Overview

Was England their homecoming – or another exile? Discover the untold story behind one of the most turbulent chapters in British religious history. When English Benedictine nuns fled Revolutionary France and the Low Countries, they expected refuge in their homeland. Instead, they encountered poverty, prejudice, and profound identity conflict. This was not a triumphant return – it was a second exile. Drawing on rich, previously untapped archives, Scholastica Jacob uncovers the dramatic story of five Benedictine communities navigating displacement, rebuilding monastic life, and shaping Catholic revival in a Protestant England. Through vivid first-hand narratives of imprisonment, peril, and perseverance, this book explores themes of survival, spirituality, and cultural adaptation. Far more than a convent chronicle, this study bridges religious history, women’s studies, and migration scholarship. It reveals the nuns’ hidden contribution to education, ecumenical dialogue, and the intellectual currents of the Catholic Enlightenment – while offering fresh insight into the resilience of faith under pressure.

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9781789594140

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Scholastica Jacob is Director of the Herbert Kelly Institute for Anglican Religious Life, Durham. She was awarded her doctorate in 2022 for work on the English Benedictine Nuns in the early nineteenth century. For some years she was a Benedictine nun at Stanbrook Abbey.

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