The Tyburn Nuns have bought the house in France where their foundress, Mother Marie Adèle Garnier, was born in 1838.
The purchase of the property in Grancey-le-Château, Burgundy, in the Archdiocese of Dijon, was completed just months after the Cause for the canonisation of Mother Marie Adèle was opened.
The nuns, whose mother house in London is sited yards from the spot where more than 100 Catholics were martyred during the Reformation, intend to install a chapel inside the house and to turn the property into a centre for pilgrimage.
The nuns also plan to found a museum and information centre dedicated to the life of Mother Marie Adèle at the site and to convert a large part of the house for use as a small conference and retreat centre for day groups and overnight guests.
The Cause of Mother Marie Adèle was opened on December 3, 2016 by Bishop Joseph de Metz-Noblat of Langres, France, at a ceremony in the Convent of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, a monastery of the Tyburn Nuns within his diocese at St-Loup-sur-Aujon, just 20 miles from Grancey.
The first contract for the purchase of the house, which had previously been used as a police station and most recently as a tourist information office, was signed on March 8.
Soon afterwards, the house was bought outright by the nuns for an undisclosed sum thanks to benefactors from all over the world who answered an appeal. The benefactors included villagers from poor areas of Peru. The nuns still require funds for the renovation work and are actively seeking church pews and other furnishings. The nuns hope to have the house ready to open to the public by autumn at the earliest, following renovation work and the installation of the chapel.
At present, the house has six self-contained apartments and a large ground-floor room that was previously the tourist office but which will be converted into a chapel.
Archbishop Roland Minnerath of Dijon welcomed their intentions for the property. “I cannot but encourage you in this project,” Archbishop Minnerath said in a letter to Mother Marilla Aw, the Australian-born Mother General of the Tyburn Nuns. “The diocese of Dijon rejoices at seeing the rise of Grancey-le-Château as a place of pilgrimage where your Sisters will radiate the spirituality of the Sacred Heart. We are also rejoicing at the opening of the Cause of beatification of Marie Adèle Garnier. May the Lord bless your apostolate.”
Mother Marilla said that since St Loup was opened in 2013 the nuns had been making pilgrimages to the house, which she described as the “Bethlehem of our congregation”, standing outside singing and praying in “rain, hail, shine or snow”.
Mother Marilla said: “The construction of a chapel in the house where our dear saintly foundress was born is significant for us as a congregation but also crucial now when her Cause has just opened.
“Since December 3, there has been unexpectedly fervent international interest in her and her Eucharistic spirituality. Our foundress died at Tyburn, London, and her tomb has been for many years a place of pilgrimage for those who esteemed and venerated her privately. For decades those who have been in need have been visiting her tomb and we have many letters of favours received.
Mother Marilla said there were “so many things that are happening all around the world in regard to the Cause of canonisation of our Mother Foundress that it truly appears that she is very impatient to be canonised.”
“Therefore, if anyone thinks they have need for her prayers, now is a good time to ask.”
Politicians pray at St Peter’s
MPs and peers from the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See attended Mass in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica last week.
They included Lord Hylton and MPs Edward Leigh, Stephen Pound and Mark Menzies. Mr Menzies met Pope Francis at his general audience, telling him about his work raising money for displaced Iraqis in Erbil.
Big Issue founder Lord Bird met the Pope at the same time.
Charities criticise two-child rule
Catholic Social Action Network (CSAN), the social action arm of the Church in England and Wales, has criticised the limiting of child benefits to the first two children.
The new rule came into effect for families who have a third child from yesterday. Phil McCarthy of CSAN said the cut would put a strain on marriages and will “add to the costs that society pays for family breakdown”. Families will lose up to £2,780 a year for every child affected.
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