The community was founded in Paris in 1615 and took as patron St Edmund, king and martyr, who had been patron of the medieval monastery of Bury St Edmunds. Among the founding monks was the future martyr, St Alban Roe. The community provided a centre for English monks at the Sorbonne and also for English Catholic exiles including, after 1689, the Stuart royal family. Most of the monks went on the English mission, serving recusant Catholics. During the French Revolution the monastery was closed down and the monks scattered. After the Revolution a few of the surviving monks made a fresh start at Douai in northern France, where the community developed a school and continued to serve the English mission. It remained there until expulsion by the French government in 1903.

The monks were welcomed by the Bishop of Portsmouth who allowed them to settle at Woolhampton, taking over the parish and St Mary’s College. This college was combined with the school the monks had run in France. The community continues to serve parishes in various parts of the country, as well as running an outreach programme of retreats, meditation workshops, conferences and training for lay ministry.