Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.
Showing posts with label France.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France.. Show all posts

Thursday 7 July 2022

Fleury Abbey (Floriacum), Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France.



English: Fleury Abbey,
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France.
Français: Eglise abbatiale Saint-Benoit.
Photo: 1893.
Source: Own work.
Photographer: Séraphin-Médéric Mieusement (1840–1905).
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Fleury Abbey (Floriacum), Saint-Benoît-sur-LoireLoiret, France, Founded about 640 A.D.,[1] is one of the most celebrated Benedictine Monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses the relics of Saint Benedict of Nursia.

Its site on the Banks of The River Loire has always made it easily accessible from Orléans, a centre of culture unbroken since Roman times.[2] Today, the Abbey has over forty Monks and is headed by the Abbot Etienne Ricaud.[3]


Abbo of Fleury (☩ 1004), a Monk and Abbot of Fleury, was a Theologian of wide-ranging intellect; his life was written by the chronicler, Aimoin, also a Monk of Fleury. Andrew of Fleury (writing circa 1043) wrote Miracula sancti BenedictiHugh of Fleury ( 1118) was a Monk of Fleury known for his chronicles and other writings.


The Nave, Fleury Abbey.
Photo: 22 January 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Nguyenld
(Wikimedia Commons)

Anscar Vonier, writing in The Catholic Encyclopedia, says that "from the very start, the Abbey boasted of two Churches, one in honour of Saint Peter and the other in honour of The Blessed Virgin Mary."[4]

The Church of Saint Peter was demolished in the 18th-Century; the existing Church, Dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary, pre-existed the Founding of the Monastery. After the ravages of The Normans, who penetrated via The River Loire and burned the Monastery buildings, which also suffered a catastrophic fire in 1026, this Church became the great Late-11th-Century Romanesque Basilica, which occasioned the erection of a great Tower, that was intended as The Great West Front of The Abbey Church, which was completed in 1218.


It was here that The Fleury Playbook was compiled, perhaps in Dedication to the new Church. The Tower of Abbot Gauzlin,[5] resting on fifty Columns, forms a unique Porch.

The Carolingian-Style Church is about three hundred feet long, its Transept is one hundred and forty feet wide. The Choir of the Church contains the tomb of a French Monarch, King Philip I of France, buried there in 1108. Of the Mediæval Abbey's buildings, only this Basilica survives in the modern Monastery.



English: Coat-of-Arms, Fleury Abbey,
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ssire
(Wikimedia Commons)

The 17th-Century Benedictine scholar, Jean Mabillon, accepted the Traditional Founding of Fleury Abbey as by Leodebaldus, Abbot of Saint-Aignan (Orléans) about 640 A.D., in the existing Gallo-Roman villa of Floriacum, in the Vallis Aurea, the "Golden Valley". This was the spot selected by the Abbot of Saint-Aignan for his Benedictine Foundation. Rigomarus was its first Abbot.


The most famous of the Merovingian Abbots was Saint Mommolus, who effected the translation of the Relics of Saint Benedict of Nursia[6] to the Abbey. The Monastery underwent a season of reform in its Monastic life, about 930 A.D., along the lines first laid out at Cluny Abbey. The Monastery enjoyed the patronage of The Carolingian dynasty for generations; it was also central to the political ambitions of The Robertian House, descended from King Robert I of France, several of whom had held the Title of Duke of The Franks.

The Monk of Fleury named Helgaud ( 1068), was Chaplain to King Robert II and wrote a brief “Epitoma vitæ Roberti regis”. Fleury Abbey had particular significance in lending legitimacy to its Patrons. Although Royal and Ducal Patronage had material advantages, there was also a price to be paid, in terms of Monastic autonomy, when the Ducal candidate conflicted with the choice of the Monastic community.


English: Fleury Abbey,
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France.
Français : Eglise abbatiale Saint-Benoit.
Photo: 1893.
Source: Own work.
Photographer: Séraphin-Médéric Mieusement (1840–1905).
(Wikimedia Commons)

Theodulphus, Bishop of Orléans, established at Fleury a school for young noblemen, recommended there by Emperor Charlemagne. By the Mid-9th-Century A.D., its Library was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled in The West, and scholars such as Lupus of Ferrières ( 862 A.D.) travelled there to consult its Texts.

