A FORMER Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey has died aged 82, after losing his fight against leukaemia.

The body of Bishop Ambrose Griffiths will be laid to rest in the monastery where he was schoolboy, teacher, monk, priest and abbot.

He was also procurator or bursar for the abbey and was responsible for building new boarding houses and a sports centre and for drawing up a blueprint for future development.

He succeeded Cardinal Basil Hume as the head of the Benedictine community in 1976 and held the abbacy until 1984 when he was appointed parish priest at St Mary, Leyland in Lancashire. He held that post for eight years before becoming Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in 1992. He returned to the Lancashire parish to retire in 2004. Three funeral masses will be held in his honour as his body travels from Lancashire to North Yorkshire.

The first, on June 30, will be celebrated at St Mary’s, before the body is received into the Cathedral of St Mary, Newcastle later the same day.

The second mass will be held the following day in the cathedral.

Bishop Ambrose Griffiths’ body will then make its final journey to Ampleforth Abbey, where, after the third funeral mass on July 2, it will be buried in the abbey church’s vault.

An abbey appreciation of him in 1984 said: “His reign as Abbot made it possible for the community both to accept change and also to appreciate the need for a clear sense of direction that is shared by all.

“What we value most in him are his personal qualities of humility, fairness, kindness and generosity of which he gave so unstintingly.

“Few were more surprised than he was when we elected him; nobody was more grateful that he was when we elected another; we thank him for all that he has given us; we will value all that he did for us.”