Chronology of the life of Dom Marmion

Election as Abbot of Maredsous in 1909. His first years as Abbot
1909-1912

  • ● 1909, 28 September: Dom Columba is elected 3rd Abbot of Maredsous
  • ● 1909, 3 October: He receives the abbatial blessing at Maredsous
  • ● 1909, 29 November: Dom Hubert Casier, Rector of the Abbey School is contacted by the Minister for the Colonies with a view to a monastic foundation in Katanga in the Belgian Congo
  • ● 1909, 22 December: Abbot Marmion attends the funeral of King Leopold II
  • ● 1909, end of December: Edward Kervyn, Director of the Colonial Ministry, visits Maredsous to present the proposals of the Belgian Government concerning the foundation in Katanga
  • ● 1910, 11 February: The Maredsous Chapter reject the proposal that the abbey make a foundation in Katanga
  • ● 1910, 22 February: Abbot Marmion informs M.Kervyn of this rejection
  • ● 1910, 4/14 August: Abbot Marmion gives retreats at Stanbrook Abbey and Erdington Abbey
  • ● 1910, 10/17 September: He visits Beuron
  • ● 1910, 27 September: He appoints Dom Robert Cornet Prior of Maredsous
  • ● 1910, 8/21 November: He travels to England to give retreats at Erdington Abbey and Farnborough
  • ● 1910, December: Dom Ursmer Berlière is appointed Librarian of the Royal Library, Brussels by King Albert 1
  • ● 1911, 16/24 May: Abbot Marmion is in England at Ramsgate Abbey
  • ● 1911, 4/25 July: He is in Ireland to give a retreat to the Trappists at Mt. Melleray Abbey. He visits his family
  • ● 1911, 16/30 September: He is at the Abbey of Maria Laach for the Congress of Benedictine Abbots
  • ● 1912, 25 February/24 March: He accompanies Cardinal Mercier to Italy
  • ● 1912, May: He consecrates the St. Benedict Altar at Hastière-par-delà
  • ● 1912, 11 July/4 August: He attends the General Chapter at Beuron
  • ● 1912, 26 August/7 September: In England to give retreats at Haywards Heath and to the diocesan clergy of Westminster
  • ● 1912, 14 September/3 October: He travels to Rome via Germany. On 22nd September he is received in audience by Pope Pius X
  • ● 1912, 21 October: He visits his sister Mother Columba (Lizzie), Superior General of the Irish Sisters of Mercy (Waterford)

The Caldey Affair
1913-1914

  • ● 1913, 6/20 January: Abbot Marmion gives a retreat at the Erdington Abbey
  • ● 1913, 10 February: He celebrates the Silver Jubilee of his monastic profession
  • ● 1913, 21 February: The monks of Caldey Abbey (Wales) leave the Anglican Church
  • ● 1913, 1/15 March: The first visit of Abbot Marmion to Caldey. He gives a retreat prior to the ‘abjuration’ of the Caldey Community and their official reception into the Catholic Church
  • ● 1913, March: Maredsous Abbey receives the relic of a rib bone from the body of Saint Gerard; this is placed with great pomp in a remarkable reliquary made in the Art School of the Abbey
  • ● 1913, 27 April/8 June: Abbot Marmion accompanies Abbot Aelred Carlyle of Caldey Abbey to Italy
  • ● 1913, May: Benedictine Abbots meet in Rome to elect a new Primate, Dom Fidelis von Stotzingen. Abbot Marmion and Abbot Aelred are received in audience by Pope Pius X
  • ● 1913, June: Dom Marmion attends the splendid celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Beuron Abbey
  • ● 1913, 23 June/10 July: Abbot Marmion stays at Caldey Abbey for the second time
  • ● 1913, 29 June: He celebrates the Solemn Mass at Caldey during which the community receive the habit and the canonical establishment of the monastery is finalised. He returns to Maredsous with Dom Aelred who starts his probationary year there
  • ● 1913, 16/24 August: He attends the funeral and interment of Dom Hildebrand de Hemptinne in Beuron Abbey
  • ● 1914, 1/23 January: Dom Marmion is in Ireland to give a retreat to the Trappists of Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, and in England to finalise the statutes of Caldey
  • ● 1914, 1/9 February: He gives the retreat to the nuns of Maredret Abbey
  • ● 1914, March: The Chapter of Maredsous discuss the project of a foundation in Ireland
  • ● 1914, 30/31 May: Canonical visitation of Maredsous by Dom Robert de Kerchove
  • ● 1914, 6 June/9 June: Mgr Dwyer, ‘Marmion’s friend for always’, Bishop of Maitland, Australia visits Maredsous
  • ● 1914, June: Dom Aelred Carlyle pronounces his Solemn Vows at Maredsous
  • ● 1914, 15/28 June: Dom Marmion gives a retreat to the seminarians of Westminster diocese
  • ● 1914, 5 July: The Abbot of Caldey, Dom Aelred Carlyle is ordained priest at Maredsous

