The Priory of Our Lady of Atlas (
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
: ''Notre-Dame de l'Atlas'') is a monastery of
Trappist monks in
Midelt, Morocco. It is a continuation of the community of the
Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas
The Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas ( ar, دير سيدة الأطلس; french: Abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Atlas) is a Catholic monastery of Trappists, inaugurated on March 7, 1938, in Tibhirine, close to Médéa, in Algeria.
The abbey became more known i ...
after
seven monks were killed there during the
Algerian civil war
The Algerian Civil War ( ar, rtl=yes, الْحَرْبُ الْأَهْلِيَّةُ الجَزَائِرِيَّةُ, al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhlīyah al-Jazāʾirīyah) was a civil war in Algeria fought between the Algerian government and various Is ...
.
History
This community of
Trappist monks was initially founded in
Fez in 1988 on request of the bishop of Rabat, Hubert Michon, after he had been inspired by the Trappist
Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas
The Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas ( ar, دير سيدة الأطلس; french: Abbaye Notre-Dame de l'Atlas) is a Catholic monastery of Trappists, inaugurated on March 7, 1938, in Tibhirine, close to Médéa, in Algeria.
The abbey became more known i ...
in Tibhirine, Algeria. They were given as home the former hotel "Bellevue Hotel" which had been built at the beginning of the 20th century and lay mostly in ruins. The community remained an annex to the Abbey in Algeria with four monks. After the
killing of the monks of this abbey in 1996 and the joining of the two survivors, Fr. Amédée and Fr.
Jean-Pierre, it was given the status of a
priory.
The murdered monks of the Abbey were later beatified together with twelve other martyrs in Algeria as the
19 martyrs of Algeria on 8 December 2018 in Oran
and the priory keeps several of their relics and possessions, including an
icon of the
Virgin Mary.
In 1999, the community decided to change location from the old hotel to a small convent in the town of Midelt, two hundred kilometres south of Fez, on invitations of
Franciscan missionary sisters of Mary.
The community hosted the 2007 meeting of the
Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique
DIMMID, Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique - Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIM·MID), is a movement within the Benedictine and Cistercian order aimed to promote interfaith dialogue between monastic communities of different religions. Created ...
at its premises. The last survivor of the Tibhirine monks, Fr. Jean Pierre, died in 2021.
The film-makers of the movie "
Of Gods and Men" (which is based on the murder of the monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas) visited the monastery while filming the movie at the nearby abandoned monastery of Toumliline.
Whereas in 2006 there were only four monks,
the community grew to seven in 2023
including the current prior, Dom Jean-Pierre Flachaire.
Building
The convent in Midelt was constructed by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary as the ''Kasbah Miryam des Soeurs'' in 1926.
It includes a small church, two chapels (one dedicated to
Charles de Foucauld and the other to Fr.
Albert Peyriguère) and living spaces for the monks as well as for up to twenty guests.
There is also an
oratory dedicated to the Tibhirine martyrs
and a cemetery of the Franciscan sisters, including the grave of sister Cécile Prouvost.
List of priors
*
Jean-Pierre Schumacher 1996–1999
* Dom Jean-Pierre Flachaire since 1999
References
{{Reflist
External links
Website of the prioryWebsite in the Cistercian webPictures of the monastery on the website of the Cistercian order
Roman Catholic monasteries in Morocco
Trappist monasteries
20th-century Christian monasteries
Midelt Province