Holy Trinity Monastery, East Hendred is a monastery of contemplative Benedictine nuns[1] situated in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire.[2] It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth.
Contents |
Founded in 2004 by Bishop Crispian Hollis, it is the first monastery of Benedictine nuns to have been established in England for more than half a century. The founding members were originally nuns of Stanbrook Abbey, Worcester, but the community is an autonomous monastery of diocesan right with monastic rather than papal enclosure.[3]
The nuns maintain themselves and their charitable undertakings by their work, principally book and web design. They make audio books for the blind and visually impaired and provide a postal library lending service. Their monastery web site is well known for its innovative use of new media and is an important element in the community's spiritual outreach. In 2009 it won the Premier Christian Media People's Choice Award.[4] The monastery library has important collections of modern American and High Anglican theology and is open to students and others by appointment.
The nuns' current home is the presbytery, or priest's house, at East Hendred. Although too small to admit more than one resident guest at a time, the nuns offer days of recollection and short courses at the monastery in addition to those offered online.