The Pilgrim's Chapel

I was recommended to go and see the Pilgrim’s Chapel and in many ways I wish I could show you a series of images from this one small space that is built under the main alter of the church. Again it is about the brick work and the shading of the bricks that help the eye to be attracted to different part of place. So, welcome to the Pilgrim’s Chapel, a place where you can pray and meditate. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle behind the main altar. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary (to whom this monastery is dedicated) with the child Jesus. Here you can light a candle and say a prayer. Pilgrims are invited to say prayers here, using the time-honoured words to the patron saint of this Abbey:

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.”

There is an alter dedicated to Saint Paul. An altar dedicated to Saint Cecilia. She was an early Roman martyr and is the patron Saint of Music. She is also the patron of Quarr’s sister abbey. The nuns there belong to the same congregation, of Solesmes, founded by Dom Gueranger in France in the nineteenth century. Like the monks here, the nuns at Saint Cecilia's lead a contemplative life, singing the Divine Office at intervals throughout the day.

This is scared place. A place to be held by God in a moment that is timeless. Where prayers are spoken aloud, rather than silently. Allowing the sound of your voice reverberate around the arches of this little Chapel. This chapel is so designed that if the cost of heating the church above became too costly in the winter months, then they could worship God here.

There is a recently painted icon, by one of the monks, of Saint Benedict and Quarr Abbey, who is the father of western monasticism and the patron of Europe. The monks here follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, which he described as "a little rule for beginners”, but whose profound wisdom has guided monks and nuns for over fourteen hundred years. It prescribes the pattern of worship in the church of the monks, the way the monastery is to be governed and outlines how they can grow in humility so as to allow the light of Christ to shine more fully through them. It tells them how to progress in this way of life and in faith, shows them the right path of God's commandments, allowing their hearts to overflow with the inexpressible delight of love.

In the picture of Saint Benedict that is part of the alter, you will see him standing in the ground of the Abbey holding a cross and a copy of his Rule:

“In primis Dominum Deum diligere” - “first of all to love the Lord God.”

Saint Benedict says, that nothing is to be preferred to the work of praising God in choir and that while the working day of the monastery seems short. The hours of Office is far more important!

There is a another altar, which is dedicated to Saint Scholastica, the sister of Benedict. According to Pope Saint Gregory the Great, she used to meet up with Saint Benedict once a year. On one such occasion she asked her brother to stay with her so that they could talk through the night about the joys of heaven. He refuse saying he could not stay away from the monastery. She then prayed, and there was such a terrible storm that Saint Benedict could not return to his monastery. Saint Gregory says Saint Scholastica had more Influence with God, who is love, because her love was greater. Three days after this, he relates, Saint Benedict saw his sister's soul entering heaven.