St Benet's Hall is a Permanent Private Hall (PPH) of the University of Oxford.

Composition and status

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St. Benet's Hall is a Benedictine establishment, whose principal function is to allow Catholic monks (primarily Benedictines and related orders, most notably the Premonstratensians of England) to study as undergraduates within the University. In addition, it admits men (principally but not exclusively Catholics) both as undergraduates and post-graduates.

As a PPH, St. Benet's does not have the status of a College of the University of Oxford, but those of its members who have matriculated are full members of the University, and able to supplicate for degrees on the successful completion of their studies.

Members of the Hall are individually members of the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU), but, following a dispute over OUSU's policy on reproductive health, the Hall dissaffiliated in 1997, and is not represented in the OUSU Council. Students at St. Benet's are eligible for life membership of the Oxford Union Society.

The Hall is known as "Benet's" within the University, and has the distinction of being the only constituent body of the University open to the laity of only one gender.

History

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The Hall was originally established in 1897. It took on its official name "Aula Sancti Benedicti" ("St. Benet's Hall") in 1918.

Prior to this date, Permenent Private Halls of the University of Oxford took their name from their Master, and the Hall was known successively as Hunter-Blair, Parker, and McCann Hall.

The Hall always been primarily a venue for monastic study, but the falling number of vocations led to the admission of lay men to fill vacant places, which have over time come to be the majority of the Hall's undergraduate members.

Masters

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St. Benet's has had nine Masters since it was established in 1897:

• Abbot Oswald Hunter Blair OSB (1898–1909)
• Father Anselm Parker OSB (1909–1920)
• Father Justin McCann OSB (1920–1947)
• Father Gerard Sitwell OSB (1947–1964)
• Father James Forbes (1964–1979) OSB (famed pottery expert and Knight of Malta)
• Father Philip Holdsworth OSB (1979–1989)
• Father Fabian Cowper OSB (1989–1990)
• Father Henry Wansbrough OSB (1990–2004) (Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible)
• Father Leo Chamberlain OSB (2004– )

JCR

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Like other Colleges and PPHs, St. Benet's has a united common room of which all students at the Hall are members. The JCR, MCR and SCR are united. Thus the three are one.

The present JCR Committee is :

• President: Nicholas Kazaz
• Treasurer: Conradin Graf zu Castell-Castell
• Secretary: Nicholas Hanson
• Social Secretary: Robert Hayward
• Welfare Officer: Robert Stroud
• P.R. Officer: Fr Edward Mazich
• Food Liaison Officer: Alexander Stafford

Rowing

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St. Benet's is noted for its rowing team, the self-proclaimed 'Benet's bisons'; despite the small size of the college a consistently strong team has been fielded for many years, and in recent years it has an all but consistent record of winning 'blades', the trophy awarded for 'bumping' (rowing past teams ranked above) every day in a regatta. Recently, one of the Light-Weight Blues Team came from St. Benet's.

University life

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Despite having a small number of members, Benet's has been surprising successful in university socities. Several Presidents of the Oxford University Newman Society, a President of the Oxford Law Society, several Officers in the Oxford University Conservative Association, and several Returning Officers (including Simon Bowmer, Matthew Taylor and Will Samengo-Turner) and the most recent Chairman of Consultative Committee of the Oxford Union of the Oxford Union have come from St. Benet's.

1897 establishments | Permanent Private Halls of the University of Oxford | Benedictine