Sunday, 1 April 2018

Easter Sunday Mass. The Benedictine Monks Of Fontgombault Abbey, France.


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Easter Sunday Mass Propers.
Performed by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault, France.
Available on YouTube at




Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontgombault, France.
Date: 13 November 2009 (original upload date).
Source: Originally uploaded on en.wikipedia (Transferred by Ayack).
Author: Robindch.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Fontgombault) is a Benedictine Monastery of The Solesmes Congregation, built in Romanesque Style, located in Fontgombault, in the Département of Indre, in the Province of Berry, France.

In 1091, Pierre de l'Étoile founded a Benedictine Monastery on the Banks of The Creuse River, near the Spring, or "Fount", of Gombaud. In the 12th- and 13th-Centuries, the Abbey experienced vigorous growth and established about twenty Priories. In the 15th-Century, the Abbots of Fontgombault had numerous Ponds dug, as was also done at the Abbeys of Saint-Cyran and Méobecq, thus contributing to Fish Husbandry in the Brenne Region.

The Abbey was Sacked and Laid Waste by the Calvinists in 1569. It was not restored until the end of the 17th-Century, when Dom Andrieu accomplished the task. In 1741, the Benedictine Community, reduced to five Members, was replaced by a Community of Lazarists, who established a Seminary and used it as a Centre for Missions in the Region.



Fontgombault Abbey, France.




Easter Mass and Vespers. Fontgombault Abbey, France.
Available on YouTube at



Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontgombault, France.
Date: 1960.
Source: Own work.
Author: J. P. Sarmant.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The buildings were partly destroyed during The French Revolution, when the Monastery was nationalised and sold off. It was eventually bought back for Religious use in 1849, by The Trappists, who re-established it as a viable Community, by redeveloping its agriculture and setting up a kirsch distillery.


In 1905, The Trappists were expelled from France, under The Association Laws, and the Monastery was Secularised and sold, a second time. The purchaser was Louis Bonjean, who set up a button factory in the premises. At his death, in 1914, the buildings were put to use as a Military Hospital for wounded soldiers of the Belgian Army, which it remained until 1918. The expelled Trappists went on to form the Monastery of Our Lady of Jordan, Oregon, in The United States of America.

From 1919 to 1948, the buildings were used as a Diocesan Seminary, which eventually closed for lack of Vocations.


In 1948, the empty buildings were restored to the site's original purpose when twenty-two Monks, from Solesmes Abbey, settled it afresh as a Benedictine Community. It is now the most populous of Solesmes' Foundations, with over a hundred Monks, and has, in its turn, made three Foundations in France — Randol Abbey, in 1971, Triors Abbey, in 1984, and Gaussan Priory, in 1994 — as well as Clear Creek Abbey, in The United States, in 1999, which was Elevated from a Priory, in 2010. Mass is Celebrated in Latin, using the Traditional Pre-Vatican II Rite, as in The 1962 Roman Missal.

As Benedictines of The Solesmes Congregation, Gregorian Chant is at the heart of the Community's Liturgical Practice, and recordings of the Chant at Fontgombault Abbey are available at the Abbey Shop.



The Usus Antiquior Mass at Fontgombault Abbey, France.




English: Coat-of-Arms (Shield only) of the French Abbot, Dom Jean Pateau. Fourth Abbot of The Benedictine Abbey, Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (Our Lady of Fontgombault) since 2011.
Français: Blason (écu seul) de Dom Jean Pateau, quatrième abbé de l'abbaye bénédictine
Notre Dame de Fontgombault depuis 2011.
Date: 21 April 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Barsupilami1512.
(Wikimedia Commons)

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