Prémontré Abbey
Prémontré Abbey was the mother house of the
.History
It was founded by
- "Venit ad locum vere juxta nomen suum, a Domino premonstratum, electum et prædestinatum" ("He came to a place truly according to its [very] name foreshown, elect and predestined of the Lord").[1]
The founding tradition says that the Bishop of
At the death of Virgilius, forty-third Abbot General of Prémontré, Cardinal Francis of Pisa had intrigued so much at the Court of Rome that he succeeded in being named commendatory abbot of Prémontré, and in 1535 took possession of the abbey and all its revenues. Cardinal Francis was succeeded by Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the papal legate in France, who also held the abbey in commendam until he died in 1572. The historian of the abbey Charles Taiée [2] calls these two cardinals "les fléaux de Prémontré" ("the scourges of Prémontré").
After the death of Cardinal d'Este a free election was held and Jean Des Pruets, Doctor of the Sorbonne, an earnest and zealous priest, was elected, and his election confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII, 14 December 1572. With great ability Des Pruets undertook the difficult task of repairing the financial losses and of promoting conventual discipline at Prémontré and other houses of the order. He died on 15 May 1596, and was succeeded by two further zealous abbots, Longpré and Gosset; but the latter was succeeded by Cardinal Richelieu, as commendatory abbot.
The last abbot general, L'Ecuy, was elected in 1781. At the
Buildings
Of the old abbey as it was from the 12th to the 16th centuries hardly anything remains, but three large buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries are still standing, part of one of which is used as a church, dedicated to Saint Norbert. Most of the site is still in use as the psychiatric hospital founded in 1867.[1]
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Prémontré". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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