Later, under Saint Abbo of Fleury (Abbot 988 A.D. - 1004), Head of the reformed Abbey School, Fleury enjoyed a second golden age; it kept up close relations with Abbeys in England. Later, among the non-resident Abbots “in commendam”, were Cardinals Odet de Coligny and Antoine Sanguin, in the reign of King François I and Cardinal Richelieu.


Like all Benedictine Monasteries in France, the Community were scattered by The French Revolution. Nevertheless, a Benedictine presence remained continually: The Parish was held by a Monk disguised as a Secular Priest, and there were numerous attempts to restore the Monastery throughout the 19th-Century.[7]


English: Fleury Abbey,
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France.
Français : Eglise abbatiale Saint-Benoit.
Photo: 30 October 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Gilbertus
(Wikimedia Commons)


Finally, in 1944, the Community (which had been resident at Pierre-qui-Vire) was restored to the Abbey, which was rebuilt as a member of The Subiaco Congregation.[8] The Monastery is remembered each day at Evensong in Winchester Cathedral, England, with an additional Prayer at the conclusion of The Responses – “The Fleury Prayer”.[9]


Fleury Abbey is reputed to contain the Relics of Saint Benedict of Nursia, the Father of Western Monasticism. Saint Mommolus, the second Abbot of Fleury Abbey, is said to have effected their Transfer when that Abbey fell into decay after the ravages of The Lombards in the 7th-Century A.D. Benedict's Relics, and the “Miracula Sancte Benedicti”, developed over three Centuries by five Monks of Fleury, including Andreas of Fleury,[10] attracted Pilgrims, bringing wealth and fame.

Monks of the Italian Monastery, Monte Cassino, which was Founded by Benedict, himself, disputed this story. They claimed that Monte Cassino possesses the remains of the body of Saint Benedict, but have never shown Relics as proof.


Fleury Abbey.
Available on YouTube at

Carolingian Architecture is the Style of North European Pre-Romanesque Architecture belonging to the period of The Carolingian Renaissance of the Late-8th-Century A.D. and the 9th-Century A.D., when The Carolingian dynasty dominated West European politics. It was a conscious attempt to emulate Roman Architecture and, to that end, it borrowed heavily from Early-Christian and Byzantine Architecture, though there are nonetheless innovations of its own, resulting in a unique character.


The Gatehouse of the Monastery at Lorsch, Germany, built around 800 A.D., exemplifies Classical inspiration for Carolingian Architecture, built as a Triple-Arched Hall dominating the Gateway, with the Arched Façade interspersed with attached Classical Columns and Pilasters, above.

The Palatine Chapel, in Aachen, Germany, constructed between 792 A.D. – 805 A.D., was inspired by the Octagonal Justinian Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, built in the 6th-Century A.D., but, at Aachen, there is a tall monumental Western entrance complex, called a Westwork — a Carolingian innovation.


Fleury Abbey.
Available on YouTube at

Carolingian Churches, generally, are Basilican, like the Early-Christian Churches of Rome, and commonly incorporated Westworks, which is arguably the precedent for the Western facades of later Mediæval Cathedrals. An original Westwork survives today at the Abbey of Corvey, in Germany, built in 885 A.D.

The Web-Site of Fleury Abbey can be found HERE

Saturday 10 July 2021

Rheims Cathedral, France. (Part Two).


Text from Wikipedia - the free encylopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Please note: “Reims” (French) is often spelled “Rheims” in English.


Rheims Cathedral.
Artist: Domenico Quaglio the Younger (1787–1837).
Collection: Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany.
This File: 14 May 2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Unusually, the names of the Cathedral's original architects are known. A Labyrinth built into the floor of The Nave at the time of construction (similar to examples at Chartres and Amiens) included the names of four Master Masons (Jean d'Orbais, Jean-Le-Loup, Gaucher de Reims, and Bernard de Soissons) and the number of years they worked there, though art historians still disagree over who was responsible for which parts of the building.

The Labyrinth was destroyed in 1779, but its details and inscriptions are known from 18th-Century drawings. The clear association here between a Labyrinth and Master Masons adds weight to the argument that such patterns were an allusion to the emerging status of the architect (through their association with the mythical artificer, Dædalus, who built the Labyrinth of King Minos).