The years of World War1914-1918

  • ● 1914, 4 August: War is declared
  • ● 1914, 5 August: 16 German lay brothers leave Maredsous Abbey
  • ● 1914, 23 August: A French officer arrives at Maredsous to advise Abbot Marmion to leave his Abbey
  • ● 1914, 14 September: Dom Marmion goes to England to arrange the reception and accommodation of the Maredsous novices. He travels via the Netherlands, a neutral country
  • ● 1914, 23 September/7th October: He is in London. During his stay he meets the Marquise de Bizien
  • ● 1914, 9/20 October: Dom Marmion is at Caldey
  • ● 1914, 22 December: He arrives at Edermine in Ireland
  • ● 1915, 11/16 January: He is back in England where he gives a retreat at Erdington Abbey
  • ● 1915, 4/15 February: He travels to Brittany to obtain the money to buy Edermine
  • ● 1915, 19 February/14 March: Abbot Marmion stays in Edermine
  • ● 1915, 15/21st March: He gives a retreat at Haywards Heath convent, London
  • ● 1915, 1 May/16 June: Abbot Marmion is back in Edermine
  • ● 1915, 19 June/4 August: He goes to England to give a number of retreats and conferences
  • ● 1915, 24/28 September: He preaches at the opening of the Academic Year at University College, Dublin
  • ● 1915, 6/10 December: He is in England giving retreats
  • ● 1915, 31 December: Abbot Marmion falls ill when in London
  • ● 1916, 19 January: He returns to Edermine
  • ● 1916, 8 February: He goes to England again
  • ● 1916, 25 February/20 March: He is once more ill in London. His condition is judged serious
  • ● 1916, 23 March/7 April: He convalesces at the Benedictine convent of Ventnor, the Isle of Wight
  • ● 1916, 10 April: He leaves England to return to Maredsous via The Netherlands
  • ● 1916, 16 April/26th April: He is prevented from travelling further than The Hague
  • ● 1916, 19 May: Abbot Marmion finally makes it back to Maredsous
  • ● 1916, 23 June: Kaiser Wilhelm II visits Maredsous Abbey without having been invited
  • ● 1916, 14/16 August: Cardinal Mercier meets Dom Marmion at Maredsous – a joyful reunion
  • ● 1916, 17 December: The trial of a number of monks of Maredsous before the Military Tribunal of Namur.
  • ● 1917, 6 January: Dom Robert Cornet, his Prior, is prisonner
  • ● 1917, 15 February: Jules Desclée, the last of the founders of Maredsous dies
  • ● 1917, 7 October: Dom Gérard François is appointed Prior of the abbey
  • ● 1917, 10 October: Dom Ursmer Berlière is appointed subprior
  • ● 1917, 8 December: Publication of Christ the Life of the Soul
  • ● 1918, 2 February: Dom Raphael Walzer becomes Archabbot of Beuron
  • ● 1918, 28 February: The old Archabbot Dom Ildefonse Schober dies
  • ● 1918, 4 November: Dom Marmion’s sister, Mother Columba (Lizzie) of the Irish Sisters of Mercy dies
  • ● 1918, 11 November: The armistice is signed. The Abbey bells are rung at full peal, having been silent since 1914

