Aiguebelle Abbey
Encyclopedia
Aiguebelle Abbey is a Trappist
monastery situated in the communes of Montjoyer
and Réauville
in the département of Drôme
, on the borders of the Dauphiné
and of Provence
, France
.
, and visited by Pope Paschal II
in 1107, but shortly afterwards fell into disuse.
, in 1137, and settled from Morimond Abbey
, of which it was a daughter house. The founder endowed it with land nearby, and through the 12th and 13th centuries other benefactors added to its lands, thus ensuring its prosperity.
Already by 1167 it was sufficiently established to found a daughter house of its own, Fénier Abbey, closely followed by Le Bouchet Abbey in 1169.
By the end of the 13th century the abbey was extremely well established and influential, but gradually lost its position through the 14th century. In common with many other monasteries it suffered from the effects of the Black Death
and the Hundred Years' War
, and also from changing views of spirituality which led to a fall in the number of vocations, especially among the lay brother
s who worked the estates, which in turn led to the estates being leased out. In 1515 its governance passed into the hands of commendatory abbot
s, which produced still more decline, By the time of the French Revolution
, in 1791, when the abbey was dissolved, the dispersed community consisted of only three monks. The abbey's goods were sold off, but the buildings were too far from transport connections to be worth the effort of demolishing for the mnaterials, and therefore were left standing.
s (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance), under Pierre-François de Paul Malmy (Père Etienne). The new foundation flourished, and by 1850 had 233 monks.
The thriving Trappist community was able to found several other monasteries. In 1843 a Trappist community was established at Staoueli
in Algeria
, later Notre-Dame de l'Atlas, which in turn gave rise to two communities, Notre-Dame de Tibhirine, at Tibhirine in Algeria, and Notre-Dame de l'Atlas au Maroc, at Midelt
in Morocco
. In France Aiguebelle undertook the foundation of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges
, in Ardèche
, in 1850, and monasteries at Désert
(Haute-Garonne
); Acey (Jura); Dombes
(Ain
); and Koutaba in Cameroon
. Aiguebelle also oversees the nuns of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours at Blauvac
in the Vaucluse
.
- still to have the original passage of the lay-brothers, by which they were enabled to move round the abbey between their quarters, their places of work and their part of the church without disturbing the monks.
The abbey church was created a minor basilica
in 1937.
, who was discovered to have committed many similar thefts from monasteries, and had murdered Father Ildefonse when he discovered him in the act of stealing. Hadelt was sentenced to death on 4 May 1892, and was guillotine
d at Valence
on 5 July.
TRAPPIST
TRAPPIST is Belgian robotic telescope in Chile which came online in 2010, and is an acronym for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, so named in homage to Trappist beer produced in the Belgian region. Situated high in the Chilean mountains at La Silla Observatory, it is actually...
monastery situated in the communes of Montjoyer
Montjoyer
Montjoyer is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.-Population:...
and Réauville
Réauville
Réauville is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.-Population:-References:*...
in the département of Drôme
Drôme
Drôme , a department in southeastern France, takes its name from the Drôme River.-History:The French National Constituent Assembly set up Drôme as one of the original 83 departments of France on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution...
, on the borders of the Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
and of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Benedictines
The first monastery here was Benedictine, founded in 1045 by Hugues Adhemar, baron of GrignanGrignan
Grignan is a commune in the Drôme department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It has a magnificent Renaissance castle and is mentioned in the letters that Madame de Sévigné wrote to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, in the 17th century....
, and visited by Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II , born Ranierius, was Pope from August 13, 1099, until his death. A monk of the Cluniac order, he was created cardinal priest of the Titulus S...
in 1107, but shortly afterwards fell into disuse.
Cistercians
The abbey was re-founded as a Cistercian monastery by Gontard Loup, lord of Rochefort-en-ValdaineRochefort-en-Valdaine
Rochefort-en-Valdaine is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.-Population:-References:*...
, in 1137, and settled from Morimond Abbey
Morimond Abbey
Morimond Abbeyis a religious complex in Parnoy-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne department, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It was the fourth of the four great daughter abbeys of Cîteaux Abbey, of primary importance in the spread of the Cistercian Order, along with La Ferté to the south,...
, of which it was a daughter house. The founder endowed it with land nearby, and through the 12th and 13th centuries other benefactors added to its lands, thus ensuring its prosperity.
