Anniversary / Pre-Reformation community marks 600th anniversary

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, right, led an ecumenical celebration for the 600th anniversary of Syon Abbey, a community of Bridgettines who lived at Isleworth on the River Thames until their expulsion by order of King Henry VIII.

Abbess Anne, 79, right, one of the community’s last three sisters, became the first Bridgettine to return to the site, where Syon House now stands, since 1538.

Hundreds of Catholics and Anglicans processed through the town of Isleworth and gathered on the lawn behind what is now the family home of the Duke of Northumberland, at a spot where archaeologists believe the abbey church stood.