Mondaye Abbey ( or ''Abbaye Saint-Martin de Mondaye'') is a French

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

abbey in the

Bessin Bessin () is an area in Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Norman ...

countryside at Juaye-Mondaye,

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

, nine miles to the south of

Bayeux Bayeux (, ; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It is also known as the fir ...

. Founded in 1200, it is the only Premonstratensian house still active in Normandy, with two dependent priories at

Conques Conques (; Languedocien: ''Concas'') is a former commune in the Aveyron department in Southern France, in the Occitania region. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Conques-en-Rouergue. Geography The village is located at t ...

and

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of southwestern France. It is ...

History

Medieval

In the mid-12th century, a priest named Turstin withdrew to a wooded

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

hill to live as a hermit, where he was quickly joined by a circle of followers. When Turstin died in 1200, the bishop of Bayeux established the community under the Rule of St. Augustine. Turstin's brother-in-law Raoul de Percy donated land for the abbey. In 1210, under the protection of La Lucerne Abbey, the order was incorporated into the order of Saint Norbert. Over the following years, the abbey continued to receive donation from the de Percy and de Vassy families, as well as from lesser nobility and well-to-do farmers. At the end of the 13th century, a church and monastic buildings were built to replace the hermitage. In 1343 the abbey's gifts were interrupted by the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

and rivalries between pro-French and pro-English lords in the area. In 1347 the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

killed a third of the population, the abbey's lands were uncultivated and the Bessin was ravaged by armed bands. The abbey itself was ravaged by

Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel, 9th Earl of Surrey (1346 – 21 September 1397) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander. Lineage Born in 1346, he was the son of Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancast ...

, in 1389.

1500-1700

Mondaye flourished again under the abbacy of Jean Feray (1512-1557). Its monks attended the

university of Caen The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

and included many doctors of theology among them. However, this high period was interrupted by the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

, with the abbey burned, its treasures dispersed and its abbot Julien Guichard killed by

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s on 5 September 1564. After the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

, calm returned and the monastery church was restored thanks to support from Anne de Médavy. In 1631, Claude Leclerc du Tremblay was appointed commendentory abbot by the king and headed the abbey for the next 75 years. The Lorraine reform revising the Saint Norbert rule and making it stricter and closer to its origins was adopted by Mondaye abbey in 1655. Choosing a prior by the chapter of the congregation partly avoided the disadvantages of a commendatory abbot.

1700-1815

Three regular abbots were appointed by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

, and ruled the abbey from 1704 to 1763. Under these three figures' aegis a total reconstruction was begun as part of the momentum of the new

classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

style, to meet the then-prevailing need for grandeur in France. The church, monastic buildings, entrance pavilion and farm (where 30 people worked) were all rebuilt, though with the order's austerity maintained by small cells and by only having chimneys in the prior's lodging, the warming house and the infirmary. It was supervised by the architect Eustache Restout (himself prior and sub-prior of Mondaye) from 1706 to 1743, with his last years devoted to decorating the church (including paintings by his nephew

Jean II Restout Jean Restout the Younger (26 March 16921 January 1768) was a French artist, who worked in painting and drawing. Although little remembered today, Restout was well-respected by his contemporaries for his religious compositions. Biography Restout w ...

). In 1763 the abbey again fell under a

commendatory abbot A commendatory abbot () is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey ''in commendam'', drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline. If a commendatory abbot is an ecclesiastic, however, ...

and building work stopped. On the French Revolution the Premonstratensian order was despoiled of its goods and the 17 monks at Mondaye were dispersed or imprisoned. One of them was father Paynel, curé de Juaye, who took the oath of the

Civil Constitution of the Clergy The Civil Constitution of the Clergy () was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that sought the Caesaropapism, complete control over the Catholic Church in France by the National Constituent Assembly (France), French gove ...

before abandoning the priesthood to become mayor. Paynel did, however, reconcile with the church, saving the abbey church from destruction and taking nine priests opposed to the civil constitution into his house.''Abbaye de Mondaye'', François Petit, CRDP Rouen, 1979 Once the revolutionary turmoil was over, Father Goujon ceased to be clandestine prior and gathered together the parishes of Juaye, Couvert and Bernières-le-bocage - the commune of Juaye-Mondaye originated in this era. From 1806 to 1812 the monastic buildings housed a collège.

1815-1940

In 1815 the

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

s of Valenton took over the buildings at Mondaye but left them in 1854 when their maintenance became too expensive for them to bear. The Premonstratensian order moved back into the buildings on 13 June 1859, when the bishop of Bayeux solemnly handed back the keys to it to canons coming from the Belgian abbey at

Grimbergen Grimbergen () is a Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium, north of the capital Brussels. The municipality comprises the towns of Beigem, Grimbergen, Hu ...

. The community underwent a major phase of expansion and increased their number of parochial missions, preaching tours and retreats. It also restarted work on building north and south wings in the classical style. A new crisis arose when the authorities of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

wished to reduce monks' influence in society. In 1880 abbot Joseph Willekens was expelled as a foreigner and the canons were dispersed. The canons then regrouped in the château de Cottun, not far from the abbey, returned to the abbey in 1894, only to be re-expelled in 1902. On the second expulsion they headed into exile at the Bois-Seigneur-Isaac in Walloon Brabant in Belgium. In 1921 the monks were authorised to return to their abbey and new novices presented themselves.

