Welcome to the Father Ignatius Memorial Trust website
The Monastery
The Monastery was founded in 1870 by Fr Ignatius with the aim of restoring monastic life to the Church of England, and it remained in monastic use for over forty years. Eric Gill, the sculptor and typographer, lived there from 1924 to 1928. It has been owned by the Knill family since 1986.
The Pilgrimage
The 2020 Trust pilgrimage to Capel-y-ffin had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the 2021 pilgrimage in August was able to go ahead as planned. This year’s pilgrimage is due to take place on Saturday September 3rd 2022. (See the News page for access to the 2020 ‘virtual pilgrimage’).
The Trust
The Trust’s objectives include the care of Ignatius’ ruined abbey church, and the nearby Wayside Calvary and statue of Our Lady, as places of pilgrimage, prayer and worship. Although the church is is now structurally unsound and unsafe for public entry, it remains a focus of the annual pilgrimage.
The Trust Archive
There is a collection of Father Ignatius Memorial Trust archive material at Abergavenny Museum. We have also made some documents and articles available on the website on the Documents page.
How you can help
We aim to keep the memory of Ignatius alive and to continue the annual Pilgrimage. You are warmly invited to make a donation and to become a Friend of the Father Ignatius Memorial Trust by subscribing to the Trust Newsletter.
(See the Help Us page).
Father Ignatius of Llanthony
Fr Ignatius OSB (Revd. Joseph Leycester Lyne, 1837-1908) was a prominent figure in the Catholic Revival which swept the 19th century Church of England. As a young man he resolved to restore to it the monastic life lost at the Reformation, and devoted the rest of his life to this aim.
Learn more
Meeting of the Trustees at Abergavenny Museum Wednesday 30 March. The photo was taken by Michael Woodward; Chairman Caroline Woollard was absent through sickness, and Fr Bernard Sixtus with work commitments. From left to right: the Reverends Richard Williams, Philip Wyn Davies and Jeremy Dowding; Rachael Rogers; Andrew Knill; Philip Chatfield; Peter Davies; Hugh Allen.
Andrew Downey, long-serving Master of Ceremonies to the Trust, died suddenly on Christmas Day: Memory Eternal! A Requiem Mass was held on Wednesday 26 January at St Paul's Church, Cwmtillery, with which he had been actively involved all his life; three of his fellow-Trustees were among those present. Our photograph, from the 2008 Pilgrimage, shows him as many of our supporters will remember him.
Just discovered this on the NPG website. A very rare image of Fr Ignatius during the period he combined his monastic activities with acting as a "lecturer" at London churches (St Bartholomew's, Moor Lane; St Edmund's, Lombard Street and St Paul's, Bunhill Row). Thanks to Basil Youdell (c/o Rick Yoder) for pointing me in the right direction.
Father Ignatius (Joseph Leycester Lyne) - National Portrait Gallery
www.npg.org.uk
by Unknown artist watercolour 1867 © National Portrait Gallery, London