Cotignac Benedictine Convent

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The Benedictine monastery Cotignac (also: Saint-Joseph du Bessillon ) is since 1975 a convent of Benedictine nuns in Cotignac , Var , diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in France .

history

Apparition of Joseph in 1660 and pilgrimage

The assertion of the 22-year-old shepherd Gaspard Ricard that St. Joseph of Nazareth showed him a previously unknown source on June 7, 1660 on the eastern slope of the Bessillon near Cotignac, led to the construction of a chapel that still exists today. The place of apparition, which has become a pilgrimage destination, was looked after by the Oratorians , who also built the convent building. The French Revolution led to the expulsion of the clergy and the deterioration of the buildings, but not the chapel.

The temporal background of the apparition of Joseph

The apparition of Cotignac came at a time of increased veneration of Joseph in France as well as outside. After Pope Gregory XV. As early as 1621, the feast of St. Joseph on March 19 was made mandatory, this was confirmed in 1642 by Pope Urban VIII . Important French theologians of the time ( Pierre de Bérulle , Jean-Jacques Olier , Jean Eudes , Barbe Acarie , Francis de Sales and Jacques Bénigne Bossuet ) promoted the Joseph cult. He finally got his breakthrough in France through Louis XIV , who was of the same age as Ricard. During his more than a year trip to Saint-Jean-de-Luz to marry Maria Teresa of Spain , which led via Cotignac, he left this place on February 21, 1660 (only 3 ½ months before the apparition). The day of the apparition (June 7th) was the anniversary of the coronation and anointing of the king on June 7th 1654. After the death of Mazarin and the assumption of the personal government by the young king a few days before March 19, 1661, Ludwig decreed as first official act the establishment of March 19 as a non-working feast day in honor of St. Joseph. The responsible bishop of Fréjus , Joseph Zongo Ondedei (around 1600–1674), who promoted the veneration of Joseph in Cotignac , was a favorite and close confidante of Mazarin.

Benedictine convent since 1975

When the Benedictine convent of Saint-Benoît (founded in 1945) (originally from the Congrégation de la Reine des Apôtres , later autonomous) moved away from Medea in Algeria in 1974, it accepted the offer of Bishop Gilles Barthe of Fréjus-Toulon to repopulate the place of pilgrimage and had the monastery built by the architect Fernand Pouillon, who was known to him from Algeria (inauguration 1978). The monastery was called La Font Saint-Joseph du Bessillon (font = source) and existed until 2019. Then it was closed due to the aging of the nuns. Bishop Dominique Rey succeeded in winning over the congregation Mater Dei, which was founded in 1977 in San Luis , Argentina and approved in 2001 by Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise, to succeed him. The Benedictine community is called "Communauté de saint Joseph, époux de Marie" (Community of Saint Joseph, Consort of Mary). Matron is mother Alicia.

literature

  • Élise Humbert: Cotignac et la mission divine de la France . Chiré, Chiré-en-Montreuil 2015, 2019.
  • Élise Humbert: Saint Joseph de Cotignac "Fili David". Chiré, Chiré-en-Montreuil 2019.
  • Louis Porte: Histoire du diocèse de Fréjus-Toulon . Editions du Lau 2017.

Web links

Coordinates: 43 ° 31 '57.7 "  N , 6 ° 7' 7.3"  E