Melrose Abbey, Scotland.
Illustration: VISIT SCOTLAND
The following Text is from Wikipedia -the free encyclopaedia,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Mary's Abbey, Melrose, is a partly-ruined Monastery of The Cistercian Order, in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in The Scottish Borders. It was Founded in 1136 by Cistercian Monks at the request of King David I of Scotland, and was the chief House of that Order in the Country until The Reformation. It was headed by the Abbot, or Commendator, of Melrose. Today, the Abbey is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a Scheduled Monument.
The East End of the Abbey was completed in 1146. Other buildings in the complex were added over the next fifty years. The Abbey was built in The Gothic Style, and in the form of a Saint John's Cross. A considerable portion of the Abbey is now in ruins. A structure dating from 1590 is maintained as a Museum and is open to the public.
King Alexander II and other Scottish Kings and Nobles are buried at the Abbey. A Lead Container, believed to hold the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce, was found in 1921 below The Chapter House site; it was found again in a 1998 excavation. The rest of his body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey.
Melrose Abbey is known for its many carved decorative details, including likenesses of Saints, Dragons, Gargoyles and Plants. On one of the Abbey's stairways is an inscription by John Morow, a Master Mason, which says: "Be halde to ye hende" ("Keep in mind, the end, your Salvation"). This has become the Motto of the Town of Melrose.
Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, England.
Illustration: ENGLISH HERITAGE
Rievaulx Abbey was a Cistercian Abbey, in Rievaulx, near Helmsley, in The North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. It was one of the great Abbeys in England until it was seized by King Henry VIII of England in 1538 during The Dissolution of The Monasteries. The striking ruins of its main buildings are a tourist attraction, owned and maintained by English Heritage.
Rievaulx Abbey was the first Cistercian Monastery in The North of England, Founded in 1132 by twelve Monks from Clairvaux Abbey, France.
Its remote location was well suited to The Order's ideal of a strict life of Prayer and self-sufficiency, with little contact with the outside World. The Abbey's Patron, Walter Espec, also Founded another Cistercian Community, that of Wardon Abbey, in Bedfordshire, on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited Estates.
The first Abbot of Rievaulx, Saint William I, started construction in the 1130s. The second Abbot, Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, Elected in 1147, expanded the buildings and otherwise consolidated the existence of what, with time, became one of the great Cistercian Abbeys of Yorkshire, second only to Fountains Abbey in fame. Under Aelred, the Abbey is said to have grown to some 140 Monks and 500 Lay Brothers. By the end of his tenure, Rievaulx Abbey had five Daughter-Houses in England and Scotland.
Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, England.
Photo: 2016.
Source: http://www.wyrdlight.com
Author: Antony McCallum: Who is the Uploader, Photographer,
Full Copyright Owner and Proprietor of WyrdLight.com
(Wikimedia Commons)
Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian Monasteries in England. It is located approximately three miles (five kilometres) South-West of Ripon, in North Yorkshire, near the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the Abbey operated for 407 years, becoming one of the wealthiest Monasteries in England, until its Dissolution in 1539 under the orders of King Henry VIII.
The Abbey is a Grade I Listed Building, owned by The National Trust and part of the designated Studley Royal Park, including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey, UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After a dispute and riot in 1132 at The Benedictine House of Saint Mary's Abbey, in York, England, thirteen Monks were expelled (among them Saint Robert of Newminster) and, after unsuccessful attempts to form a new Monastery, were taken under the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York.
Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, England.
Photo: 2 November 2015.
Source: Own work.
Author: DrMoschi.
(Wikimedia Commons)
He provided them with land in the Valley of The River Skell, a tributary of The River Ure. The enclosed Valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a Monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water.
After enduring a harsh Winter in 1133, the Monks applied to join The Cistercian Order, which, since the end of the 10th-Century, was a fast-growing Reform Movement that, by the beginning of the
13th-Century, was to have over 500 Houses.
So it was that, in 1135, Fountains Abbey became the second Cistercian House in Northern England, after Rievaulx Abbey. The Fountains Abbey Monks became subject to Clairvaux Abbey, in Burgundy, France, which was under The Rule of Saint Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a Monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to Celebrate the Seven Canonical Hours, according to Cistercian usage, and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice.
Cluny Abbey (Reconstruction), France.
Date: 1887-1901.
Source:
English: This image is taken from Georg Dehio/Gustav von Bezold: Kirchliche Baukunst
des Abendlandes. Stuttgart: Verlag der Cotta'schen Buchhandlung 1887-1901, Plate No. 212.
Due to its age, it is to be used with care. It may not reflect the latest knowledge or
the current state of the depicted structure.
Deutsch: Diese Abbildung stammt aus Georg Dehio/Gustav von Bezold: Kirchliche Baukunst
des Abendlandes. Stuttgart: Verlag der Cotta'schen Buchhandlung 1887-1901, Tafel 212.
Aufgrund ihres Alters ist sie mit Vorsicht zu benutzen. Sie entspricht nicht notwendigerweise
dem neuesten Wissensstand oder dem aktuellen Zustand des abgebildeten Gebäudes.
Author: Georg Dehio/Gustav von Bezold.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Virtual Reconstruction of Cluny Abbey.
