The Way Of The Cross. The Thirteenth Station. The Perfect Undertaking For Lent.

“O, Beloved Wood”.

“O, Blessed Nails”. 

“O, Sweet Burden”.

Illustration: PINTEREST

Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless stated otherwise.

Indulgences: One Plenary Indulgence each time; another Plenary Indulgence if Holy Communion is received on the same day, or ten times within the month following that exercise.

If it remained unfinished, Ten Years and Ten Quarantines for each Station visited.

(20 October 1931).

Conditions:

1. To visit each Station, unless it is impossible owing to the crowd.

[Pictures of the fourteen several Mysteries are very useful, but are not indispensable. Wooden Crosses, indicating the fourteen Stations of The Cross, are sufficient and are absolutely required.]

2. To meditate, as best one can, on The Passion of The Saviour.

No vocal Prayers are required. The Popes recommend the recitation of a Pater, an Ave, and an Act of Contrition, at each Station (April 1731).

When The Way of The Cross is made in public, a Verse of “The Stabat Mater” may be sung between each Station.

The Thirteenth Station.

Jesus Is Laid In The Arms Of His Blessed Mother.

Versicle: We adore Thee, O, Christ, and we bless Thee.

Response: Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Priest.

The multitude have left the heights of Calvary, and none remain save the beloved disciple and the holy women, who, at the foot of the Cross, are striving to stem the grief of Christ’s inconsolable Mother.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body of her Divine Son from the Cross and deposit It in her arms.

Prayer.

O, thou, whose grief was boundless as an ocean that hath no limits, Mary Mother of God, give us a share in thy most holy sorrow in the sufferings of thy Son, and have compassion on our infirmities.

Accept us as thy children with the beloved disciple. Show thyself a mother unto us; and may He, through thee, receive our Prayer, Who, for us, vouchsafed to be thy Son.

An Act of Contrition.

O, God, we love Thee with our whole hearts, and above all things, and are heartily sorry that we have offended Thee.

May we never offend Thee any more. O, may we love Thee without ceasing, and make it our delight to do in all things Thy Most Holy Will.

Our Father . . .

Hail Mary . . .

Glory Be To The Father . . .

Have mercy on us, O, Lord. Have mercy on us.

Versicle: May the Souls of the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Response: Amen.

This Act of Contrition is to be repeated after each Station.

While passing from one Station to another, a Verse of the “Stabat Mater” is sung or said.

Versicle:

Fac me tecum pie flere,

Crucifíxo condolére,

Donec ego víxero.

Response:

Sancta Mater, istud agas,

Crucifíxi fige plagas,

Cordi meo válide.

Proceed to The Fourteenth Station.

Monday Of The Second Week In Lent. Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Saint Clement. Violet Vestments.

Peterborough Cathedral.
© Chel@SweetbriarDreams
www.sweetbriardreams.blogspot.co.uk

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Monday of The Second Week in Lent.

Station at Saint Clement's.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

English: Basilica of Saint Clement, Rome.

Italiano: Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano.

Photo: May 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Berthold Werner

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Station is at the Church of Saint Clement, built above the very house of the third successor of Saint Peter, whose name is found in The Canon of The Mass. This Sanctuary, a Parish of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D., is a most faithful example of an old Roman Basilica, although it was rebuilt in the 11th-Century. There are found, under the Altar, the remains of the Holy Martyr and of Saint Ignatius of Antioch.

Our Lord foretells in the Gospel that the Jews will lift Him up on The Cross, and thrice He asserts that they will die in their sin, because they have not believed in Him and done His works.

The wrath of God, which fell a first time on Jerusalem at the time of the Captivity of Babylon (Epistle), was renewed against Israel at the burning of the Temple. Like guilty Christians, they would only be able to return to The Lord by Penance, while the heathen are called, instead, to believe in Jesus, to become part of His people by Baptism.

“Let us mortify our flesh by Abstinence from food and let us Fast from sin by following Justice” (Collect).

Mass: Rédime me.
Preface: Of Lent.

Basilica of Saint Clement, Rome.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Basilica di San Clemente, Rome.

Photo: March 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Sixtus

Permission: GFDL

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

The Basilica of Saint Clement (Italian: Basilica di San Clemente-al-Laterano) is a Roman Catholic Minor Basilica, Dedicated to Pope Clement I, in Rome. Archæologically-speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings:

(1) The present Basilica, built just before the year 1100, 

during the height of The Middle Ages;

(2) Beneath the present Basilica, is a 4th-Century A.D. 

Basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which had, in the 1st-Century A.D., briefly served as an early Church, and the basement of which had, in the 2nd-Century A.D., briefly served as a mithraeum;

(3) The home of the Roman nobleman had been built on the foundations of a Republican-era building that had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 A.D.

Ceiling of the Basilica of Saint Clement, Rome.

Photo: May 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Berthold Werner

(Wikimedia Commons)

This ancient Church was transformed over the Centuries 

from a private home, that was the site of clandestine Christian worship in the 1st-Century A.D., to a grand public Basilica by the time of the 6th-Century A.D, reflecting the emerging Catholic Church’s growing legitimacy and power.

The archaeological traces of the Basilica’s history were discovered in the 1860s by Joseph Mullooly, Lector in Sacred Theology, beginning in 1849 at the College of Saint Thomas in Rome, the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.

The lowest levels of the present Basilica are remnants of the Foundation of a Republican-era building that was destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 A.D. An industrial building, possibly the Imperial Mint of Rome, was built on the site during the “Flavian” Period and, shortly thereafter, a “domus”, or multi-level house, alongside it, separated form the industrial building by a narrow alleyway.

About a hundred years later (circa 200 A.D.), the central room of the domus was re-modelled for use as part of a mithraeum, that is, as part of a sanctuary of the cult of Mithras. The main cult room (the speleum, “cave”, which is about 9.6 m long and 6 m wide, was discovered in 1867, but could not be investigated until 1914, due to lack of drainage. The “exedra”, the shallow Apse at the far end of the low vaulted space, was trimmed with pumice to render it more cave-like.

English: Mithraeum, under the Basilica of Saint Clement.

Italiano: Mitreo sottostante la basilica di San Clemente.

Русский: Митреум под базиликой святого Климента.

Date: 17 December 2006.

Source: Uploaded on Flickr as 

2006-12-17 12-22 Rom 560j 

San Clemente Ausgrabungen Mithraskult

Author: Allie Caulfield

(Wikimedia Commons)

Central to the main room of the sanctuary, was found an altar, in the shape of a sarcophagus, and with the main cult relief of the tauroctony, Mithras slaying a bull, on its front face. The torch-bearers, Cautes and Cautopates, appear on the Left and Right faces of the same monument.

A dedicatory inscription identifies the donor as one Pater Cnaeus Arrius Claudianus, perhaps of the same clan as Titus Arrius Antoninus’ mother. Other monuments discovered in the sanctuary include a bust of Sol, kept in the sanctuary in a niche near the entrance, and a figure of “Mithras petra generix”, i.e. “Mithras, born of the rock”.

Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius

bring the body of Saint Clement to Rome.

11th-Century fresco in the Basilica di San Clemente.

Source/Photographer: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

All three monuments, mentioned above, are still on display in the Mithraeum. A fourth monument, – a statue of Saint Peter found in the Speleum’s Vestibule, and still on display there – is not of the mysteries.

Our Lady Of The Atonement Cathedral,

Baguio, Philippines.

Photo: 29 March 2024.

Source: Own work.

This file is made available under the

Creative Commons CC0 1.0

Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Author: Galaxiaria

(Wikimedia Commons)

Wells Cathedral.

Photo: August 2006.

Source: Own work.

This File is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.

Author: Steinsky

(Wikimedia Commons)

“Andante Festivo”. Composer: Sibelius. Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

“Andante Festivo”.

Composer: Sibelius.

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Cluny Abbey.

English: Coat-of-Arms of Cluny Abbey.

“Gules, two Keys In Saltire,

the Wards upwards and outwards,

Or. Overall, a Sword In Pale, Argent”.

Français: De gueules, à deux clefs d'or en sautoir, traversées d'une épée en pal, à lame d'argent, la poignée d'or en pointe N.B. Certaines sources

donnent les clefs affrontées et non adossées.

Blazon reference:

English: Brian Timmas

Français: Fédération des Sites Clunisiens

Source Own work.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Abbey of Cluny,

by Marc Tobias Wenzel,

licensed under GFDL.

Deutsch: Ostflügel und Turm der Abtei von Cluny (Frankreich). Private Aufnahme von 

einer Bekannten von Marc Tobias Wenzel.

Freigegeben unter GNUFDL.

This File: 16 March 2010.

User: Liesel

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Cluny Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery, in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was built in the Romanesque Style, with three Churches built in succession from the 10th-Century to the Early-12th-Century.

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 stricter adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict and the place where the Benedictine Order was Formed, whereby Cluny became acknowledged as the leader of Western Monasticism.

The establishment of the Benedictine Order was a key-stone 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. Only a small part of the original remains.

