Downside Abbey General Trust   Downside Abbey General Trust Stratton-on-the-Fosse

Downside Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery. It is the home of a community of Benedictine monks and on this website we shall try and give you some idea of what a Benedictine monk is, why we have come to live together in a community, what we believe in and what we do. We shall also try and tell you something about our own monastery, which is located not far from Bath, in the south-west of England.We are called “Benedictine” because we, like hundreds of other monasteries of monks and nuns throughout the world, follow the Rule written by St Benedict in the sixth century. Benedictine monks own nothing as individuals. Instead, we rely on the community to provide us with what we need. We devote much time to prayer (both together as a community and on our own). This is the most important thing we do.All Christians are called to spread the Gospel - the Good News which Jesus brought us. The main ways in which the monks of the Downside community work to spread the Gospel are through the witness of our life and our prayer, through education, especially in our school and through serving in the parishes which have been entrusted to our care. Most of the monks of Downside Abbey live in our monastery, though some live elsewhere, helping us serve the Church in parishes and in other pastoral work.