France in July 1915. He lived in the trenches in autumn 1915, until a persistent knee injury led to his hospitalization in November 1915. He was later stationed at Boyton Camp, Wiltshire, for several months, and then returned to France. At the end of 1917, he was transferred to Switzerland, where multilingual chaplains were needed for the POW camps. He remained there until the armistice. 4th Abbot of Downside In 1919 Chapman transferred his monastic stability to Downside Abbey. He spent most of 1919 to 1922 in Rome, though, working on a commission on the revision of the Vulgate translation of the Bible. He returned to Downside in 1922, where in 1929 the community elected him as abbot. As fourth abbot of Downside, during his short term of four years, he helped transform Downside into a modern abbey in the mainstream of the Benedictine tradition and in 1933 became the founder of Worth Priory (which became independent of Downside in 1957 and Worth Abbey in 1965). New Testament and patristics scholar John Chapman not only read both Greek and Latin with facility, but also read and wrote French, Italian, and German. Many of his contributions to biblical scholarship and patristics have proved of lasting value, especially his work on Cyprian, John the Presbyter, and on the priority of the Gospel according to Matthew that, so Chapman argued in support of the early Church tradition, was the first Gospel account to have been written (see also Synoptic Problem). Among the novices that Chapman clothed in the monastic habit was in 1932 John Bernard Orchard, who soon felt drawn to follow his Abbot into researching the priority of the Gospel according to Matthew in the light of the patristic evidence, and eventually, after also constructing a synopsis of the four Gospel accounts in Greek and English for the easier study of the compositional sequence Matthew-Luke-Mark-John that is supported by certain early Christian writers, produced what by hindsight may be considered a synthesis of his and his mentor's insights. Spiritual director In his day Chapman was a much sought-after spiritual director. He published a collection of letters under the title Spiritual Letters. Man of many talents According to his contemporaries, Chapman had a brilliant mind and was a fascinating conversationalist. He was also a talented pianist and a Christian humanist in the finest tradition. Works Chapman made a number of contributions to the