Dating around 1334, the Abbots of Cluny had a Town House in Paris known as the Hôtel de Cluny, which is now a Public Museum since 1833. Apart from the name, it no longer possesses anything connected with Cluny.

In 910 A.D., William I, Duke of Aquitaine “The Pious”, and Count of Auvergne, Founded the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny on a modest scale, as the Mother House of the Congregation of Cluny. 

In donating his Hunting Preserve in the Forests of Burgundy, William released Cluny Abbey from all future obligation to him and his family, other than Prayer.

Abbey of Cluny.

Cathedral (reconstruction).

Date: 1887-1901.

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)

Contemporary Patrons normally retained a proprietary interest and expected to install their kinsmen as Abbots. William appears to have made this arrangement with Berno, the first Abbot, to free the new Monastery from such Secular entanglements and initiate the Cluniac Reforms.

The Abbots of Cluny were Statesmen on the International Stage, and the Monastery of Cluny was considered the grandest, most prestigious, and best-endowed, Monastic Institution in Europe. 

The height of Cluniac influence was from the second half of the 10th-Century through to the Early-12th-Century. The first female members were admitted to the Order during the 11th-Century.

The Monastery of Cluny differed in three ways from other Benedictine Houses and Confederations:

1. Organisational structure;

2. Prohibition on holding land by Feudal Service;

3. Execution of the Liturgy as its main form of work.

While most Benedictine Monasteries remained autonomous and associated with each other only informally, Cluny created a large, Federated Order, in which the administrators of Subsidiary Houses served as Deputies of the Abbot of Cluny, and answered to him.

Cluny Abbey.

Most Significant Monastery Of The Mediæval World.

Available on YouTube

HERE

The Cluniac Houses, being directly under the supervision of the Abbot of Cluny, the autocrat of the Order, were styled Priories, not “Abbeys”. 

The Priors, or Chiefs of Priories, met at Cluny once a year to deal with administrative issues and to make reports. Many other Benedictine Houses, even those of earlier Formation, came to regard Cluny as their guide.

When, in 1016, Pope Benedict VIII decreed that the Privileges of Cluny be extended to Subordinate Houses, there was further incentive for Benedictine Communities to insinuate themselves into the Cluniac Order.

Partly, due to the Order’s opulence, the Cluniac Nunneries were not seen as being particularly cost-effective. The Order did not have an interest in Founding many new Houses for women.

The customs of Cluny represented a shift from the earlier ideal of a Benedictine Monastery as an agriculturally self-sufficient unit. This was similar to the contemporary Villa of the more Romanised parts of Europe and the Manor of the more feudal parts, in which each member did physical labour, as well as offering Prayer.

Cluny Abbey.

Available on YouTube

HERE

In 817 A.D., Saint Benedict of Aniane, “The Second Benedict”, developed Monastic Constitutions, at the urging of King Louis the Pious, to govern all the Carolingian Monasteries. 

He acknowledged that “The Black Monks” no longer supported themselves by physical labour. Cluny’s agreement to offer Perpetual Prayer (Laus Perennis (literally “Perpetual Praise”)) meant that it had increased a specialisation in roles.

As perhaps the wealthiest Monastic House of the Western World, Cluny hired managers and workers to do the labour of Monks that other Orders insisted on. 

The Monks, at Cluny, devoted themselves to almost Constant Prayer, thus elevating their position into a profession.

English: The Monastery of Cluny, France.

Deutsch: Das Kloster von Cluny - Eingang zur Abtei.

Engraving: Unknown date.

Photo: 1926-1933.

Source: Fritz-Milkau-Dia-Sammlung, erstellt in der Photographischen Werkstatt der Preußischen Staatsbibliothek von 1926-1933.

Author: Émile Sagot (1805–1888).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Despite the Monastic ideal of a frugal life, the Abbey in Cluny commissioned Candelabras of Solid Silver, and Gold Chalices, made with Precious Gems, for use at the Abbey Masses.

The Web-Site of the Musée de Cluny in Paris 

(Le Monde Médiéval) can be found

HERE

Instead of being limited to the Traditional fare of broth and porridge, the Monks ate very well, enjoying roasted chickens (a luxury in France) and wines from their vineyards, and cheeses made by their employees. 

The Monks wore the finest Linen Habits, and Silk Vestments at Mass. Artefacts, exemplifying the wealth of Cluny Abbey, are today on display at the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

Cluniac Houses in Britain.

All of the English and Scottish Cluniac Houses, which were larger than Cells, were known as Priories, symbolising their subordination to Cluny. Cluny’s influence spread into the British Isles in the 11th-Century, first at Lewes, and, then, elsewhere.

