Bonneval Abbey was founded as a monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 of Cistercian monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

s, which is located in Le Cayrol

Le Cayrol

Le Cayrol is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...

, in the Department of Aveyron

Aveyron

Aveyron is a département in southern France named after the Aveyron River.- History :Aveyron is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790....

, in the south of 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...

. It is now inhabited by Trappistine nuns.

History

Bonneval Abbey was founded in 1147 by monks from Mazan Abbey

Mazan Abbey

Mazan Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in the village of Mazan-l'Abbaye in the département of the Ardèche in the region of Rhône-Alpes, France....

, in Rouergue

Rouergue

Rouergue is a former province of France, bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan and on the west by Quercy...

. Its name means "good valley", a typical Cistercian name. Bonneval quickly became a rich and powerful abbey, owning extensive estates throughout the country.

In the mid-14th century it suffered from 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 underwent much damage and loss during the The Hundred Years' War, as the Rouergue was given to the English in 1360 by the Treaty of Brétigny

Treaty of Brétigny

The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...

. Towns and abbeys were looted, and Bonneval, although fortified, was unable to keep out the English troops and the bands of marauding French bandits.

A long period of decadence followed. Nevertheless Bonneval was chosen in the 17th century to educate novices from every Cistercian abbey in southwest France. During 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...

, the 13 remaining monks had to leave in 1791. The abbey and its goods were sold off, and the buildings subsequently quarried

Spolia

Spolia is a modern art-historical term used to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments...

 for stone.

Today

In 1875, Trappist

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...

 nuns came to rebuild the abbey. They also opened a chocolate factory, and installed a turbine on the river to produce electricity. In 1902, they founded what would become the Bon-Conseil Abbey, in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Today, the community at Bonneval consists of 30 nuns, aged from 29 to 98. They still produce a well-known chocolate, but above all they endeavour to fulfil their vocation of prayer.

Sources/ External links

• Bonneval Abbey website
• Abbayes en France: Bonneval
• Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance official website (Trappists)
• Main Reference: Cartulaire de l’Abbaye de Bonneval, P.-A. Verlaguet ed., Rodez, Carrère, 1938.