Acey Abbey (french: Abbaye d'Acey; la, Aceyum) is a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

founded in 1136, and occupied since 1873 by

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monks. It is located in

Vitreux Vitreux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Jura (department), Jura Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eastern France. Population See also * Acey Abbey * Communes of the Jura ...

in the department of Jura,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, on the River Ognon, about 26 kilometres north-north-east of Dole and about 7 kilometres north of Gendrey.

History

The abbey was built in 1136 at the instigation of the

Archbishop of Besançon In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

, Anseric de Montréal, and of

Renaud III, Count of Burgundy Reginald III (french: Renaud; c. 1087 – 1148), son of Stephen I and Beatrice of Lorraine, was the count of Burgundy between 1127 and 1148. Previously, he had been the count of Mâcon since his father's death in 1102, with his brother, Will ...

, about 5 kilometres distant from an existing settlement of hermits. The initial community of monks were from

Cherlieu Abbey Cherlieu Abbey (french: Abbaye de Cherlieu; la, Carus locus) is a former Cistercian monastery in the commune of Montigny-lès-Cherlieu in Haute-Saône, France, about 37 kilometres west-north-west of Vesoul and about 6 kilometres south-east of ...

, and Acey was therefore of the filiation of Clairvaux. The new foundation grew rapidly and had soon built six

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

s. In 1184 it was able to found a daughter house,

Pilis Abbey Pilis Abbey ( hu, pilisi apátság) was a Cistercian monastery in the Pilis Hills in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was founded in 1184 by monks who came from Acey Abbey in France at the invitation of Béla III of Hungary. It was dedicated to the Vi ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(dissolved in 1526). At the end of the Middle Ages it fell into the hands of

commendatory abbot A commendatory abbot ( la, abbas commendatarius) is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey ''in commendam'', drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline. If a commendatory abbot is an ...

s. Its location on the boundary of the

Free County of Burgundy The Free County of Burgundy or Franche-Comté (french: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; german: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, predecessor to the modern region of Franche-Comté. The name ' ...

and the Duchy of Burgundy caused it to be involved in warfare in 1435 and 1477, in 1569 during hostilities with

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s and in 1595 under King

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

. The 17th century brought more destruction. In 1650, 6 bays of the nave of the abbey church collapsed over a length of 30 metres. In 1683 the abbey burnt down. Between 1745 and 1771 extensive restoration took place. The

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

brought its dissolution in 1790. Various uses of the premises followed, after the restoration of the monarchy mostly religious, until in 1873 the buildings were again occupied by a Cistercian community, in the form of Trappist monks from

Aiguebelle Abbey Aiguebelle Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Aiguebelle) is a Trappist monastery situated in the communes of Montjoyer and Réauville in the ''département'' of Drôme, on the borders of the Dauphiné and of Provence, France. History Benedictine ...

. Between 1900 and 1910 the church was restored. In 1938 the community was again raised to the status of abbey. It is the only Cistercian foundation in

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

still used for its original purpose.

Structures

The 12th-century church, listed as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' since 1971, has been restored. The nave has been partitioned after the second bay to provide an exhibition area. Including that, the nave has eight bays. There are two side aisles, a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

with two chapels on the east side of each arm, and a choir with a flat end wall. The cloister lies to the north of the church.

Sources and external links

*Peugniez, Bernard, n.d.: ''Routier cistercien'' (2nd ed.), pp. 148–149. Editions Gaud: Moisenay
Acey Abbey official website

Certosa di Firenze website: article on Acey Abbey with a few photos
{{coord, 47.2617, N, 5.6569, E, source:dewiki_region:FR_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Cistercian monasteries in France Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1136 establishments in Europe 1130s establishments in France 1790 disestablishments in France Religious organizations established in the 1130s Buildings and structures in Jura (department)