Le Paraclet
Le Paraclet (also Abbaye du Paraclet , Latin : Paraclitus , German: Paraklet , Kloster des Paraklet or Paraklet-Kloster ) was a nunnery on the Ardusson river near Nogent-sur-Seine in Champagne . The place is now in the area of the municipality Ferreux-Quincey in the Aube department .
history
1122–1123 Petrus Abelardus founded a hermitage here with an oratory , which he consecrated a short time later to the Paraclete (a biblical name for the Holy Spirit ). Soon students settled there to be taught by the famous theology teacher.
After Abelard was elected abbot of the monastery of Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys in 1128 , he left the Paraclet. When Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis had expelled the Benedictines of Argenteuil with their prioress, Abelard's wife Heloisa , from their monastery in 1129 , Abelard gave them the orphaned property in Champagne. Heloisa built the monastery, which soon prospered, first as prioress and from 1135 as abbess. Abelard wrote hymns, sermons and rules of the order for the new convent and remained connected to Heloisa as a spiritual advisor.
.jpg)
The exact organization of the monastery is not known, but the spatial structure can be easily accessed due to the sources.
Abelard's draft rule, which was more about the exegetical underpinning of the new order than its practical organization, does not seem to have been implemented in all parts; the shortened Institutiones nostrae are based on the standard of the time, although during the lifetime of the first abbess, the documents never refer to the Benedictine Rule, but always to the "ordo Paraclitensis". Heloisa, on Abelard's advice, made the practical organization of the monastery only a small convent - the number of 20 choir nuns was only seldom exceeded in the following - and therefore developed an area association with five smaller priories and a branch monastery in La Pommeraie (as a retirement home for Mathilde of Carinthia, Countess of Champagne ). Especially with the constitution of the latter, Heloisa was careful to ensure that the Order of Paraclete could not be infiltrated by the high nobility, probably impressed by the negative development of the Order of Fontevraud, to which she had a special affinity through family relationships . The mother monastery Paraklet itself subsequently maintained a few priests and brothers for the management, a real men's convention headed by the abbot desired by Abelard was not constituted. Soon, in 1147, Heloisa succeeded in liberation from episcopal tutelage through an exemption bull of Pope Eugene III .
In the so-called petit moustier des Paraclet, probably on the site of Abelard's former oratorio, Peter Abelard and Heloisa were buried in a common crypt in 1142 and 1164.
Only in 1198 was the convent by Pope Innocent III. Subject to the Benedictine Rule , the monastery association survived for almost seven centuries. The local veneration of the monastery founders continued unabated until the end.
The Convention was dissolved during the French Revolution . The monastery buildings were sold by the state on November 14, 1792 and almost completely demolished by 1794.
remains
The monastery manor located south of the abbey survived the French Revolution. Most of the buildings date from the early 17th century, when the courtyard was almost completely rebuilt after a fire, the ancient-looking "Cellier aux moines" goes back to the founding days at most in certain parts of the wall.
Today there is a manor house called "Maison abbatiale" on the former monastery site, but it is a new building from the 19th century.
Only the lower crypt of the former monastery church has survived, in which Heloisa and Abelard were once buried. The place is adorned with an obelisk, next to it is a small memorial chapel of more recent date.
The former alluvial forest has been transformed into a park. The entire property is now privately owned, but can be visited from time to time.
See also
Web links
- Extensive information about the Paraclet monastery at www.abaelard.de
- Representation of the Paraklet area in Google Maps
Coordinates: 48 ° 28 ′ 4.6 ″ N , 3 ° 34 ′ 13.1 ″ E