Francis Aidan Gasquet
1846–1929 (age 83)
Biography
Francis Aidan Gasquet, born in 1846, entered the Benedictine community at Downside Abbey and devoted himself to the care of the monastery's library, preserving rare manuscripts and guiding scholars who visited the abbey.
As a prolific writer and thoughtful monk, he sought to explain the richness of Catholic history and to foster respectful dialogue, and when he died in 1929 his confreres mourned a gentle and learned companion whose tomb rests amid the peaceful grounds of Downside Abbey.