery in Eke, Nigeria, in 1974, where he served as Prior beginning in 1975. During this period, he also helped to establish a Catholic seminary in Cameroon. In his latter years, he returned to Ampleforth, but made important ecumenical and spiritual renewal visits to Catholic communities and clerical establishments in the Philippines, Australia, India, and Chile. At nearly 90, he was appointed the Titular Abbot of Westminster. He died in 1994.

Fr. Columba was a close friend of the noted historian Arnold J. Toynbee, who educated several of his sons at Ampleforth. Their correspondence, edited by the Saint Louis lawyer Christian Peper, is collected in An Historian's Conscience[3]. Other works by Fr. Columba include Beginning of Goodness, Law, Liberty and Love, and China and the Cross. He also edited a handful of spiritual collections.

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  1. ^ In Good Soil: The Founding of the Saint Louis Priory and School, 1954-1973In Good Soil: The Founding of the Saint Louis Priory and School, 1954-1973, at Amazon.com.
  2. ^ Ampleforth obituary for Cary-Elwes
  3. ^ A Historian's Conscience, at Amazon.com.An Historian's Conscience, edited by Christian Peper