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Oscar of St John’s, All Saints Convent

Cloister Cats are, on the whole, modest creatures: eschewing the high profile of Cathedral Cats, Cloister Cats do not bask in public view, neither do they get much attention from the public, for the simple reason that by the very nature of the cats’ surroundings, they are set apart.

The cloister cats featured in this book live in very distinctive surroundings: some live in monasteries with fine traditional cloisters – others are part of communities that remain entirely set apart from the outside world. Yet others live in places that only used to be monastic buildings. But for the most part they are united in the sense of being part of a community in which there is an element of religious seclusion and contemplation. The places in which they live are extraordinarily varied; from modest surroundings like St Monica’s Priory in London’s Hoxton, to the grandeur of Mottisfont and Forde Abbey, and from the rural simplicity of Holy Hill Hermitage to the antiquity of Iona: places as different as the cats who live in them.

Many of the cats featured herein are foundlings, who, like pilgrims of old seeking sanctuary, have come in need of help, shelter, food or companionship (and sometimes all four). Often the cats have chosen the communities. Others, Leo at Blackfriars in Cambridge for example, have been sought out by the community. Other cats have arrived at a community with their human companions, like Bonnie at Walsingham Priory, and Splash at the Iona Community.

Life in a religious community can be very intense. Pressures of harmonious co-existence, of following vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, all have to be dealt with. Looking in from outside, many people have a rather rosy perception of the monastic religious life, but in some ways it must be pretty tough. Maybe that is why the cloister cat has such a major place in the affections of many religious communities in this country. One of the monks at Glenstal Abbey commented wryly to me that ‘Monks need cats, to remind them not to be catty’. In some communities, particularly those with nursing or care activities, their cats have brought great pleasure to the sick and the elderly. Oscar, at St John’s in Oxford, even gets to ride on an elderly lady’s electric wheelchair, to the delight of the all the residents. There is no rule that forbids a moment’s happiness, and for many people, the opportunity to stroke a cat, to spend a moment playing with one of these graceful and quixotic creatures, is an opportunity to take a moment out of the rough and tumble of everyday life, be it in monastic or secular surroundings.

The sign on the library door at Alnmouth Priory

Finding the cats portrayed in this book wasn’t easy. By definition they were not well-known, and I am grateful to the many people who gave me leads and suggestions that sometimes did, and sometimes didn’t, lead to discovering a cloister cat. There are many others whose help with this book was invaluable, in particular my editors Ian Metcalfe and Fiona Tucker at Collins, and my wife Blanca, without whose encouragement, and patience with my frequent absences, I could not have completed Cloister Cats. Finally I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to all the communities featured, for the kind and warm hospitality that was invariably extended to me.

Brother Pascal, the Guardian of Alnmouth Friary, summed up the spirit of Cloister Cats, in his account of the two Friary cats Agnes and Clare:

‘For 35 years Alnmouth Friary has been giving food and shelter to homeless men, “wayfarers” as we still call them in the Order, so it was natural for us to welcome Clare and Agnes, two rejected homeless kittens, into our midst! These two sisters, half Siamese, were “rescued” from life “on the road”.’