Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Both Sts. Benedict and Francis lived long before the Protestant revolt in England and it should not surprise anyone that they would continue to be venerated by Anglicans.
The Franciscan story within the Anglican Church is a relatively recent one. All vowed religious orders, including the Franciscans, were dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII and were banned from Britain until the return of Roman Catholic religious orders in the first part of the nineteenth century. The re-discovery of catholic tradition within the Church of England around the same time led to the establishment of Anglican religious orders from the middle of the century, but it was not until just over one hundred years ago, following renewed interest in St Francis of Assisi and his seeking to follow Jesus Christ simply in the way of the Gospel, that Franciscan religious communities began to emerge.
There are several Benedictine Anglican religious orders, some of them using the name Order of St. Benedict (OSB). Just like their Roman Catholic counterparts, each abbey / priory / convent is independent of each other. The vows are not made to an order, but to a local incarnation of the order, hence each individual order is free to develop its own character and charism, yet each under a common rule of life after the precepts of St. Benedict. Most of the communities include a confraternity of oblates. The order consists of a number of independent communities:
Certainly, both orders continue to exist as Catholic in England.
As a rule, the monasteries were regarded with respect and admiration by the vast majority of the English populace, as they were often centers of learning and provided the only schools, hospitals and relief of poverty for ordinary people. Monasteries also supplied free food and alms for the poor and destitute.
Their generosity and mercy, as compared with other employers and landlords, their schools which did so much for the education of the district, and their orphanages and hospitals, made them enormously well liked.
The dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s was one of the most revolutionary events in English history. There were nearly 900 religious houses in England, around 260 for monks, 300 for regular canons, 142 nunneries, and 183 friaries: Some 12,000 people in total, 4,000 monks, 3,000 canons, 3,000 friars and 2,000 nuns. If the adult male population was 500,000, that meant that 1 adult man in 50 was in religious orders.
On average, the monasteries or abbeys where a traveler could find food and shelter were about eight miles apart throughout the England and Wales.
By 1540, over 800 monasteries had been dissolved. The process had taken just about four years.
After the dissolution of the monasteries, the government could not build prisons fast enough to accommodate the poor who were reduced to stealing in order to survive.