Cistercian Abbey of Celas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the monastery church of Celas
Cloister of the Celas Monastery

The Cistercian Abbey of Celas (Portuguese: Mosteiro de Celas ) was a monastery of the Cistercian women in Santo António dos Olivais in the Coimbra district in Portugal from 1215 to 1822 .

history

Blessed Sancha of Portugal (1180–1229), second daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal (1154–1211), who had been introduced to Cistercian spirituality in the Lorvão monastery , founded 1215 in Coimbra with the support of her older sister, the blessed Theresa of Portugal (1178–1250), and Lorvãos Monastery, the Santa Maria de Celas Monastery (celas = cells), which was incorporated into the Cistercian order between 1223 and 1237 . The monastery church is the first church in Portugal specially built for Cistercian women. In the early 18th century the monastery housed 120 nuns and just as many lay people. In 1822 the last Cistercian woman left the monastery. In 1883, with the death of the last abbess ( Felismina ), the monastery became state property. The place has been used as a hospital since 1977. The monastery portal, church and cloister have been preserved. In the latter, the Gothic capitals are considered to be the most beautiful in Portugal.

Abbesses (selection)

  • 1521–1541 Leonor de Vasconcelos
  • 1541–1572 Maria de Távora
  • 1572–1576 Leonor Coutinho
  • 1576-1615 Helena de Noronha
  • 1627–1639 Lourença de Távora
  • 1639–1642 Francisca de Vilhena
  • 1648–1651 Maria de Mendonça

literature

  • Maur Cocheril : Routier des abbayes cisterciennes du Portugal . Portuguese Cultural Center, Paris 1978 (newly edited by Gérard Leroux, Center culturel portugais, Paris 1986).
  • Maria Alegria Fernandes Marques: Les premières nonnes cisterciennes au Portugal. Le rôle des femmes de la famille royale . In: Bernadette Barrière and Marie-Elisabeth Montulet-Henneau (eds.): Cîteaux et les femmes. Architectures et occupation de l'espace dans les monastères féminins. Modalités d'intégration et de contrôle des femmes dans l'Ordre. Les moniales cisterciennes aujourd'hui . Créaphis éditions, Grâne 2001 (files from a colloquium from 1998), pp. 213–226.
  • Maria do Rosário Barbosa Morujão: Um mosteiro cisterciense feminino. Santa Maria de Celas (séculos XIII a XV) . Universidade de Coímbra, Coímbra 2001. 775 pages.
  • Bernard Peugniez : Le Guide Routier de l'Europe Cistercienne . Editions du Signe, Strasbourg 2012, p. 881.

Web links

Commons : Monastery of Santa Maria de Celas  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 40 ° 12 ′ 55.3 "  N , 8 ° 24 ′ 43.2"  W.