Tioumliline

chapel

Tioumliline , also Toumliline , was a Benedictine monastery in the Middle Atlas near Azrou , Morocco from 1952 to 1968 . It was founded in 1952 by Dom Denis Martin as an offshoot of the Benedictine Abbey of En-Calcat .

Description of the monastery

Tioumliline is located in the Middle Atlas at an altitude of 1500 meters, about 5 kilometers south of Azrou . The monastery is located in the middle of an area lined with oaks. The main building houses the monks' cells , the kitchen rooms and the refectory . Another building houses dormitories, a boarding school and the library. A chapel is also part of the building complex.

history

The origins of the founding of the monastery go back to 1945, when the French employer president of Casablanca , Jean Imberti, approached Dom Marie de Floris, the abbot of the monastery d'En Calcat, and asked him to set up a branch in Morocco. For various reasons - including not to compete with a project initiated by Moroccan Christians in Sefrou - the abbey delayed a decision for several years. Finally, the Archbishop of Rabat, Monsignor Lefèvre, urged the abbot to meet with the religious leaders and Christians of Morocco. In October 1950, Dom Marie de Floris finally gave his general consent and in January 1951 sent two Benedictine monks to investigate the situation on site. As a location for the new monastery, the archbishopric had proposed the purchase of a children's convalescent home with an associated school. This episcopal estate was run by a diocesan priest named Père Gérard. The property, however, was seven million francs in debt. The buildings were also in poor condition.

In this situation, the widow of a rich businessman from Marseille came to the aid of the monastery in 1951, who settled the outstanding debts and offered further financial aid. The abbey then decided to set up a temporary monastery in Tioumliline. After almost two years of negotiations and planning, 20 monks moved into the dilapidated buildings on October 7, 1952 under the leadership of Dom Denis Martin.

In the stormy period after Morocco gained independence, the monastery was an important meeting place for Moroccan intellectuals and a recognized center for encounters between Christians, Muslims and Jews. The abstract painter Jilali Gharbaoui , who first visited the monastery in 1957, also found refuge here.

After protests by the Muslim population of Azrou - the monks were suspected of proselytism - Tioumliline had to be abandoned as a monastery in 1968 at the behest of King Hassan II . It served as a vocational training center until the 1980s, but was then closed for good.

Founding of orders

From Tioumliline, the monasteries in Koubri (Burkina Faso) and Bouaké (Ivory Coast) were founded.

International summer courses

From 1956 to 1959 international summer courses ( "Cours Internationaux d'été de Tioumliline" ) took place in Tioumliline , which represented an interdenominational exchange of ideas through the participation of Christians, Muslims and Jews. During this time, the monastery received the support of the King of Morocco, Mohammed V , who campaigned for the spiritual opening of the country:

«Le Maroc nouveau n'entend nullement s'isoler et se refermer sur lui-même. Nous avons la ferme volonté de faire de ce pays une communauté ouverte entretenant des relations avec tous les pays on the base de la coopération et de l'échange »

“The new Morocco has no intention of isolating itself and locking itself in. We have a strong desire to turn this country into an open community that cultivates relations with all countries on the basis of cooperation and mutual exchange. "

- Mohammed V : Reception of the Tioumliline Congress participants, Rabat Royal Palace, August 29, 1956

Others

Tioumliline is mentioned in the autobiography "Prisoner of God" by the former Benedictine monk Michel Benoît.
The abandoned monastery served as the location for the French feature film Des hommes et des dieux , which was released in 2010 and was released in German cinemas under the title " Von Menschen und Göttern ".

literature

Amis de Tioumliline (Azrou, Maroc). Tioumliline un monastère bénédictin au Maroc. [Sl]: Les amis de Tioumliline, 1956.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Website of the Monastery d'En Calcat: Histoire - Les fondations ; Accessed February 26, 2012
↑ Jaques Gadille: Dom Guéranger en son temps, 1805-18751 ( Memento of 7 September 2011 at the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 163 KB); Accessed February 26, 2012
↑ ^a ^b Monastère Bénédictin de Toumliline
↑ ^a ^b Naima Salam: Moroccan and European art traditions as a source of inspiration for contemporary Moroccan painting , page 130, LIT Verlag Münster, 2004, ISBN 9783825873615
↑ Azzouz Tnifass: Jilali Gharbaoui - Collection regards obliques , Marsam Editions, 2006
↑ Justin McGuiness: FOOTPRINT MOROCCO HANDBOOK , 4th Edition, p. 243, Footprint Travel Guides, 2003, ISBN 9781903471630
^ Marie-Rose Mayeux: Cours Internationaux d'été de Toumliline 1956-1957-1958-1959 ; Archives des sciences sociales des religions, 1960, vol. 9, n ° 1, pp. 81-94.
^ "Reception par SM le Roi du Maroc des congressistes de Tioumliline", Palace of Rabat, 29 August 1956, in: Le Maroc à l'heure de l'indépendance, Sa Majesté Mohammed V, op. Citée, p. 325; quoted in Historiographie des décolonisations et des nationalismes du Maghreb: Le Maroc et l'espace méditerranéen - 1956-1965 ( Memento of February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed February 27, 2012
↑ Michel Benoît: Prisonnier de dieu , 1992, Fixot, Paris; German first publication under the title "Gefangener Gottes" 1993 by Bastei-Lübbe, ISBN 3-404-61272-8 .