DOWNSIDE. - Monastery of St. Gregory of the Benedictine Order of the English Congregation, founded at Douai in 1605, from where the monks were sent as missionaries to England; six of them were martyred by the Protestants and later beatified by Pius IX.

After the monastery at Douai was closed in 1795 because of the French Revolution, it was re-established at D. near Bath in Somersetshire (diocese of Clifton) in 1814 and as an abbey at the beginning of the 20th century. One of the works to which it has been

DOWNSIDE - Church of St. Gregory, consecrated in 1935. North nave.(by courtesy of Prof. E. Josi)

The work to which the community has always been dedicated is the education of youth; at present the schools number about 600 young people.

The abbey church of St. Gregory was consecrated in 1935.

Cardinal Fr. A. Gasquet (v.), the Archbishop of Birmingham W. B. Ullathorne, G. B. Polding Archbishop of Sydney and apostle of Australia, and the abbots A. Butler and J. Chapman all belonged to the abbey of D. D. founded the priory of Ealing, now independent, and that of Worth in Sussex.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: F. Barton, The benedictine almanac and guide to abbeys... of the english Congregation, London 1926; The D. review, special centenary issue, Downside 1914; F. A. Gasquet, The makers of St. Gregory's D. in England under the old religion and other essays, London 1912, pp. 263-87; Cortineau, I, col. 998. Ruggero Buona.

@incollection{ec4_downside, author = {Bacon, Ruggero}, title = {Downside}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1918--1919}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/downside} }

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