English: Postcard depicting Rheims Cathedral burning
after German Army bombardment in September 1914.
Français: La Cathédrale_de Reims en_flammes
par les obus allemands, carte postale.
Date: 1914.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral also contains further evidence of the rising status of the architect in the tomb of Huges Liberger (☩ 1268, architect of the now-destroyed Rheims Church of Saint Nicaise). Not only is he given the honour of an engraved slab, he is shown holding a miniature model of his Church (an honour formerly reserved for noble donors) and wearing the academic garb befitting an intellectual.

The Towers, 81m tall (267 ft), were originally designed to rise 120m (394 ft). The South Tower holds just two great Bells; one of them, named “Charlotte” by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine in 1570, weighs more than 10,000 kg (about 11 tons).

During The Hundred Years' War, the Cathedral was under siege by the English Army from 1359 to 1360.



English: Poster for the mobilisation of the 178th Canadian Battalion
during The First World War, with Rheims Cathedral in the background.
Français: Affiche pour la mobilisation au sein du
178 bataillon canadien avec en fond la cathédrale Reims.
Date: 1915.
Source: Not known.
Author: Not known.
(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1875, The French National Assembly voted £80,000 for repairs of the façade and balustrades. The façade is the finest portion of the building, and one of the great masterpieces of The Middle Ages.

German shells, during the opening engagements of The First World War on 20 September 1914, burned, damaged, and destroyed, important parts of the Cathedral. Scaffolding around The North Tower caught fire, spreading the blaze to all parts of the carpentry superstructure.

The Lead of the roofs melted and poured through the Stone Gargoyles, destroying, in turn, the Bishop's Palace. Restoration work began in 1919, under the direction of Henri Deneux, a native of Rheims and Chief Architect of The Monuments Historiques; the Cathedral was fully re-opened in 1938, thanks, in part, to financial support from The Rockefellers, but work has been steadily going on since.

The Web-Site of Rheims Cathedral can be found HERE

PART THREE FOLLOWS

Tuesday 3 January 2017

Musée De La Visitation, Moulins, France.



Illustration: MUSÉE-VISITATION

From NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT
of 13 September 2012.


Our Post from yesterday, about the Liturgical treasury of the French Cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay, resulted in the following being brought to our attention, which shows The Visitation Museum in Moulins, France, where "nearly ten thousand Chalices, Chasubles, and silk Liturgical items have been produced and preserved by The Sisters of The Visitation of Holy Mary."


Sacred Silk and other displays of
The Visitation Museum, France.
Available on YouTube at


Magnificent embroidery skills on display at

The  following Text from MUSÉE-VISITATION

The Museum of The Visitation is a private organisation run by the Association "Regard sur la Visitation", whose goals are: Safeguarding and promoting the artistic and Religious heritage of the Monasteries of The Order of The Visitation; create and maintain a Museum, in Moulins, France, dedicated to The Order of The Visitation and its heritage.

To achieve its objectives, the Museum relies on a Scientific Committee consisting of historians, researchers and professionals in the Museum World. Eighty-seven Monasteries of The Sainte Marie Visitation Order, settled in nineteen Countries of Europe, Middle East, North and South America, decided to save their artistic patrimony by deposing some masterpieces into The Museum of Moulins, France. Moulins is the City where Sainte Jeanne de Chantal Fremyot, the Co-Foundress of The Order, died.


Superb needlework on display at

Year after year, the number of pieces has increased considerably and now it exceeds 8,000. Encompassing a period that extends from the 15th- to the 21st-Century, these pieces relate the history and the patrimony of a Monastic Order which was present in France (160 Foundations) and which extends all over the World.



"All Heart" — Burning Love of The Sacred Heart.
http://visitationspirit.org/2013/06/o... -- "Behold this Heart that has so greatly loved people." 
These words of Jesus Christ to the humble Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque, Centuries ago, are echoed in the beautiful Vestments, Liturgical objects, and other artifacts at a special exhibit displayed  in 2013 at The Musée de la Visitation, Moulins, France.
The Museum hosted "A tout coeur," (All Heart), an exhibition of works of art and love centered around The Devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Order the book (in French) on The Museum's Sacred Heart exhibit at http://www.visitationspirit.org/allheart.
Available on YouTube at


The Collection is as various as the furniture and objects necessary for life in a Community. Some pieces have prestigious origins; Relics of famous Saints, donations of illustrious or Royal people. Others are the fruits of the patient work of The Visitandines, women having left society for a life of Prayer, following The Rules defined by their Co-Founder, Saint Francis de Sales.