The Head of their Order was the Abbot at Cluny. All English and Scottish Cluniacs were bound to travel to France, to Cluny, to consult, or be consulted, unless the Abbot chose to come to Britain, which he did five times in the 13th-Century, and only twice in the 14th-Century.

Cluny Abbey.

Available on YouTube

HERE

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 to the 12th-Century.

The three successive Churches are conventionally called Cluny I, Cluny II, and Cluny III. In building the third, and final Church, at Cluny, the Monastery constructed what was the largest building in Europe before the 16th-Century, when Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, was rebuilt. 

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.

The building campaign was financed by the Annual Census established by King Ferdinand I of León, Ruler of a united León-Castile, some time between 1053 and 1065 (Alfonso VI 

re-established it in 1077, and confirmed it in 1090.) Ferdinand fixed the sum at 1,000 Golden Aurei, an amount which Alfonso VI doubled in 1090. This was the biggest annuity that The Order ever received from King or Layman, and it was never surpassed.

King Henry I of England’s Annual Grant, from 1131, of 100 Marks of Silver, not Gold, seemed little by comparison. The Alfonsine Census enabled Abbot Hugh (☩ 1109) to undertake construction of the huge third Abbey Church.

When payments in the Islamic Gold Coin lapsed, the Cluniac Order suffered a financial crisis that crippled them during the Abbacies of Pons of Melgueil (1109 – 1122) and Peter the Venerable (1122 – 1156). The Spanish wealth donated to Cluny publicised the rise of the Spanish Christians, and drew Central Spain, for the first time, into the larger European orbit.

The Cluny Library was one of the richest and most important in France and Europe. It was a storehouse 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 related to the excesses of The French Revolution. Others still 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.

Model of the former Cluny Abbey

(Cluny III).

Photo: 15 August 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Hannes72

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Consecration of Cluny III by Pope Urban II,

12th-Century (Bibliothèque Nationale de France).

Author: Odon de Cluny.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the fragmented and localised Europe of the 10th-Century and 11th-Century, the Cluniac network extended its reforming influence far. Free of Lay and Episcopal interference, responsible only to the Papacy, which was in a state of weakness and disorder with rival Popes supported by competing Nobles, Cluniac spirit was felt revitalising the Norman Church, re-organising the Royal French Monastery, at Fleury, and inspiring Saint Dunstan, in England.

There were no official English Cluniac Priories until that of Lewes in Sussex, Founded by the Anglo-Norman Earl, William de Warenne, circa 1077. The best-preserved Cluniac Houses in England are Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, and Much Wenlock Priory, Shropshire. It is thought that there were only three Cluniac Nunneries in England, one of them being Delapré Abbey at Northampton.

Until the Reign of King Henry VI, all Cluniac Houses in England were French, governed by French Priors and directly controlled from Cluny. Henry’s Act of raising the English Priories to Independent Abbeys was a Political gesture, a mark of England’s nascent National consciousness.

The early Cluniac establishments had offered refuges from a disordered World, but, by the Late-11th- Century, Cluniac piety permeated Society. This is the period that achieved the final Christianisation of the heartland of Europe.

Pope Callixtus II was Elected at the Papal Election, 1119, 

at Cluny Abbey. From: The “Liber ad honorem Augusti” 

of Petrus of Ebulo, 1196.

This File: 3 September 2005.

User: GDK

(Wikimedia Commons)

Well-born and educated, Cluniac Priors worked eagerly with local Royal and aristocratic Patrons of their Houses, filled responsible positions in their Chanceries and were appointed to Bishoprics.

Cluny spread the custom of Veneration of the King as Patron and support of The Church, and, in turn, the conduct of 11th-Century Kings, and their Spiritual outlook, appeared to undergo a change.

In England, Edward the Confessor was later Canonised. In Germany, the penetration of Cluniac ideals was effected in concert with Henry III of the Salian dynasty, who had married a daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine.

Henry was infused with a sense of his Sacramental role as a delegate of Christ in the Temporal sphere. He had a Spiritual and intellectual grounding for his leadership of the German Church, which culminated in the Pontificate of his kinsman, Pope Leo IX. The new pious outlook of Lay Leaders enabled the enforcement of the Truce of God movement to curb aristocratic violence.

Within his Order, the Abbot of Cluny was free to assign any Monk to any House; he created a fluid structure around a central authority that was to become a feature of the Royal Chanceries of England and of France, and of the bureaucracy of the great independent Dukes, such as that of Burgundy. 

Cluny’s highly centralised hierarchy was a training ground for Catholic Prelates: Four Monks of Cluny became Popes: 

Gregory VII; 

Urban II; 

Paschal II; 

Urban V.

