Benedictine Abbey of Clervaux
The Roman Catholic Benedictine Abbey of Clervaux (also: Benedictine Abbey St. Mauritius and St. Maurus , lux . : Benedictine abbey hellege Moritz , French : Abbaye Saint-Maurice-et-Saint-Maur ) in Clervaux belongs to the Archdiocese of Luxembourg (lux .: Äerzbistum Lëtzebuerg ), which includes the entire Grand Duchy of Luxembourg .
The abbey is home to about 30 monks. The community is a member of the Congrégation de Solesmes and thus part of the Benedictine Confederation .
The abbey is not open to the public - with the exception of the forecourt, the monastery church and the crypt . In the crypt there is an exhibition about the customs and traditions of monastic life.
history
The Benedictine Abbey in Clervaux has its personal origins in the Abbey of Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil ( France ), which was dissolved during the Revolution in 1790 . A hundred years later, in 1890, Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil Abbey was briefly revived by Louis-Charles Couturier , OSB, Abbot of Solesmes , as part of his program to revive monasticism in post-revolutionary France. As early as 1901, however, the monks had to leave France due to the anti-clerical laws of the Third French Republic . They found temporary accommodation in Baronville, Belgium (now part of the Beauraing community ). After various attempts had failed, the decision was finally made in 1908 to found a new monastery in Clervaux in Luxembourg (Monastery of St. Mauritius and St. Maurus).
1909/1910 the monastery buildings were in neo-Romanesque style, modeled on the Abbey of Cluny (see: Cluny Abbey ) built. The architect was the Dutchman Johannes Franziskus Klomp (1865–1946), who also designed the church in Clervaux at the same time .
In 1926 the name of St. Maur (Maurus) was added to the monastery name St. Maurice (Mauritius).
From 1937 to 1944 the Benedictine abbey in Clervaux was a territorial abbey .
In 1941 the abbey was under compulsory administration by the German occupying power. The monks were evicted and various changes were made to the building in an attempt to remove the religious character of the building.
In 1945/1947 the Benedictines returned and rebuilt the church, which had suffered greatly from these construction activities, in the years up to 1951. The church was largely changed.
For the 100th anniversary in 2010, the interior of the abbey church was completely renovated in 2008 and 2009. The church received modern underfloor heating for the first time. The bell tower had to be stabilized.
building
The church building has a length of 66 m, is around 15 m high and around 10 m wide. The transept is 22 m wide. The ratio of the dimensions of the church interior is 1,616, not far from the golden ratio . The division of the church is like a basilica .
altar
The altar is made of solid stone and was made by Philippe Kaeppelin in 1952. There are four reliefs on it , on which the four symbols of the evangelists can be seen: the bull for Luke , the eagle for John , the lion for Mark and a person for Matthew .
Choir stalls
In the choir there are 75 stalls (between apse and nave ). Twice a day, the monks gather between four and five in the morning and nine in the evening to pray. The mass will be held in French and Latin.
Altar cross
The gold- plated wooden cross above the altar comes from Georges Saget from the abbey's workshops. It was designed in 1961 for a figure of Christ by the sculptor and painter Dante Donzelli . The cross is decorated with enameled stones.
Sacrament chapel
The altar of the side chapel on the east side of the north aisle dates from 1954 and was created by Philippe Kaeppelin . The door of the tabernacle is adorned with a fish, an ancient symbol of the Christian Church ( Mk 1,17 EU ). The altar is decorated with silver plates covered with gold.
Side altars
In the church there are four old, richly decorated side altars with expressive figures from the 15th and 16th centuries , which come from the chapel of the former Jesuit residence in Luxembourg .
On the side altar to the left of the main entrance there is a Pietà from 1400.
The Marien Altar is on the north side of the transept. The wooden statue of the Mother of Jesus was created by Ivo Strigel from Memmingen .
Rose window
The large rose window ( wheel window ) on the west side of the church dominates the interior. It was created by Maurice Rocher in 1961. In the middle of the cross are the symbols: sun , moon and stars , wheat , a vine and an olive tree and a cross in the center .
organ
The Mutin-Cavaillé-Coll - organ with three manuals and 20 stops stands above the main entrance on the gallery . Paul Benoit played on this organ for over 50 years.
The organ was on 11 December 2002 as a national monument (lux .: klasséierte Monument ) classified .
Bell tower and bells
The 65-meter-high bell tower was built in the same style as the Romanesque towers in Burgundy , which in turn go back to the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny. There are three bells in the tower. All three from 1914.
- Benedicta-Scholastica , 2014 kg and 146 cm diameter, tone color: ré ,
- Joanna the Arc , 1409 kg, 130 cm diameter, tone color: mi ,
- Maria Carola , 971 kg, 130 cm in diameter; Sound color: fa .
There are three other, smaller bells in the abbey:
- Adelaide , 105 kg, 68 cm, tone color: ré ,
- Victoria , 100 kg, 52 cm,
- Stephen , 100 kg, 48 cm (this is the oldest bell in the abbey from the 15th century).
List of abbots of the community
- Edouard du Coëtlosquet (1894–1903), abbot of the community in Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil before the expulsion to Baronville (1901)
- Paul Renaudin (1907-1919)
- Joseph-Odon Alardo (1919-1939)
- Jacques Winandy (1947-1956)
- Henri Marcotte de Sainte-Marie (1958–1971)
- Vincent Truijen (1971–1991)
- Michel Jorrot (1994-)
Trivia
Several authors have more or less withdrawn there, including Paul Claudel and the Icelandic Nobel Prize winner Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902–1998). Halldór Kiljan Laxness converted to Catholicism here in 1923 (the monastery community has supported a Catholic mission in Scandinavia for many years).
The monk Jean Leclercq was a well-known patristic scholar and helped initiate the renewal of Catholic monastic life in the last half of the 20th century.
Some of the monks made several recordings in connection with the revival of Gregorian chant .
The Australian composer Georges Lentz , who lives in Australia, wrote a one-hour solo electric guitar piece "Ingwe" during his stay in the abbey.
literature
- Paulo Lobo: 12 Notable Buildings in Luxembourg: 12. The Saint-Maurice Abbey . Luxédit, 2011, pp. 114–123, ISBN 978-99959-733-0-8
Web links
- Website of the Benedictine Abbey of Clervaux
- Dom Paul Renaudin , Fondateur de Abbaye Saint Maurice de Clervaux (French).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes .
- ↑ Michael Ott, Louis-Charles Couturier. The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 4. New York, 1908, accessed November 5, 2017
- ↑ The Congregation , website of the abbey (English).
- ^ Website of the Clervaux Abbey
- ↑ Klomp's detailed plans for the individual buildings and the equipment of the Benedictine Abbey Clervaux in the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin
- ↑ Histoire , website of the abbey (French)
- ↑ Catholic Hierarchy , website: http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org./
- ^ Pendant la guerre , website of the abbey (French).
- ^ Histoire , website of the abbey (French).
- ^ Prior in 1903 with the resignation of Dom du Coëtlosquet in Baronville, then in Clervaux from 1910.
Coordinates: 50 ° 3 '26.1 " N , 6 ° 1' 20.64" E