A former French monk who served in a silent order for 20 years is to become a priest in Bradford.

The Reverend Thierry Guillemin, who was born in Lille, France, will become priest-in-charge at St Paul’s in Buttershaw next month.

Mr Guillemin, 48, was a monk in the Roman Catholic Carthusian Order, but, after studying the Reformation, he secretly converted to Anglicanism and was received into the Church of England in 2007.

He said: “I left the community because of a strong call to give to people outside the monastery what I had received.

“I am now very excited at the prospect of working at St Paul’s in Buttershaw, and with all the people I have already met.”

Mr Guillemin, who lived at the Grande Chartreuse Monastery, near Grenoble, will take up his new post and also that of associate priest of St Michael’s in Shelf on Tuesday, June 28.