St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough

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Image:Stmchurch2.jpg Saint Michael's Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire, founded in 1881 by the Empress Eugénie (1826–1920) as a mausoleum for her late husband Napoleon III (1808–1873), Emperor of the French, and their son the Prince Imperial (1856–1879), both of whom are buried in the Imperial crypt, as is Empress Eugénie herself.

After the church and monastery were founded by the Empress Eugenie, they were initially administered by Premonstratensian Canons. In 1895, the Empress replaced them with French Benedictine monks from Solesmes. This community, famed for its scholarly writing and musical tradition of Gregorian chants, became depleted in numbers by 1947 and was supplemented by English monks of the Subiaco Congregation from Prinknash Abbey. The last French monk died at Farnborough in the 1960's.

It was designed by the renowned French architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur.

The Abbey Church houses a renowned two-manual orgue-de-choeur, a very late instrument by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, installed in 1905. The current Abbot of Farnborough is Rt Rev. Dom Cuthbert Brogan. Organ concerts are held on the first Sunday afternoon of the month between May and October.

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