Melleray Abbey

Coordinates: 47°32′54″N 1°22′40″W / 47.54833°N 1.37778°W / 47.54833; -1.37778
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
View of Melleray Abbey buildings

Melleray Abbey (

Trappist monks. Since 2016 it has been used by the Chemin Neuf Community
.

History

Foulques, abbot of Pontrond in

Cîteaux), sent monks for the foundation of a monastery in Brittany. They chose a solitary location near Old Melleray, shown them by Rivallon, pastor of Auverné, which Alain de Moisdon, proprietor of the place, donated to them. According to legend, two of the founding brothers, spending the night in the forest, found in the hollow trunk of the tree under which they slept, a honeycomb, which supplied them with the food they desperately needed. This hollow tree marked the spot of the site of their new monastery, Meilleraie, which means honeycomb, and which in the long course of time has become Melleray.[1]

Guitern, the first abbot, erected the original monastery in 1145, but the church was not completed until 1183, under Geffroy, the fourth abbot.[2]

A small monastery built for about twelve monks, Melleray remained regular in observance until during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when relaxation prevailed. Etienne de Brezé (1544) was the first

Rule of St. Benedict was re-introduced, and the monastic buildings restored. In 1791 it was suppressed, and the few remaining religious were dispersed.[2]

This, however, was not the end of Melleray. The

Cardinal Weld, they settled (1795) at Lulworth, Dorset, England, where they established a priory, St. Susan's. This was soon created an abbey, and Antoine de Beauregard was elected the first abbot (1813). In 1817, with changed conditions and the restoration of the Bourbons, the monks of Lulworth returned to France, and settled at Melleray.[2]

Although much of the soil of their property was stony and sterile they applied to it the skill learned from the improved methods of English farming, introducing new types of plows and the first threshing machine ever used in Brittany.

Mount Saint Bernard Abbey
(1835) in England. Abbot Antoine de Beauregard (d. 1839) was succeeded first by Abbot Maxime, then by a second Abbot Antoine, and then by Abbot Eugene Vachette.

Under Antoine II several monasteries were established, among them

La Grande Trappe
, and was instrumental in effecting the reunion into a single order of the three congregations into which the Trappists were then - 1892 - divided).

In 2015, the Trappist monks announced that they would leave the abbey in 2016, and give charge of it to the Chemin Neuf Community.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Hoffmann, M.M., Arms and the Monk! The Trappist Saga in Mid‑America, Dubuque, Iowa, Wm. C. Brown Company, 1952 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ a b c Obrecht, Edmond. "Melleray." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 22 January 2023 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ "Historique", Chartreuse de La Valsainte (Suisse)
  4. ISBN 0964280213
  5. ^ Ouest-France, ed. (August 28, 2015). "Religion. Qu'est-ce que la Communauté du Chemin neuf ?" (in French). Retrieved August 28, 2015..
  6. ^ "Melleray Abbey", Office de Tourisme Intercommunal de Châteaubriant - Derval
Attribution
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Melleray". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
    • MANRIQUE, "Annales Cistercienses" (Lyons, 1642);
    • JANAUSCHEK, "Originum Cistercienium" (Vienna, 1877);
    • HAUREAU, "Gallia Christiana", XIV (1856);
    • MORICE, "Preuves de l'Histoire de Bretagne";
    • FELIX, "Notice sur l'Abbaye de Melleray" (Nantes, 1884);
    • DE CORSON, "L'Abbaye de Melleray avant la Revolution" (St. Brieuc, 1895);
    • "Vie du R. P. D. Antoine" (Paris, 1840);
    • GAILLARDIN, "Les Trappistes de l'ordre de Citeaux au XIXe s." (2 vols., Paris, 1845);
    • RICHER, "Voyage par un Trappiste de 7 Fons" (Paris, 1870); "Grandmaison y Bruno" (Paris, 1852);

External links

Media related to Abbaye Notre-Dame de Melleray at Wikimedia Commons

47°32′54″N 1°22′40″W / 47.54833°N 1.37778°W / 47.54833; -1.37778

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