Clairefontaine Abbey
The remains of the former Abbey of Notre-Dame de Clairefontaine are located in Wallonia near Clairefontaine, a Belgian hamlet belonging to the city of Arlon, 3 km from the Luxembourgish town of Eischen.[1]
History
The valley has been inhabited since Roman times and castle Bardenbourg, in which amongst others
Bernard de Fontaine
, who became a saint. It was said that he had been told that someone in the lord of Bardenbourg's family was very ill. Thereupon he got water from a spring not far from the castle, and blessed the sick person with this water. The latter made a miraculous recovery, and this is said to be the origin of the name "Clairefontaine". The water is still said to have healing properties.
About a hundred years later, Ermesinde had a vision, apparently
The abbey was destroyed by
French revolutionaries.[5]
The inhabitants of surrounding areas used the stones of the abbey to build their houses.
Around 1875 the Jesuits of Arlon built a new chapel on the place of the old abbey. Ermesinde's remains are now in the crypt of the chapel of Clairefontaine.
References
- ^ "L'abbaye cistercienne", Paroisse Saint Martin. (in French) Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ "Clairefontaine", Cister.net
- ^ P. Péporté, Historiography, Collective Memory and Nation-Building in Luxembourg, (Brill, 2011), 115. – via Brill (subscription required)
- ^ "Fondation de l'abbaye", Paroisse Saint Martin. (in French) Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ P. Péporté, Historiography, Collective Memory and Nation-Building in Luxembourg, 118.
Literature
- Bisdorff, Georgette (2012). Clairefontaine, un site médiéval, archéologique et historique. Die Warte: Perspectives 19|2369, 14 June 2012, pages 10–12.
- Bulletin trimestriel de l'Institut d'Archéologie du Luxembourg, no 3-4, page 163-245, "L'abbaye cistercienne de Clairefontaine - Du rêve d'Ermesinde aux réalités archéologiques", Arlon, 2010.
External links
- L'abbaye cictercienne from Paroisse Saint Martin (in French)