The involvement with the Abbey of the Dormition, Jerusalem
1918-1920

  • ● 1918, 19 /27 November: Dom Marmion visits a number of Belgian monasteries to discuss separation from Beuron
  • ● 1918, 11 December: He receives a letter saying that the Dormition Monastery at Jerusalem is “there for the taking”!
  • ● 1918, 23 December: The Chapter of Maredsous Abbey votes to separate from the Beuron congregation
  • ● 1918, 26 December: Dom Marmion and his secretary, Dom Placide de Meester, travel to France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Ireland over a period of 6 months. He is particularly concerned with ‘the Dormition Question’
  • ● 1919, 1/5 January: Dom Marmion is in Paris
  • ● 1919, 11/15 January: He is at the Abbey of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, for discussions with the Abbot Primate
  • ●● 1919, 21 January: He arrives in Rome
  • ● 1919, 26 January: Pope Benedict XV receives him in audience
  • ● 1919, 15 February: He leaves Rome
  • ● 1919, 25/29 February: He is in France and meets the four Maredsous monks who he is sending to the Dormition Monastery
  • ● 1919, 6/17 March: Dom Marmion is in England
  • ● 1919, 20 March: He arrives at Edermine Ireland
  • ● 1919, 25 March: Publication of Christ in his Mysteries
  • ● 1919, 4 /23April: He is seriously ill in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin
  • ● 1919, 5/21 May: He returns to England
  • ● 1919, 2 June: He arrives back in Maredsous
  • ● 1919, 1 August: The Constitutions of the Belgian Congregation are discussed with the Abbots of Mont César and St. André
  • ● 1919, 23 August: He accompanies Cardinal Mercier when the Croix de Guerre is presented to the town of Dinant
  • ● 1919, 5 October: He presides at the Mass for the 1000 Year Commemoration of Brogne Abbey at St. Gérard
  • ● 1919, 3/20 November: Dom Marmion is in England
  • ● 1919, 11 November: He preaches in the presence of Cardinals Bourne and Mercier at Westminster Cathedral
  • ● 1919, 12/19 November: He gives the retreat to the diocesan clergy of Westminster
  • ● 1919, 25 November: He returns to Maredsous
  • ● 1920,February: The Abbey's Art School had not yet been able to re-open, but its workshops have plenty of orders
  • ● 1920, 20 February: The Belgian Congregation of the Annunciation is established
  • ● 1920, 9 June: Queen Elizabeth of Belgium visits Maredsous Abbey and presents Dom Marmion with a splendid chalice
  • ● 1920, 20/28 July: Abbot Marmion is in Rome to discuss the concerns of the monks of Caldey Abbey
  • ● 1920, 9/13 August: Dom Marmion gives the retreat at St.Edmund’s, Ware, England
  • ● 1920, 21 August: He instructs the small group of monks sent to the Monastery of the Dormition to return
  • ● 1920, 23 September: Dom Grégoire Fournier hands over the keys of the Dormition monastery. The monks return to Maredsous bringing to an end the Middle-eastern mission given them by their Abbot

The final years
1921-1923

  • ● 1921, 10 March: Dom Fournier returns to Maredsous
  • ● 1921, 11 July: Dom Marmion celebrates Pontifical High Mass for ‘peace in Ireland’
  • ● 1921, 30 July/14 August: He is in England to give a series of retreats
  • ● 1921, 15 August: He returns to Maredsous
  • ● 1921, 9/11 September: The Abbot takes part in the Marian Congress, Brussels, during which the statue of N.D de la Paix is dedicated
  • ● 1921, 25 September: He attends the ‘septenal’ procession of St. Feuillen at Fosses
  • ● 1921, 29 September: He appoints Dom Odilon Golenvaux Prior of Maredsous
  • ● 1921, 1/16 October: Abbot Marmion is in Ireland to give a retreat to the Poor Clares in Cork
  • ● 1921, 28 November: He consecrates the ‘Angels and Archangels’ altar in the Abbey Church of Maredsous
  • ● 1922, February: Election of Pope Pius XI
  • ● 1922, 12/14 May: Dom Marmion participates in the Namur Triduum in honour of Blessed Julie Billiart
  • ● 1922, 11 June: He takes part in the celebrations marking the Millinaire of the Abbey of Gembloux
  • ● 1922, 24/28 June: He is in Paris
  • ● 1922, 5 July: The publication of Christ the Ideal of the Monk
  • ● 1922, 6/13 July: Dom Marmion is in England to give the retreat to the clergy of Nottingham diocese
  • ● 1922, 18/26 September: He leads the Namur diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes
  • ● 1922, 15 October: Splendid celebration of 50th anniversary of Maredsous with Cardinal Mercier presiding. The last known photographs of Dom Marmion were taken on this occasion
  • ● 1922, 3/16 November: He is in Paris to give a retreat to the Benedictine of Rue Monsieur
  • ● 1922, 17 December: He gives his last conference to the nuns of Maredret
  • ● 1923, 2/5 January: He goes to Brussels for a wedding
  • ● 1923, 8/20 January: He travels several times to Antwerp to sit for his portrait by Janssens
  • ● 1923, 25 January: He says Mass… and nobody realises this is to be his last!
  • ● 1923, 26 January: He receives the Last Rites
  • ● 1923, 30 January: Abbot Joseph-Columba Marmion died
  • ● 1923, 3 February: Dom Marmion is buried. He was the first Abbot of Maredsous to be interred in the monastery cemetery