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 1985.
The Pilgrimage
The Trust holds an annual pilgrimage to Capel-y-ffin and the Abbey Church, including an optional 3½ mile walk from Llanthony to Capel-y-ffin along the eastern side of the valley. The date for this year’s pilgrimage is Saturday 17th August 2019 (please see the News page for more details).
The Trust
The Trust 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
Facebook Posts
A recent photo of the Monastery at Capel-y-ffin, with the Grange (Plas Genevieve in Father Ignatius's day) to the right, taken by Trust Secretary Peter Davies.
Advanced notice saturday 2nd March will be pilgrimage to Llanthony Priory near Abergavenny (NP7 7NN) It is the site of one of St David’s monastic cells. Services will take place in the chapelnext to the ruins. Please arrive by 10am and the liturgy will begin shortly after. The vespers service will bemid-afternoon from approximately 3pm.There is a pub next to the Priory ruins for a drink and/or food after the liturgy,although usually we take a picnic lunch.
www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/2140858791The story accompanying this photo may be of interest to some of our followers. A fuller account of the Middleton Apparitions and of Fr Luget's ministry can be found in ECCLESIOLOGY TODAY no 31 (p 23ff) -- see ecclsoc.org.
Tuesday 2 October: Hon Sec Peter Davies (R) and Hugh Allen at Llanthony Prima, photographed by Donald Kerr of Otago University, New Zealand, who has been in this country for the past few weeks researching the life and works of WILLIAM ARDERNE SHOULTS, polymath bibliophile and as FR CYRIL occasional chaplain to Fr Ignatius's communities -- see 'New Llanthony Abbey' p 135 and provisional update in the current Trust newsletter.