An orderly succession of able and educated Abbots, drawn from the highest aristocratic circles, led Cluny, and three were Canonised: 

Saint Odo of Cluny, the second Abbot (☩ 942 A.D.); 

Saint Odilo, the fifth Abbot (☩ 1049);

Saint Hugh of Cluny, the sixth Abbot (☩ 1109). 

Odilo continued to reform other Monasteries, but, as 

Abbot of Cluny, he also exercised tighter control of the 

Order’s far-flung Abbeys and Priories.

The remnants of Cluny Abbey.

Photo: 16 July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: TL

(Wikimedia Commons)

Cluny was not known for its severity or asceticism, but the Abbots of Cluny supported the Revival of the Papacy and the Reforms of Pope Gregory VII. The Cluniac establishment found itself closely identified with the Papacy.

In the Early-12th-Century, The Order lost momentum under poor government. It was subsequently revitalised under Abbot Peter the Venerable (☩ 1156), who brought lax Priories back into line and returned to stricter discipline.

Cluny reached its apogee of power and influence under Peter, as its Monks became Bishops, Legates, and Cardinals, throughout France and The Holy Roman Empire. But, by the time Peter died, newer and more austere Orders. such as The Cistercians, were generating the next wave of Ecclesiastical Reform.

Outside Monastic structures, the rise of English and French Nationalism created a climate unfavourable to the existence of Monasteries autocratically ruled by a Head residing in Burgundy. 

The Papal Schism of 1378 to 1409 further divided loyalties: France recognising a Pope at Avignon and England one at Rome, interfered with the relations between Cluny and its dependent Houses. Under the strain, some English Houses, such as Lenton Priory, Nottingham, were naturalised (Lenton in 1392) and no longer regarded as alien Priories, weakening the Cluniac structure.

English: The Cloisters of Cluny Abbey.

Français: Grand cloître de l’abbaye de Cluny.

Photo: 12 September 2017.

Source: Own work.

Author: Hadonos

(Wikimedia Commons)

By the time of The French Revolution, the Monks were so thoroughly identified with the Ancien Régime that The Order was suppressed in France in 1790 and the Monastery at Cluny almost totally demolished in 1810. 

Later, it was sold and used as a quarry until 1823. Today, little more than one of the original eight Towers remains of the whole Monastery.

Modern excavations of the Abbey began in 1927 under the direction of Kenneth John Conant, American architectural historian of Harvard University, and continued (although not continuously) until 1950.

English: The Chapel of Jean de Bourbon, Cluny Abbey.

Français: Chapelle Jean de Bourbon of Abbaye de Cluny.

Photo: 12 September 2017.

Source: Own work.

Author: Hadonos

(Wikimedia Commons)

Starting from the 12th-Century, Cluny had serious financial problems, caused mainly by the construction of the third Abbey. Charity given to The Poor increased the expenditure. The influence of the Abbey weakened gradually as other Religious Orders rose (Cistercians in the 12th-Century, then Mendicants in the 13th-Century).

Bad management of the grounds, and unwillingness of the subsidiary Companies to pay the annual taxable quota, helped to lessen Cluny’s revenue. Cluny raised loans and ended up being involved in debt to its creditors, who were merchants of Cluny or Jews of Mâcon.

The conflicts with the Priories multiplied and the authority of the Pope became heavier. To the 14th-Century, the Pope frequently named the Abbots. The crises at the end of the Middle Ages. and the Wars of Religion in the 16th-Century, weakened the Abbey a little more.

English: Cluny Abbey.

Français : Abbaye de Cluny.

Photo: 12 September 2017.

Source: Own work.

Author: Hadonos

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Monks lived in luxury and there were not more than about sixty Monks in the middle of the 15th-Century. With the Concordat of Bologna, in 1516, overseen by Antoine Duprat, the King gained the power to appoint the Abbot of Cluny.

The years following The French Revolution were fatal to all the Monastic buildings and its Church. In 1793, its Archives were burned and the Church was delivered to plundering. The Abbey estate was sold in 1798 for 2,140,000 Francs. Until 1813, the Abbey was used as a stone quarry to build houses in the Town.

Today, there remain only the buildings built under the Old Mode, as well as a small portion of Cluny III. Only the Southern Transept and its Bell-Tower still exist. The remaining structure represents less than 10% of the floor area of Cluny III, which was the largest Church of Christendom, until the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, five Centuries later.

In 1928, the site was excavated and recognised by the American archaeologist Kenneth J. Conant with the backing of the Medieval Academy of America.