Strangers in a Strange Land

David N. Bell (1943-2025) was professor emeritus of religious studies and dean of theology at Queen's College, St. John's, Newfoundland, and canon theologian in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's. He is the author of a number of books published by Cistercian Publications, including The Very Devout Meditations attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, Handmaid of the Lord: Mary, the Cistercians, and Armand-Jean de Rancé (CS293, 2021), Everyday Life at La Trappe under Armand-Jean de Rancé (CS274, 2018), and A Saint in the Sun: Praising Saint Bernard in the France of Louis XIV (CS271, 2017).

"David Bell has produced a lively and readable account of the Trappist Abbey of St. Susan in Lulworth, England. During its twenty-three years in a country then hostile to Catholicism, the Lulworth monastery served as a refuge for monks escaping the French Revolution and an important way station in the preservation and revival of monasticism in the early nineteenth century. Professor Bell’s engaging history brings to life the personalities of the most important figures in St. Susan’s history. Some of them played crucial roles in the larger Trappist revival like Augustin de Lestrange and Dom Antoine Saulnier de Beauregard who under government pressure led the St. Susan monks back to France to establish Melleray Abbey and help the restoration of monasticism in France."Jay Butler, Independent Scholar

• ContentsTable of Figures   xiA Note on Spelling   xiiiPreface   xvChapter OneThe Founders: Armand-Jean de Rancé and Augustin de Lestrange   1Chapter TwoThe Lure of La Trappe   29Chapter ThreePopery, Prejudice, and the Welds of Lulworth   55Chapter FourThe Founding of the Monastery   79Chapter FiveAdverse Reactions   105Chapter SixThe First Prior: Dom Jean-Baptiste Desnoyers   125Chapter SevenThe Monks and the Monastery   149 Chapter EightMonastic Life at Saint Susan’s   173Chapter NineThe Voyage to Martinique and the Story of James Power   199Chapter TenJames Power’s Accusations and Their Aftermath   223Chapter ElevenDom Antoine Saulnier de Beauregard and the End of Saint Susan’s   249APPENDIX ONEJoseph Addison’s Description of La Trappe in Normandy in 1700   275APPENDIX TWODescription of Saint Susan’s in 1800 by Richard Gough   278APPENDIX THREEDescription of Saint Susan’s in July 1800 by “P. F.”   281APPENDIX FOURDescription of Saint Susan’s in March 1813 by “Father Paul”   286APPENDIX FIVEDescription of Saint Susan’s in June 1817 by Father Luke Bernard Barber   290APPENDIX SIXThe Six Illustrations in Thomas D. Fosbroke,British Monachism; or, Manners and Customs of the Monks and Nuns of England(London: M. A. Nattali, 1843), Opposite 306   310APPENDIX SEVENThe Book Collection at Saint Susan’s   318Select Bibliography   325Index of Names and Places   331