Bellefontaine Abbey
Bellefontaine Abbey (Latin Abbatia BM de Bellofonte ) is a French Trappist abbey in Bégrolles-en-Mauges , Maine-et-Loire , Diocese of Angers , not far from Cholet .
history
Notre Dame de Bellefontaine Monastery was Benedictine from the 12th to the 17th century , and from 1642 until it was repealed by the French Revolution it served as the monastery of the Feuillanten . In 1816 the Trappist Urbain Guillet , who had returned from North America, bought the remains of the monastery on behalf of Augustin de Lestrange and founded a community that developed successfully. Since 1966 the abbey has maintained the publishing house "Éditions Monastiques Abbaye de Bellefontaine" with a focus on oriental spirituality.
Foundations
The Bellefontaine Abbey was founded as follows:
Men
- Fontgombault Abbey (1849–1904, Benedictine again from 1948)
- Oka Monastery (Abbaye Notre-Dame du Lac) in Oka (Québec) , Canada, 1880; Relocated to Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Québec, 2009
- Prairies Monastery (Notre-Dame des Prairies) in Saint-Norbert, Manitoba 1892; moved to Holland, Manitoba, 1978
- (supportive) Our Lady of the Valley Monastery in: Lonsdale, Cumberland (Rhode Island) , on the Blackstone River , Rhode Island (1900–1950, successor to Petit Clairvaux Monastery in Tracadie, Nova Scotia , Canada) (from 1950: St Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Worcester County (Massachusetts) )
- Notre Dame du Kokoubou, 26 km west of Parakou in Benin (1972)
(supportive) women
- Gardes Monastery (Notre Dame des Gardes) in Saint-Georges-des-Gardes, Maine-et-Loire department
Abbots
- 1115–1149: Pierre I.
- 1150–1168: Gérard I.
- 1168-1170: Chrétien
- 1170-1173: Bruno
- 1173–1187: Jean I.
- 1187-1200: Gérard II.
- 1200-1223: Jean II.
- 1223-12 ?? : Pierre II.
- 12 ?? - 1345: Pierre III.
- 1345-1403: Pierre IV.
- 1403-1429: Thibaud
- 1429-14 ?? : Louis I.
- 14 ?? - 1488: Robert I.
- 1488-1525: Robert II. De L'Espinose
- 1525-1539: Pierre V. Lambert
- 1539-1552: Guillaume I. Menier
- 1552–1558: Guillaume II. Goupilleau
- 1558-1564: vacancy
- 1565–1595: Charles I de Bourbon, prince de La Roche-sur-Yon
- 1595–1598: Nicolas de Thou
- 1598–1602: Jacques-Auguste de Thou
- 1602-1609: René Maquenon
- 1610–1642: Simon de La Lucière
- 1642–1649: Michel I. Sublet d'Heudicourt
- 1649–1680: Henri de Bruc de Montplaisir
- 1680–1704: Jean-François de Bruc de Montplaisir
- 1704–1709: Charles II. Marcien de Druy
- 1709–1710: François I. Le Roy de Chavigny
- 1710-1720: Louis II. De Balzac d'Entragues
- 1721–1735: François II. Mareschal
- 1735-1736: vacancy
- 1737-1754: Guillaume III. Geoffroy-Jean-Pierre de Blanes de Millas
- 1754–1789: Pierre VI. Léonard de Luage
Upper
- 1816-1817: Urbain Guillet
- 1817–1828: Michel II Le Port
Abbots
- 1828-1830: Michel II Le Port
- 1830-1845: Fulgence Guillaume
- 1845-1850: Augustin de La Forest de Divonne
- 1850-1866: Fulgence Guillaume
- 1866–1930: Jean-Marie Chouteau (abbot for 63 years!)
- 1930–1936: Jean-Baptiste Auger
- 1936–1952: Gabriel Sortais
- 1952-1987: Emmanuel Coutant
- 1987-2004: Etienne Baudry
- 2004-: Jean-Marc Chéné
See also
literature
- Brother Bernard-Marie, "Presentation of the monastic editions de l'abbaye de Bellefontaine". In: Liens cisterciens 26, 2014, pp. 41–46.
- Immo Eberl , The Cistercians. History of a European Order , Ostfildern, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2007, pp. 487–488.
- Leopold Janauschek , Originum Cisterciensium. Tomus I , Vienna, Alfred Hoelder, 1877, S. LXXIV.
- Augustin-Hervé Laffay (* 1965), Dom Augustin de Lestrange et l'avenir du monachisme: 1754–1827 , Paris, Cerf, 1998; Diss. Lyon 3, 1994 (passim).
- Philippe Méry, Abbayes, prieurés et couvents de France , La Roche sur Yon, Editions du Crapaud, 2013 (p. 399, with picture).
- Bernard Peugniez , Le guide routier de l'Europe cistercienne. Wit des lieux. Patrimoine. Hôtellerie , Strasbourg, Editions du Signe, 2012 (page 274, with pictures).
Web links
- http://www.bellefontaine-abbaye.com/ (website of the monastery, French)
- http://www.cistopedia.org/index.php?id=6035 (entry in Encyclopaedia Cisterciensis)
Coordinates: 47 ° 9 ′ 6.9 ″ N , 0 ° 56 ′ 18.7 ″ W.