BUCKFAST, ABBEY OF

Benedictine abbey in Devonshire, southwest England. Although it has been alleged that a Celtic cloister existed there from St. Pectroc's time (6th century), Buckfast actually was founded by Earl Aylward and endowed by King Canute (1018). The Domesday Book lists its possessions in detail (1086). Stephen attached it to savigny (1136), and it thus became affiliated with cÎteaux (1147). A new abbey was then built. Buckfast

was suppressed in the general dissolution of monasteries under Henry VIII (1538); its property was alienated, and church and abbey fell into ruin. French Benedictines from La-Pierre-qui-Vire purchased the site (1882); they were joined by German Benedictines. Buckfast became an abbey under a German abbot (1902). Under the second abbot, Anscar vonier (1906), the rebuilding of the abbey on its ancient foundations was undertaken. The church was consecrated in 1932.

Bibliography: a. hamilton, A History of St. Mary's Abbey of Buckfast (Buckfast 1906). j. stÉphan, Buckfast Abbey (Buckfast 1923). j. m. canivez, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 10:1034–36. a. schmitt, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 2:751. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:525. o. l. kapsner, A Benedictine Bibliography: An Author-Subject Union List, 2 v. (2d ed. Collegeville, Minn. 1962): v. 1, author part; v. 2, subject part, 2:193.

[j. stÉphan]