The newly formed Tyburn Monks order has formally begun its novitiate at a ceremony at Tyburn Convent, London.
Two Colombian priests received their Benedictine habits from Mother Marilla Aw, the Mother General of the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre OSB, commonly known as the Tyburn Nuns.
Fr Manuel Agudelo Marin has taken the religious name Benedict Mary of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and Fr Hector Nagles Santa has taken the name Bernard Mary of the Sacred Heart.
The priests became the first Tyburn Monks in history when they were received as postulants at the childhood home of Marie-Adèle Garnier in Grancey-le-Château, near Dijon in August last year.
They will stay in England until February while they are instructed in the charism of Mother Garnier, whose Cause opened in 2016, and experience life in a male Benedictine monastery.
After receiving their habits, the two former diocesan priests said in a joint statement that they “felt called by God to live in greater intimacy with Him, through adoration and reparation of the Eucharist”.
“We will return to our country to continue our journey,” they said. “In Colombia, we do not have a monastery, we only have a plot of land for its construction.
“We place our hope in Divine Providence, and in St Joseph, whose name the future monastery will bear … [It will be] a beautiful sanctuary, a throne for our Lord, where the Blessed Sacrament will be seated, and there we will worship Him and make reparation for so many sins and offences that are committed daily against his adorable Eucharistic presence.”
After two years as novices, the monks will make temporary professions and three years later they will take final monastic vows. A number of priests have expressed interest in joining the fledgling community.
For more information about the monks, visit tyburnconvent.org.uk/tyburnmonks
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