Mechtilde de Bar

Mechtilde de Bar 1614–1698

Mechtilde de Bar (baptized name Catherine de Bar ; * December 31, 1614 in Saint-Dié , Lorraine , † April 6, 1698 in Paris ) was the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament .

Life

Catherine de Bar was the third child of the married couple Jean de Bar and Marguerite de Guillon, who belonged to the lower nobility.

In 1631 Catherine joined the Annunti women in Bruyères . At the age of 19 she was appointed subprioress and a year later the "Ancelle", superior of the small community. Meanwhile, the fighting of the Thirty Years' War had reached Lorraine and the community had to flee from the advancing troops. While fleeing, the sisters found acceptance with the Benedictine nuns of Rambervillers , where Catherine got to know the Benedictine way of life and decided to convert. Here she took the name Sr. Mechtilde, to which she later added "Of the Most Holy Sacrament".

The coming years were again marked by flight and displacement. Finally, in 1653, Mechtilde de Bar was able to settle in Paris with her sisters and found the Paris Benedictine convent (Rue Cassette) . Driven by her personal devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament and strengthened by the Eucharistic Adoration , which was widespread in the spiritual milieu in Paris in the course of the counter-Reformation movements , she added Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament to the Benedictine observances . Between 1666 and 1696, Mechtilde de Bar founded nine more monasteries or led already existing monasteries to aggregation (affiliation).

In order to give the charism of adoration a lasting endurance, Mechtilde de Bar applied to Rome for permission to establish a congregation . This was approved on May 29, 1668 and placed directly under the Holy See . Since the tensions between the Franco-Gallican episcopate and Rome made the connection with the Holy See difficult, the founder had the institute's monasteries again placed under episcopal supervision in 1696.

Two years later, on April 6, 1698, Mechtilde de Bar died, leaving behind a network of Benedictine convents that are particularly dedicated to the veneration of the Holy Sacrament.

swell

• Manuscripts and primary literature

Fonts

In order to enable her monasteries to standardize their rites and customs and thus to strengthen togetherness, Mechtilde de Bar wrote the first part of a ceremonial in 1668 . In 1671 the festivals and offices of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament could be published. In 1683 a collection of writings by M. Mechtildes, put together by the sisters of their community, appeared under the title Le Véritable Esprit des Religieuses Adoratrices Perpétuelles du Très-Saint-Sacrement de l'Autel (The True Spirit of the Benedictine Sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament). This book was reprinted numerous times in the following years. In 1686 the Exercices spirituels ou la pratique de la règle de s appeared. Benoist who was the revision of a book by Claude Martin, Benedictine of Saint-Germain-des-Prés by M. Mechtilde. It was not until much later that the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament published La journée religieuse des filles du Très-Saint-Sacrement (The Agenda of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament) in 1833 , the content of which also went back to the founder. In addition, more than 3000 letters from Mechtilde de Bars have been preserved from the rich correspondence, only a few of which have been published. In 2001 an extensive international bibliography of writings by and about Mechtilde de Bar and the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament was published.

literature

• Ildefons Hervin - M. Marie Dourlens, Life of the Venerable Mother Mechtilde of St. Sacrament, founder of the Institute of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of Hh. Sacramentes, Steyl: Missionsdruckerei, 1887.
• Ad adorationem perpetuam. The Eternal Adoration in the religious orders of the German-speaking area [= Recherchen 23], Cologne: Benediktinerinnen, 2006; Pp. 11–28: Benedictine Sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament.

Web links

• Literature by and about Catherine de Bar in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature on the biography and spirituality of Mechtilde de Bar and the Benedictine Sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament (see also Bibliographia Mechtildiana )
• Entry to Mechtilde de Bar on Orden online