Featured The Abbot of St Bernard's Abbey

I bought an old photograph album some time ago, and have already shared one the photos (https://www.antiquers.com/threads/photo-of-eastern-costumes-what-do-you-think.23503/). Most of them are monuments and churches, probably bought as souvenirs, but some are more unusual such as these, so I thought I'd share .

The first one below is labelled St. Bernard's Abbey, and a quick search brings up Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire (UK). A clock tower can be seen in this photo, which looks the same but from a different angle:



But the photo I love most is on the opposite page to this, of 'The Abbot' himself. Dressed in full regalia:



And if you look closely at the window on the left, there are two other faces. I imagine it was a big event to have photographs taken and the two monks couldn't resist looking! An early photo bomb?!

 

Think it was a big deal to have a bishop come visit. Unless Trappist abbots have much snazzier wardrobes than I ever would have imagined.

 

I did try to identify which Abbot this might have been, but couldn't find many photos to compare him with. Not surprisingly, I suppose! According to Wikipedia, Wilfred Hipwood was Abbot from 1890 to 1910.

 

I love when that kind of thing happens!

One of the big things they do nowadays is make Tynt Meadow English Trappist Ale. http://www.mountsaintbernard.org/ I suppose that helps to support them financially.

 

Whoa! That's his beard, not part of his collar, right?

 

Me too! It's an added bonus!

I found a few modern photos of the monks at work (brewing?), all smiles & far from the formality of this particular photograph .

 

The Abbot? It'a bit overexposed, but I think he has a beard and a high collar too *hmm*. The men in the window look like they have beards too, plus there's a reflection, I think.

 

Does this Bishop seem particularly diminutive, or does he really hold an extra tall crosier? Somehow I don't remember them being that high...

 

Maybe it's because Halloween is coming, but for some reason he reminds me of Korob from Star Trek episode Catspaw:

 

The abbot does look small, doesn't he? His eyes are sunken, and his hat looks too big. The monks did have a pretty restricted diet according to this article from the Derbyshire Times & Cheshire Herald 12 Aug 1882:



It says further on that there was only one daytime meal in winter, and two in summer.

Love the Star Trek reference, Bronwen!

 

@Bronwen , I was totally on the Gotta-Be-A-Bishop Train - then I went looking for Cistercian Abbots in mitres and found this:


"Father Peter Verhalen (left) is installed as abbot of the Cistercian Abbey Our Lady of Dallas by Abbot General Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, assisted by Father Ignatius Peacher (right).(Jim Reisch - Special Contributor)"

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2012/04/14/cistercian-installs-first-american-abbot/

 

Manchester Courier 23 October 1900

 

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/Mount_St_Bernard_Abbey
"In 1890, Dom Wilfred Hipwood became abbot. Described as a gentle and scholarly man, his twenty years as abbot were marred by almost constant ill-health and a decline in numbers; by the time of his death in 1910, the community numbered fewer than thirty monks."

 

Jivvy, the reference you've found to Hipwood's ill-health certainly fits the appearance of the Abbot in the photo, thank you!

 

I think this is zero evidence of anything, but I found it and I'm posting it.
Leicester Daily Post, 21 August 1890

 

Well found, Jivvy! It's frustrating not being able to find a photo - but I did find this advertisement, which suggests photos did exist? This would have been at the time of the previous Abbot (Rev Anderson):

Leicester Chronicle - Saturday 29 August 1885

 

I found somebody selling that book on Amazon's UK site:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Abbey-Bernard-Charnwood-Forest/dp/B001ORCYO8

Of course, since it predates Wilfrid Hipwood you may or may not be interested?

 

Wow this information is brilliant, my grandad was named after this man he was my grandad’s great uncle!

 

Elvis wouldn't have looked better with wooden hip.

 

My niece gave everyone in the family these Batman masks.