Saint-Laurent-les-Bains - Abbaye Notre-Dame-des-Neiges - 15

The Abbey of Notre-Dame des Neiges or Our Lady of the Snows (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame-des-Neiges) is a

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 ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of south-central

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 ...

. It was built in 1850, located on the territory of the commune of

Saint-Laurent-les-Bains Saint-Laurent-les-Bains (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Laurenç daus Banhs'') is a former commune in the Ardèche department in southern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Saint-Laurent-les-Bains-Laval-d'Aurelle.La Bastide-Puylaurent La Bastide-Puylaurent (; oc, Puèglaurenç) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. The Trappist monastery Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (Our Lady of the Snows), visited by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1878 and described in his book '' ...

(

Lozère Lozère (; oc, Losera ) is a landlocked department in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the east by Ardèche, to the south by Gard, to the west by Aveyron, ...

History

Prior to 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 ...

, there were several

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 ...

monasteries in the region, namely Mazan Abbey, Les Chambons Abbey, and Mercoire Abbey. These were however destroyed and sold off during the French Revolution. In 1791, Jean Chalbos purchased a former barn of Les Chambons. His descendants offered to return the land back to monastic use and offered it to

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 ...

, who initially declined the offer, but eventually accepted the second time, having received encouragement from the bishops of Valence and Viviers. The monastery was officially founded on 5 August 1850, the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

of Our Lady of the Snows. The priory was elevated to an abbey in 1874, with the election of their first abbot, Polycarpe Marthoud. At the time, there were some 90 members of the abbey.

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

visited in 1878 while on a hiking trip he described in ''

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes ''Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes'' (1879) is one of Robert Louis Stevenson's earliest published works and is considered a pioneering classic of outdoor literature. Background Stevenson was in his late 20s and still dependent on his par ...

''. The

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

initially planned to expel the monks again in November 1880, however a sudden snowfall prevented this from being executed. With the threat of persecution, the abbot made a foundation in Akbes,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, so as to ensure that a refuge was available for the monks should they be expelled again. In January 1890,

Charles de Foucauld Charles Eugène de Foucauld de Pontbriand, Viscount of Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Al ...

entered the monastery as a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

, and was given the religious name "Marie-Albéric". Due to his plea, after some months he was sent to the Syrian abbey of La Trappe at Akbès. The monastery was burned down in a fire in 1912 and was rebuilt. In January 2022, the Vatican announced that Notre-Dame des Neiges has to be closed due to the lack of novices and the death of two brothers in 2021. According to the newspaper ''

La Croix La Croix primarily refers to: * ''La Croix'' (newspaper), a French Catholic newspaper * La Croix Sparkling Water, a beverage distributed by the National Beverage Corporation La Croix or Lacroix may also refer to: Places * Lacroix-Barrez, a muni ...

'', the remaining ten brothers made the decision together on Christmas Eve 2021. The abbey will be resettled by

Cistercian nuns Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in t ...

of the abbey of St Mary's Abbey in Boulaur.

References

External links

Official website (in French)
*Hiking trails:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Notre Dame Des Neiges Trappist monasteries in France Religious organizations established in 1850 Buildings and structures in Ardèche Catholic organizations established in the 19th century 19th-century Christian monasteries 1850 establishments in France 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in France