What is Blackfriars?

Fr Robert Gay OP, Prior of the community of friars

Fr Simon Gaine OP, Regent of Blackfriars Hall and Blackfriars Studium

First established in Oxford in 1221, Blackfriars is a unique place with a dynamic and wide-ranging mission.

Monastery?  College?  Seminary?  Church?

Blackfriars is – in its own way – all of these things.

Blackfriars is a ‘Priory’, the home of a community of Dominican Friars who open their doors to others, welcoming university students, researchers, men training for priesthood – and many local people who join us for religious services and social events.

It is a place of friendly spiritual and intellectual encounter, where faith and reason enter into deep dialogue with the modern world.