Already by 1167 it was sufficiently established to found a daughter house of its own, Fénier Abbey, closely followed by Le Bouchet Abbey in 1169.
By the end of the 13th century the abbey was extremely well established and influential, but gradually lost its position through the 14th century. In common with many other monasteries it suffered from the effects of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
and the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, and also from changing views of spirituality which led to a fall in the number of vocations, especially among the lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s who worked the estates, which in turn led to the estates being leased out. In 1515 its governance passed into the hands of commendatory abbot
Commendatory abbot
A commendatory abbot is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey in commendam, drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline...
s, which produced still more decline, By the time of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, in 1791, when the abbey was dissolved, the dispersed community consisted of only three monks. The abbey's goods were sold off, but the buildings were too far from transport connections to be worth the effort of demolishing for the mnaterials, and therefore were left standing.
Trappists
In 1815 the community was revived by the TrappistTRAPPIST
TRAPPIST is Belgian robotic telescope in Chile which came online in 2010, and is an acronym for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, so named in homage to Trappist beer produced in the Belgian region. Situated high in the Chilean mountains at La Silla Observatory, it is actually...
s (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance), under Pierre-François de Paul Malmy (Père Etienne). The new foundation flourished, and by 1850 had 233 monks.
The thriving Trappist community was able to found several other monasteries. In 1843 a Trappist community was established at Staoueli
Staouéli
Staouéli is a municipality in Algiers province, Algeria. It is located in Zéralda district, on a Presque-isle on the Mediterranean Sea, hosting the resort town of Sidi Fredj. There was a Grand Prix circuit located in Staouéli. Grands Prix were held there from 1928–1930, but the circuit is no longer...
in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, later Notre-Dame de l'Atlas, which in turn gave rise to two communities, Notre-Dame de Tibhirine, at Tibhirine in Algeria, and Notre-Dame de l'Atlas au Maroc, at Midelt
Midelt
Midelt is a town in central Morocco, in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. With an estimated population of 44,780, Midelt serves as the commercial center of a large agricultural hinterland. It is also one of Morocco's principal cities for the mining of several...
in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. In France Aiguebelle undertook the foundation of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges
Our Lady of the Snows (Trappist monastery)
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is a Trappist monastery in the Ardèche département of south-central France. It was built in 1850, located on the territory of the commune of Saint-Laurent-les-Bains, about one and a half miles east of the village of La Bastide-Puylaurent...
, in Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
, in 1850, and monasteries at Désert
Désert
“Désert” is Émilie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland. In the US, a single for the English version was released in late 2006.-Music video:...
(Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...
); Acey (Jura); Dombes
Dombes
The Dombes is an area in South-Eastern France, once an independent municipality, formerly part of the province of Burgundy, and now a district comprised in the département of Ain, and bounded W. by the Saône River, by the Rhône, E. by the Ain and N...
(Ain
Ain
Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation...
); and Koutaba in Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
. Aiguebelle also oversees the nuns of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours at Blauvac
Blauvac
Blauvac is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-References:*...
in the Vaucluse
Vaucluse
The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.- History :Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes...
.
Buildings
Despite some demolitions and a great deal of restoration work, the abbey has kept the majority of its medieval buildings: the church, cloisters, sacristy, chapter house, refectory, kitchen and the lay-brothers' quarters. It is one of the only two Cistercian monastery premises in France - the other is the former Fontfroide AbbeyFontfroide Abbey
Fontfroide Abbey or l'Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide is a former Cistercian monastery in France, situated 15 kilometers south-west of Narbonne near to the Spanish border....
- still to have the original passage of the lay-brothers, by which they were enabled to move round the abbey between their quarters, their places of work and their part of the church without disturbing the monks.
The abbey church was created a minor basilica
Minor basilica
Minor basilica is a title given to some Roman Catholic churches. By canon law no Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom....
in 1937.
Murder
In 1891 the abbey was the scene of a notorious crime. On 28 October Father Ildefonse, the procurator, was found murdered and the valuables in his care stolen. The perpetrator was a novice, Brother Eugene, whose real name was Matthias Hadelt, a native of SaarlouisSaarlouis
Saarlouis is a city in the Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis. In 2006, the town had a population of 38,327. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located at the river Saar....
, who was discovered to have committed many similar thefts from monasteries, and had murdered Father Ildefonse when he discovered him in the act of stealing. Hadelt was sentenced to death on 4 May 1892, and was guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
d at Valence
Valence, Drôme
Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...
on 5 July.