Music by Obsidienne / Emmanuel Bonnardot
from the Album "Venite a Laudare".
Track is entitled: Domine ne in furore tuo, motet.
Available for Download from Amazon.
Available on YouTube at
The Abbey was constructed in The Romanesque Architectural Style, with three Churches built in succession from the 4th-Century A.D., to the Early-12th-Century. The earliest Basilica was the World's largest Church until Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Cluny was Founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine, in 910 A.D. He nominated Berno as the first Abbot of Cluny, subject only to Pope Sergius III. The Abbey was notable for its strict adherence to The Rule of Saint Benedict, whereby Cluny became acknowledged as the leader of Western Monasticism.
The establishment of The Benedictine Order was a keystone to the stability of European Society that was achieved in the 11th-Century. In 1790, during The French Revolution, the Abbey was Sacked and mostly destroyed, with only a small part of the Abbey surviving.
Starting around 1334, the Abbots of Cluny maintained a Townhouse in Paris known as The Hôtel de Cluny, which has been a Public Museum since 1843. Apart from the name, it no longer possesses anything originally connected with Cluny Abbey.
Cluny Abbey, France.
Photo: 16 July 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: TL.
(Wikimedia Commons)
All but one of the English and Scottish Cluniac Houses, which were larger than just Cells, were known as Priories, symbolising their subordination to Cluny. The exception was the Priory at Paisley, Scotland, which was raised to the status of an Abbey in 1245, answerable only to the Pope.
Cluny's influence spread into The British Isles in the 11th-Century, first at Lewes, Sussex, and then elsewhere. The Head of their Order was the Abbot at Cluny. All English and Scottish Cluniacs were bound to cross to France, to visit Cluny, to consult or be consulted unless the Abbot of Cluny chose to come to Britain, which he did five times in the 13th-Century, and twice in the 14th-Century.
Cluny's influence spread into The British Isles in the 11th-Century, first at Lewes, Sussex, and then elsewhere. The Head of their Order was the Abbot at Cluny. All English and Scottish Cluniacs were bound to cross to France, to visit Cluny, to consult or be consulted unless the Abbot of Cluny chose to come to Britain, which he did five times in the 13th-Century, and twice in the 14th-Century.
The Arts.
At Cluny, the central activity was The Liturgy; it was extensive and beautifully presented in inspiring surroundings, reflecting the new personally-felt wave of piety of the 11th-Century. Monastic intercession was believed indispensable to achieving a State of Grace, and Lay Rulers competed to be remembered in Cluny's endless Prayers; this inspired the endowments in land and benefices that made other arts possible.
The fast-growing Community at Cluny required buildings on a large scale. The examples at Cluny profoundly affected architectural practice in Western Europe from the 10th-Century through to the 12th-Century.
The three successive Churches are conventionally called Cluny I, Cluny II, and Cluny III. The construction of Cluny II, circa 955 A.D. - 981 A.D., begun after the destructive Hungarian raids of 953 A.D., led the tendency for Burgundian Churches to be stone-vaulted. In building the third and final Church at Cluny, the Monastery constructed what was to remain the largest building in Europe until the 16th-Century, when the new Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome was built.
The Cluny Library was one of the richest and most important in France and Europe. It was a Store-House of numerous very valuable Manuscripts. During the Religious Conflicts of 1562, The Huguenots Sacked the Abbey, destroying or dispersing many of the Manuscripts. Of those that were left, some were burned in 1790 by a rioting mob during The French Revolution. Others were stored away in the Cluny Town Hall.
The French Government worked to relocate such treasures, including those that ended up in private hands. They are now held by The Bibliothèque nationale de France, at Paris. The British Museum holds some sixty or so Charters originating from Cluny.
English: Cluny Abbey, France.
Deutsch: Ostflügel und Turm der Abtei von Cluny (Frankreich),
Private Aufnahme
von einer Bekannten von Marc Tobias Wenzel. - Freigegeben unter GNUFDL.
Photo: 9 November 2004.
Source: Own work.
Author: Marc Tobias Wenzel,
(Wikimedia Commons)
AND, NOW, THE FUNERAL . . .
The following Text and Illustration, dated 27 October 2017, is from FSSPX NEWS
After nearly nine Centuries of Cistercian presence in Himmerod, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, there were only six Monks left in 2017. The fate of the Abbey’s Community was sealed by the decision of The Congregation’s Chapter to dissolve it.
“The precarious financial situation, and especially the small number of Monks, played a key role in the painful decision,” declared Fr. Johannes, Superior of The Congregation of Mehrerau, a Branch of The Cistercian Order, in the columns of the 15 October 2017 Issue of The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
MASS OF A HOLY ABBOT: "Os Justi".
Introit: Psalm xxxvi. 30-31.
Os justi meditabitur sapiéntiam,
et lingua ejus loquétur judicium:
lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius.
Ps. ibid. 1.
Noli aemulari in malignantibus:
neque zelaveris faciéntes iniquitatem.
Versicle.
Gloria Patri.
Introit: Psalm xxxvi. 30-31.
The mouth of The Just shall meditate wisdom,
and his tongue shall speak judgement:
the law of his God is in his heart.
Ps. ibid. 1.
Be not emulous of evildoers:
nor envy them that work iniquity.
Versicle.
Glory be to The Father.
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