You can hear the interview of Gérard Picaud, administrator of the Museum, by Elodie Courtejoie from Canal Académie.


Chasubles on display.
Illustration: MUSÉE DE LA VISITATION

Thursday 17 September 2015

Abbey of Solesmes, France.



Date: 28 July 2005 (according to Exif data).
Source: Own work.
Author: User:Bautsch.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Solemnes Abbey.
Available on YouTube at


Solesmes Abbey, or Saint Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes) is a Benedictine Monastery in Solesmes, Sarthe, France, famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine Monastic life in the Country, under Dom Prosper Guéranger, after the French Revolution. The current Abbot is the Right Reverend Dom Philippe Dupont, O.S.B.

It was originally founded in 1010 as a Priory of the Benedictine Le Mans Abbey. Its history was largely uneventful. It suffered considerably during The Hundred Years' War but was afterwards restored.



Solesmes Abbey
Gregorian Chant.
Available on YouTube at


Towards the end of the 15th-Century, the rebuilding of the Church was commenced, Prior Philibert de la Croix changing it from Basilica Form to that of a Latin Cross. His successor, Jean Bougler (1505-1556), completed the restoration of the Church, added the Tower, and rebuilt the Cloisters, Sacristy, and Library. Under his direction two famous groups of statuary, known as the "Saints of Solesmes", were set up in the Church. In the 16th-Century, these masterpieces were in danger of being destroyed by the Huguenots and other Iconoclasts, but the Monks saved them by erecting barricades. From the 17th-Century, it underwent a slow decline under a series of commendatory Priors.



English: Solesmes Abbey, France.
Français: Vue de l'abbaye depuis le pont franchissant la Sarthe.
Date: 14 April 2007 (according to Exif data).
Source: No machine readable source provided.
Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).
Author: No machine readable author provided.
Leag assumed (based on copyright claims).
(Wikimedia Commons)


Following The French Revolution, the newly-formed National Constituent Assembly prohibited all Religious Vows on 13 February 1790. At Solesmes, one of the seven Monks (the Sub-Prior) broke his Vows to become a constitutional Priest and Soldier of The Republic. The others were imprisoned after refusing to take an oath. One of them, Dom Pierre Papion, then managed to hide in order to celebrate Masses secretly across the Region. After signing the Concordat, he became Chaplain of the Hospice de Sablé.

Solesmes, whose occupants had been forced out in March 1791, was then commandeered as the country residence of a certain Henri Lenoir Chantelou, and its archives were burned in a "civic" bonfire on 14 July 1794. The Church was re-opened at the time of the Concordat and the Lenoir de Chantelou family were given statues by Napoleon, so that those at Le Mans Abbey were not removed.

In 1825, government property administrators sold the Monastic buildings and 145 acres with its farms. In 1832, it was decided to demolish the buildings, starting with the East Wing, which has now disappeared.



English: Solesmes Abbey, France,
Français: Vue de l'abbaye depuis le chemin situé au pied des remparts.
Date: 14 April 2007 (according to Exif data).
Source: No machine readable source provided.
Own work assumed (based on copyright claims).
Author: No machine readable author provided.
Leag assumed (based on copyright claims).
(Wikimedia Commons)


In 1831, the remaining buildings, which had escaped demolition in The French Revolution, but were threatened with destruction for want of a buyer, came to the attention of the locally-born Priest, Prosper Guéranger, who, inspired by the vision of a restored Monastic Life in France, acquired them for the home of a new Benedictine Community, which moved in on 11 July 1833. Against all expectation, the new Community flourished and, in 1837, not only received Papal approval, but was elevated to the Rank of an Abbey and made the Head of the newly-created French Benedictine Congregation, now The Solesmes Congregation within The Benedictine Confederation.

In 1866, a Convent, Saint Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes, was also Founded at Solesmes, by Mother Cécile Bruyère (the first Abbess), with the support of Dom Guéranger, which was the first House of the Nuns of The Solesmes Congregation.



