Return of the White Canons recounts the remarkable yet little-known efforts of the Canons Regular of Prémontré—the Premonstratensians or “Norbertines”—to restore their Order in Victorian Britain. Once prominent across medieval England and Scotland, the Norbertines had long vanished from the British religious landscape.
Drawing on fresh archival research in France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, offers the first detailed narrative of this ambitious revival. He situates the movement within the wider context of the Catholic Revival, when recusant families, converts from the Oxford Movement, and even an exiled empress sought to rebuild Catholic life amid a Protestant culture.
Nichols begins with a concise overview of the Order’s twelfth-century origins and traces its history through the modern period. He then examines how two continental abbeys, Tongerlo and Frigolet, guided the attempts to re-establish Norbertine life in Britain. While some endeavors ended in disappointment or even farce, others produced fruitful pastoral work and left a lasting mark on English religious history.
Blending scholarship with narrative flair, Return of the White Canons closes by reflecting on the enduring legacy of these pioneers and the opportunities that remain for their successors today.
About the Author
Aidan Nichols, OP, is a Dominican friar and one of the most prolific Catholic theologians writing in English today. Known for his works on theology, culture, and Church history, he has written extensively on both Catholic and Orthodox traditions. In his autobiography Apologia: A Memoir (Gracewing, 2023), he recounts the origins of his interest in the Norbertine Order.
