Yet Another French Traditional Monastery

The Benedictine Abbey of St Paul at Wisques, which is a few miles from Calais, has suffered from a lack of vocations in recent decades. It had got to the point where the few remaining monks were mostly over the age of 75, and saw little future for the abbey as an independent foundation.  The prospect of the monastery closing down, and being converted for secular use seemed not far away.

However, a much happier solution has been found.  With the approval of the dwindling community, the Bishop of Arras, Bishop Jaeger, invited the monks of Fontgombault to take over the buildings, and send some of their monks to reinvigorate the monastery.  This has now happened, and Wisques has become a daughter house of Fontgombault, reverting to the status it had when first formed.

The abbey at Wisques will adopt the uses and customs of Fontgombault which is a fully traditional monastery.  That means that all Masses and the Office will be in  the ancient Benedictine form.  Wisques is the fifth daughter house to be founded from Fontgombault.  It follows Randol Abbey, Triors Abbey, Gausson Priory in France and Cleer Creek Abbey in the USA.  There are also several other French monasteries use the traditional rites of the Latin Church,  including, most notably, Le Barroux in the very south of France.

Here is an aerial view of the abbey at Wisques.