The community of St. Edmund was formed in Paris in 1615 by Dom Gabriel Gifford, later Archbishop of Rheims and primate of France. With his backing the community flourished. Expelled from Paris during the Revolution, the community took over the vacant buildings of the community of St Gregory's in Douai in 1818. Amid the political upheavals caused by the Dreyfus affair around the turn of the 19th century, the French prime ministerWaldeck-Rousseau introduced an anti-clerical Law of Associations that "severely curbed the influence of religious orders in France". This led to the community being given the minor seminary of St. Mary in Woolhampton by Bishop Cahill of Portsmouth, moving from Douai to Woolhampton in 1903. The abbey church was opened in 1933 but only completed in 1993 due to financial constraints. The monastery was greatly expanded in the 1960s with the building of the new monastery designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd. The abbey had in its charge Douai School until the latter's closure in 1999. In 2005, two monks returned to Douai, France to form a community there and restore the historic links to English monasticism.
Jacobitism
The monastery and its community have traditionally maintained strong links to the Stuart dynasty and the Jacobite cause; with King James II of England buried in the monastery in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, members of the House of Wittelsbach being educated at the community's former boarding school, and the current abbot, Geoffrey Scott OSB, is a member of the Jacobite Society.
Present
In July 2014 a monk was ordained priest, the first priestly ordination since 2007. As of 2015, the community consisted of 25 monks. The monks are spread over a number of works, with seven parishes in England and two monks in Rome including the current abbot of the ancient Benedictine community at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. The community has strong links with Oxford. The abbey's solemn liturgies at Christmas and Easter are always well-attended. The patron of the monastery is St Edmund King and Martyr, whose feast day is 20 November. The public activities of the Abbey have been curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Music
Because of its unique and marvellous acoustics, during March 1990, Douai Abbey was used as a location for British male vocal septet The Hilliard Ensemble's recording of Italian renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo's liturgic responsory Tenebrae.