1940 to present

In June 1944 the Allied landings subjected the abbey to many days of bombing and, despite being completely restored, the abbey walls are still marked by the fighting in its surroundings. Rebuilding works on the most badly damaged part of the church began in 2007. The church, monastic building, pressoir, pavilion, enclosure, grange, grange aux dîmes, cloister and interior decor are now listed together as a

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

. The general chapter of

Wilten Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, in 1968-1970, enforced obedience to the order's constitutions and the

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

directives. From this era onwards exchanges of information and participation with the lay world expanded, as did the workshop and farm. The canons of Mondaye, like all canon regulars, live communally but still deliver an external ministry, providing curés and vicars for many parishes as well as prison and hospital chaplains, many of whom pursue a profession in civil society. It also welcomes retreats and visitors - parts of the abbey can be viewed by the public for an entrance fee, with visitors guided by a canon. Its shop sells various items made at the abbey, including CDs of its music.

Architecture

Church

The church is wholly as conceived by Eustache Restout, who also painted the paintings and designed the woodwork for the choir. 60m long, the building presents a blind portal, leaving space for the organ. The nave has 5 spans, with wide pillars supporting arches and with the south side illuminated by two openings on the north side. The altar is in the centre and the arms of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

are large, as is Premonstratensian tradition. The dome above the altar is a copy of that of the now-vanished chapel of the

château de Sceaux The Château de Sceaux () is a grand Château, country house in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, approximately south-southwest of the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. Situated in a large park laid out by André Le Nôtre, partly in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, ...

, painted by

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

Organ

A fine example of

-era art, the organ was made by Claude Parisot from Lorraine. Its case was carved by the Flemish artist Melchior Verly. Completed in 1741, the instrument was restored in 1965 and in 2004 by the organmakers Jean-Baptiste Boisseau and Jean-Marie Gaborit. With 27 pipes, it is regularly used for concerts. File:Abb-mondaye-orgue.jpg, The organ in 1989 File:Entrée et orgue de l'abbaye de Mondaye.jpg, The organ

Monastic buildings

The cloister was begun in the 18th century with the east wing and part of the south wing, then continued, glazed but unfinished in the 19th century. It thus does not form the closed garden usual for cloisters. The staircase leading to the library and to the cells has wrought iron railings. The salle des pas-perdus has a self-portrait of Eustache Restout.

Library

It contains 40,000 volumes, of which some are 16th century.

Abbots of Mondaye

13th century * Roger I de Juaye (+ 1208) * Richard (1210-1225) * Roger II (1225-1242) * Gabriel du Fay (1266-1276) * Geoffroy I (+1280) 14th century * Geoffroy II Blason (+1312) * Geoffroy III de Champrepus (+1318) * Raoul d'Orival (1327) * Richard II Simon (1347-1349) * Robert I Garay (1360-1372) * Geoffroy IV Randouin (1389-1390) 15th century * Robert II de Bacilly (1417-1418) * Thomas I Arnould (1421) * Jean I Louys (1421) * Guillaume I (1452) * Pierre (1452-1457) * Guillaume II (1462) * Thomas II (1465) * Guillaume III le Bigot (1470) * Jean II le Barberel (1482) * Samson (1487) * Laurent de Cussy (1487-1489) * Jean III Pellecoq (1494) * Nicolas de la Boysaine (1494-1497) 16th century * Gilles I l'Ours (1497-1512) * Jean IV féray (1512-1557) * Gilles II de Valognes (1557-1562) * Julien Guichard (after 1562) * Guy Habel (1570) * Jean V Bourdon (1572-1587) 17th century * François du Bouilloney (1571-1631) * Claude Leclerc du Tremblay, commend. (1631-1704) 18th century * Philippe Lhermitte (1704-1725) * Olivier Jahouel, coadj. (1719), abbot (1725-1738) * Louis-Joseph Reusse (1738-1763) * Charles Raffin, commend. (1763-1782) * Charles II de la Rochefoucaul-Dubreuil, commend. (1782-1784) * Jean VI de Champigny, commend. (1784-1790) 19th century * Joseph I Willekens (1873-1908) 20th century * Joseph II de Panthou (1908-1915) * Exupère Auvray (1915-1942) * Norbert Huchet (1942-1943) * Yves Bossière (1947-1956) * Paul Dupont (1956-1971) * Gildas Sévère (1973-1989) * Pascal Gaye (1989-1999) * Joël Houque (2006-2013) * François-Marie Humann (2013- )

Priories dependent on Mondaye

* Priory of Sainte-Anne de Bonlieu, Bonlieu-sur-Roubion - Diocese of Valence * Priory of Sainte-Foy de

- Diocese of Rodez * Priory of Notre-Dame des Neiges,

Laloubère Laloubère (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Hautes-Pyrénées department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or oth ...

- Diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes * Priory of San-Norberto,

Miasino Miasino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 950 and an area of .All demographic ...

- Diocese of

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

(Piedmont, Italy)

Bibliography

* Godefroid Madelaine, ''Essai historique sur l'abbaye de Mondaye'', Caen 1874. * Jean Pelcoq ''L'abbaye de Mondaye'', Juaye-Mondaye 1938 * M. Degroult, ''Mondaye en Normandie'', Juaye-Mondaye 1959 * Tristan Jeanne-Valès, ''Mondaye'', Photographies Noir et Blanc, , Juaye-Mondaye 1982.

References

External links

Official site
*
Photographs of the abbey's art
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Calvados (department) Premonstratensian monasteries in France Christian monasteries established in the 1200s Christian monasteries established in the 19th century Churches in Calvados (department) Tourist attractions in Calvados (department) 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France 1200 establishments in Europe