English: Coat-of-Arms of Dom Guéranger, first Abbot of Solesmes Abbey.
Français: Armoiries de Dom Guéranger, abbé de Solesmes.
Source: Own work, some elements by SajoR
in "Armorial des prélats Français du XIXème siècle" p. 309.
Author: Mathieu CHAINE.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Since its restoration, Solesmes has been Dissolved by the French Government no less than four times. In 1880, 1882, and 1883, the Monks were ejected by force, but, receiving hospitality in the neighbourhood, succeeded each time in re-entering their Abbey. Between 1901 and 1922, the Monks were forced into exile in England. They settled on the Isle of Wight and built the present Quarr Abbey. The Community survived those trials, and those of two World Wars, and is still at Solesmes.

As part of its mission of Monastic revival, the Abbey has been the Mother House of numerous other Monastic Foundations, most notably in recent years the Monastery at Palendriai, in Lithuania.

The Abbey is noted for its crucial contribution to the advancement of The Roman Catholic Liturgy and the revival of Gregorian Chant. A documentary film on life at Solesmes was made in 2009 and focuses on the Tradition of the Chant at the Monastery.



Image of Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875).
Printmaker was Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1834–1887).
Created 1874, published 1878 or earlier.
Date: 7 May 2007 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.
Author: The original uploader was Ikanreed at English Wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Liturgical Year.
Written by Dom 

Available (in U.K.) from

Available (in U.S.A.) from



THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL



THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

Available (in U.S.A.) from

Thursday 19 September 2013

The Office of Compline In A Cistercian Abbey. Chant Grégorien De L'abbaye De Fontfroide, France. Complies Cisterciennes.


Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


File:Abbaye de Fontfroide (Cloitre).jpg


English: The Cloisters 
at Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Cloitre de Fontfroide
Photo: 23 April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: J-f.desvignes.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Abbaye de Fontfroide 30.JPG


English: Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Abbaye de Fontfroide, Narbonne, Aude, 
Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
Photo: 22 September 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Romain Bréget.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Abbaye Fontfroide cloitre 03.jpeg


The Cloisters at Fontfroide Abbey, 
Languedoc, France.
Photo: 23 March 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Harmonia Amanda.
(Wikimedia Commons)


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.

It was founded in 1093 by the Viscount of Narbonne, but remained poor and obscure until, in 1144, it affiliated itself to the Cistercian reform movement. Shortly afterwards, the Count of Barcelona gave it the land in Spain that was to form the great Catalan Monastery of Poblet, of which Fontfroide counts as the Mother House, and, in 1157, the Viscountess Ermengarde of Narbonne granted it a great quantity of land locally, thus securing its wealth and status. The Abbey fought, together with Pope Innocent III, against the heretical doctrine of the Cathars, who lived in the region. It was dissolved in 1791 in the course of the French Revolution.


File:Abbaye Fontfroide AL 21.jpg


English: Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Abbaye de Fontfroide (Narbonne).
Photo: 4 April 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: ArnoLagrange.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:FONTFROIDE.jpg


Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Photo: 6 September 2004.
Source: Own work.
Author: CARPEDIEM13.
(Wikimedia Commons)


It was re-founded in 1858 by Monks from Sénanque Abbey. The Community was driven out of France by French legal changes in 1901. The premises, which are of very great architectural interest, passed into private hands in 1908, when the artists, Gustave and Madeleine Fayet d'Andoque, bought it to protect the fabric of the buildings from an American collector of sculpture. They restored it over a number of years and used it as a centre for artistic projects.

It still remains in private hands. Today, wine is produced here of the AOC Corbières quality, under the French appellations system. It also has a small working farm, bookstore and restaurant and takes paying guests.




The Office of Compline 
in a Cistercian Abbey.
Chant grégorien de 
l'abbaye de Fontfroide.
Complies cisterciennes.
Available on YouTube at


File:Narbonne Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide 14.JPG


English: Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Abbaye Sainte-Marie de 
Fontfroide à Narbonne.
Photo: 11 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Narbonne Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide 8.JPG


English: Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide à Narbonne.
Photo: 11 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Narbonne Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide 12.JPG


English: Fontfroide Abbey, France.
Français: Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide à Narbonne.
Photo: 11 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...