The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-10

are past must revise his opinion, for what short of miracle could 1t be for four men, none of them a skilled mason or carpenter. to construct a magnificent and imposing church 26o feet long with beautiful chancel, nave and lofty tower, and to accom- plish the task with very little money
 To all. human reckoning such an undertaking would seem preposter- ous. Yet it has been done and well done by the good monks of Buckfast Abbey, situated in the tiny town of Buckfast1eigh in Deyonshir Eng land. Rather say that it was situated there, for up to a short time aga there was little left of the famous old Cistercian abbey, dating back to the days of the early English kings, ex. cept tradition and a few weather beaten foundation stones. So old were the ruins that almost nothing is known of them despite the fact that their location in the little town on the banks of the River Dart is in the near neighborhood of such places as Ply mouth, AShburton and Exeter.
 In 1882 when the mansion which had stood since the beginning of the nineteenth. century on the old monas- tery site was put up for sale the for mer splendid Abbey of Buckfast had vanished.
 At the sale the. old mansion was bought by some French monks who two years before had left their native country. They were looking for a suitable place to start their regular monastic life once more, and this seemed a providential invitation. They were headed by the Rev. Thomas Duperou, O. $. B., who died Abbot of the Sacred Heart Abbey in Okla homa. He was the representative of Abbot Stephen Denis, head of the Community of La Pierre-q -qui-vire, to which this colony of monks belonged. For the first time at Buckfast Ab- bey since the Reformation mass was said on Oct. 28, 1882, and from that day the monks-there were only six of them at that time-da-e the period of the beginning of the restoration of the historic pile. At the end of the mass the little band of earnest men vowed themselves to the work of re- building the ancient English abbey on it's old foundation, believing their footsteps had been directed to Buck fast by the Almighty so that they might undertake the prodigious task of restoring the sacred pile.
 A temporary church was soon erected in which services could be held regularly, and then the work of excavating the foundations of the old abbey was taken uP in earnest.
 George Mivart, the scientist, was interested by the monks in the move ment, and with his help a committee was soon formed, of which Lord Cliff ford became the chairman, for the restoration of the abbey. The first thing. undertaken was the restoration of the old abbots tower, which was still sufficiently preserved to deserve that special care The whole work was superintended by. Father Walters, who is still supervising the rebuild ing of the old church.
 The work was most solemnly be gun on Jan. 5, 1907, young brother being appointed by the abbot to mix the mortar for the solitary mason of the community. It was impossible for any beginning of so huge a task to have been more humble. ..
 By little and little few more brothers were set to the same task and at one notable period the masons numbered as many as six The aver age number of men employed on the job for the last 3 years, however, has been not more than the present num- : Der, four.
 Yet the great task is now almost complete, final success being fully assured. It is now believed by the monks that another decade at most will see Buckfast Abbey fully restored to it's ancient spIendor.
 All during the recent war the monks never for a day faltered in their self-appclnted task despite the difficulties of continuing.
 Despite the religious zeal of the monks in their work it is doubtful il they would have brought the Abbey , building to it's present promise of sue cessfui conclusion if it had not beer for the encouragement and constan ! inspiration of the youthful Abbo1 Anscar Vonier, who came to Buck fast as a mere boy.
 ' After going through his liberal anG theological studies very successful, . at the Abbey, he was sent to Rome 1s at the age of 23 and graduated as doctor in philosophy a year later H' then returned to the Abbey ant s. taught for a few years in his Alma Mater but was again summoned tt Rome to fill a vacant chair of philoso i phy at his own College of St. An zelmo. He had been in this post fo year when he was asked by Don 2 Boniface Natter, first Abbot of Buck fast since the Reformation, to ac company him as his secretary t, 2 South America.
 This trip would do him good dur ing his holidays, the Abbot thought { but the journey was destined to be most tragic one. as the ship on whicl they sailed was wrecked off the cOas of Spain and Abbot Natter wa drowned
 ,t Abbot Vonier, however, escape and returned to Buckfast as Abbo when he took up the great work o $ restoration as a mem orial to his pre- decessor who had originaed the plan and ideas for the gigantic task. H } was only 31 years of age at the tim he was elected, and even now, afte 13 years of rule, he still ranks as on of the youngest Abbots of the Rene dictine Order
 n In connection with it's restoratio the history of Buckfast, or "Buckfal sten," Abbey, as it was called in o1 sf Saxon days, is interesting. The plac
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