Caen Benedictine Convent

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The Benedictine Monastery of Caen (recently also: Monastère de Couvrechef ) was a priory of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament in Caen ( Diocese of Bayeux ) in France from 1685 to 1986 . It should not be confused with the Abbaye-aux-Dames monastery , which also lived Benedictine in Caen from the first half of the 17th century to 1792.

history

From Pont-l'Évêque to Caen

The Benedictine Abbey of Montivilliers founded the reform monastery Notre-Dame de Bon Secours (Help of Mary) in Pont-l'Évêque in 1639 , which was relocated to Caen in 1642 ( Hôtel de Loraille on Rue de Geôle ). In 1675 the convent established relations with Mechtilde de Bar , the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament. In 1684 she sent two of her sisters (from Paris and Rouen) to Caen. The entire convent of Caen went through a novitiate and in 1685, with the approval of Bishop François de Nesmond, it was attached to the Congregation of the Most Holy Sacrament.

From Caen to Vaux-sur-Aure

After the monastery was closed by the French Revolution and continued to exist underground, the monastery was able to resume its life as a convent in 1804 in the former Franciscan monastery in Rue Élie de Beaumont . On June 7, 1944, the monastery was destroyed by an Allied bombardment. The nuns turned to Vaux-sur-Aure (Château-de-Vaux) near Bayeux .

New construction and end in Couvrechef

Since their property in Caen was expropriated, they had the architect Jean Zunz 10 km north of the center of Caen 10 km north of the center of Caen in the town of Couvrechef on an open field (in today's La Folie-Couvrechef district , 6 rue de Malon) Build a monastery designed for 80 sisters. In 1986, the decline in vocations forced the sisters to abandon the main building (which was converted into a retirement home) and retreat to the guest house, eventually abandoning the monastery entirely. The buildings are under monument protection. The name of the senior residences Les Résidences Saint-Benoît (since 1990) is reminiscent of the former monastery.

literature

  • Gaston Charvin (1887–1973): L'Institut des Bénédictines de l'Adoration Perpétuelle du Saint-Sacrement . In: Priez sans cesse. 300 ans de prière. Laudetur Sacrosanctum Sacramentum . Desclée de Brouwer, Paris 1953, pp. 54-174.
  • Laurent Henri Cottineau : Repertoire topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieurés . Vol. 1. Protat, Mâcon 1939–1970. Reprint: Brepols, Turnhout 1995. Column 554.
  • Ildephonse Hervin and Marie Joseph Dourlens: Life of the Venerable Mother Mechtilde of St. Sacrament, founder of the Institute of the Benedictine Sisters of the Eternal Adoration of hh. Sacrament. Steyl 1887, 1899, pp. 378-385.
  • Alain Nafilyan, "Le monastère des bénédictines à Couvrechef, Caen (Calvados)"

Web links

Commons : Monastère des Bénédictines de Caen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 37.2 ″  N , 0 ° 22 ′ 27.9 ″  W.