Obituary - Abbot Ildefonsus Cummins 1938

Born: 17 Jun 1850 – died: 7 Oct 1938
Clothed - 28 Sep 1865
Solemn Vows- 23 Oct 1869
Priest - 29 Jun 1873

Abbot Cummins was born in Liverpool, June 17th, 1850, and in 1860 joined his brothers Joseph and Thomas at Ampleforth. He was fortunate in having Abbot Burge as a class mate, and one of his last letters repeated the great debt of gratitude he owed to him. He was fortunate also in having for his principal teacher the future Bishop Hedley. In a previous number of the Journal he has written:

Brother Cuthbert was a great favourite with the boys, justly popular for his kindly care of us youngsters... we enjoyed his banter and loved the choir practice... It was a day of gloom and general sadness when he left Ampleforth for Belmont in 1862.

In 1865 he entered the novitiate at Belmont and took for his name in religion that of Ildefonsus. Prior Bede Vaughan had arranged that Canon Hedley should assist the novice master by giving special conferences on the Spiritual Life. 'Our enthusiasm for both religious and literary subjects grew apace and took other directions when, the novitiate safely passed, we came to the study of philosophy and theology.' 'The circumstances of the time were very stimulating to enthusiastic minds at a susceptible age. They were years of strenuous controversy in Catholic circles directly leading up to the Vatican Council, and Belmont had its own literary atmosphere.' 'It was my lot to continue longer than others under Canon Hedley's influence and teaching and to find in him a substitute for the university course at Rome or Louvain that dangled unrealized for years before one's youthful ambition.'

Dom Ildefonsus returned to Ampleforth for his Solemn Profession in 1869. The few weeks before and after taking his final vows were the only period during his long life that he was a resident member of the Ampleforth Community. The President had arranged that after his Solemn Profession he should go to Rome but, owing to the assembling of the Vatican Council and the political troubles in Italy, this arrangement broke down and Brother Ildefonsus was placed on the teaching staff at Belmont. The cancelling of the Roman course was a real set-back to his career. He lost the advantages of the mental training that a University gives; the wholesome discipline of the Juniorate at Ampleforth never fell to his lot, and he was placed in a false position at Belmont when only 19 years of age.

In June, 1873, he was ordained priest and in the same year made a Canon of the Diocese of Newport and Menevia. It was the year when Canon Raynal became Cathedral Prior and Canon Hedley was consecrated Bishop. About this time, Dom Ildefonsus showed the first signs of his life-long desire for the expansion of Benedictine work. He made great efforts to get into touch with Father Anselm Robertson, the last surviving monk of the Scottish Benedictine Congregation; and the romantic idea of emulating in Scotland the story of the preservation of the English Congregation by Dom Sigebert Buckley of Westminster appealed strongly to DD. Jerome Vaughan, Ildefonsus Cummins and Gilbert Dolan. The foundation stone of St Benedict's, Fort Augustus, was laid on September 14th, 1876. In July, 1877 Dom Ildefonsus, at Prior Jerome Vaughan's request, was sent to assist him in the building up of a Community. For two years he worked hard at this new foundation, but by degrees it became evident that he was out of sympathy with Prior Vaughan's policy, and in May, 1879, he left Fort Augustus. Many years of pastoral work followed at Warrington, Maryport, Liverpool, Petersfield, Spilsby, Easingwold, and finally at Knaresborough.

In the discussions that took place from 1880 to 1890 about the nature and government of the Congregation, Dom Ildefonsus played a fairly prominent part. His intimacy with DD. E. Ford, A. Gasquet, B. Murphy and G. Dolan gained for him the reputation of being a reformer. In the many pamphlets written at this time he contributed the Eirenicon. There is one recurring note in his conversations and letters stressing the value of the antiquity and traditions of the English Benedictine Congregation. He did not believe in adopting the methods of modern untried Congregations. He aimed at securing that the English Benedictine Congregation should take its rightful place in the Church's Hierarchy. He looked forward to the day when mitred abbots should govern Ampleforth, Downside and Douai and when Cathedral Priors with Benedictine monks should carry out the full Liturgy of the Church in not a few of our cathedrals. He believed in the value of Benedictine ideals and methods for the Church and for the people of this country.

In the first General Chapter under the new Constitutions held in 1901, Belmont was allowed to take its own novices and become a new familia. Dom Ildefonsus was appointed Cathedral Prior and began at once to gather subjects. Two of these were educated at Ampleforth - the present Abbot of Belmont and their first Headmaster, Dom Anselm Lightbound. At the end of the quadriennium he retired from the Cathedral Priorship, but his interest in Belmont never flagged, and he is rightly spoken of as its second founder.

In 1912 to his great disappointment Belmont ceased to be the Cathedral Chapter of the diocese of Newport. Downside had withdrawn its novices and there was a feeling that St Michael's was only a financial burden to the Congregation. The General Chapter of 1913 was to discuss its fate, and he was asked by Abbot Smith to write a report for Chapter on the document known as the Belmont Narration. After discussion on this report General Chapter decided that Belmont should continue as an independent Abbey of the Congregation. When Dom Ildefonsus retired from the Cathedral Priorship of Belmont to the pastoral work at Easingwold and Knaresborough he entered into the peace and quiet of the solitary life. The anchoretical life with its opportunities for mystical aspirations as a part of Benedictine life was one of his many day-dreams, if not ideals. But he did not allow his mysticism to degenerate into quietism nor his hermitage to become an excuse for idleness. His years of peace and solitude allowed him time and leisure for what perhaps was his special gift. He had the gift for propaganda work and for apologetics. By word and by pen, by getting into touch with well-disposed non-Catholics, he never tired of trying to break down prejudice by an exposition of Catholic history and the Catholic point of view. Many converts owe the grace of conversion to his kindly help. To the flock entrusted to him he was a true Father in God, faithfully carrying out the onerous duties of a parish priest, preaching model sermons Sunday by Sunday, showing particular sympathy for any in distress and devotedly attached to the children in the school.

During this period also the Journal had in him its most faithful contributor. He attended regularly the Conventual Chapters and House Councils at Ampleforth where his words of encouragement to proposals for development and expansion were greatly valued.

In 1915 in recognition of all that he had done for the Benedictine Order he was made Cathedral Prior of Worcester, and in 1917, Abbot of St Mary's, York. For seventy-three years as a Benedictine monk he has put forward the ideals of his Order and has championed the cause of religion. He has 'prevailed to enlarge the city and obtained glory in his conversation. When he went up to the Holy Altar he honoured the vesture of holiness.'

ILDELFONSUS CUMMINS

Details from the Abbey Necrology