Death of Fr Aelred Burrows, monk of Ampleforth

Fr Aelred Burrows OSB

Fr Aelred Burrows OSB, Benedictine monk of Ampleforth Abbey, died peacefully in the monastery infirmary at Ampleforth Abbey on 18 February 2016, at the age of 76.

He was born in Warrington in July 1939 and educated at the Xaverian College in Manchester, before joining the monastic community at Ampleforth in September 1965. He was ordained priest on 7 July 1968 and then spent just over twenty-five years in a variety of roles in the school, including teaching History and Religious Studies and Housemaster in St Hugh's House from 1976-1984. In the monastery, Fr Aelred taught Church History, Liturgy and Sacred Scripture, and at the end of his time in St Hugh's House became Novicemaster (1984-1989) and then Warden of the Grange and Vocations Director (1989-1996).

In 1996, Fr Aelred, nearing sixty years of age, moved onto parish work and worked in the parishes of St Austin's, Grassendale, and St Joseph's, Brindle, both in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. He built strong relations with church in Romania, where he would sometimes spend working holidays and bring gifts to schools in Romania from his own parishioners.

In 2008 Fr Aelred suffered a series of incapacitating strokes and after a comparatively short in-patient stay in Chorley Hospital returned to the monastery infirmary at Ampleforth, where he lived the life of a largely bed-bound invalid. He died peacefully in the monastery infirmary on 18 February 2016.

Fr Aelred's body will be received into the Abbey Church at Ampleforth on Sunday 28 February at 8.15 p.m.. His funeral Mass will be celebrated at 12 noon in the Abbey Church on Monday 29 February, followed by burial in the Monks' Wood.