Page 9 - Allisons Newsletter, Lakewood Edge - Oct 2018 Issue

family travel

The abbey structures

at Fontenay have
remained virtually

untouched by the
outer world. TRAVEL

FRANCE’S SERENE ABBEYS

by Rick Steves monks lived in seclusion, built plain “hermit” comes from an ancient supposedly once demonstrated his FONTENAY ABBEY,
churches and celebrated manual Greek word for “desert,” and the vow of chastity by climbing into BURGUNDY:
he French countryside labor. They supported themselves closest thing to a desert in this part a bed full of women. Fontevraud St. Bernard founded this
is littered with medieval and their abbeys through activities of Europe was the sea. Imagine the became a royal necropolis, where Cistercian abbey in 1118 as a back-
T monasteries—stony, quiet such as brewing ales, cultivating “desert” this bay provided as that first Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard to-basics response to the excesses of
and atmospheric. Some are in a wine grapes and producing wool. monk climbed that rock trying to get the Lionheart were interred. abbeys like Cluny. The remote setting
state of ruin; others are still home These abbeys were economic closer to God. required the kind of industrious
to peaceful monks or sisters going engines that helped drive France CLUNY ABBEY, BURGUNDY: self-sufficiency we associate with
about their religious work. Still out of its Middle-Age funk. JUMIËGES ABBEY, People come from great monastic life. Blanketed in birdsong,
others are intact but now open only A major task of monastic life was NORMANDY: distances to admire Cluny—even Fontenay’s gardens quiet the mind.
as museums. A little history can copying sacred and ancient texts. I This Benedictine abbey thrived though the great Benedictine abbey The entire ensemble of buildings
help visitors breathe life into these love the image of monks gathered for centuries—long enough to survives here, offering visitors
serenely remote monuments. together, putting pen to parchment be leveled by Vikings in the 9th itself is no more. The building was perhaps the best picture of medieval
Monasteries arose in Europe as as they hunched over hand-lettered century, rebuilt by William the destroyed during the Revolution, monastic life in France.
refuges from the dark chaos that manuscripts. Stepping into the Conqueror in the 11th century, and there’s little left to see today. In their splendid meditative
followed the collapse of the Roman common room of an abbey, you’ll then destroyed again during the But this abbey was the ruling center settings, abbeys continue to inspire
Empire. In many ways, when Rome most often see big windows facing French Revolution. Today there’s of the first great international chain thoughtful travelers. n
fell, the medieval Church carried the north, providing gentle, even light by no roof, and many walls are missing. of monasteries in Europe, with
torch of civilization: Senators were which to work. The labor was tedious But what remains of the abbey’s unprecedented temporal power ©2018 Rick Steves. Distributed
replaced by bishops, and the pope and boring, but these medieval church is awe-inspiring, with its and spiritual authority. by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
had the authority of an emperor. copyists, among the few literate people stark Romanesque facade standing
While the Church hierarchy in Europe, were essentially preserving 160 feet high.
concerned itself with prestige and Western civilization.
power, the monasteries kept the As France (and Europe) slowly SENANQUE ABBEY,
focus more on spiritual matters. got its act together in the late PROVENCE:
St. Benedict established the first Middle Ages, cities re-emerged as A Cistercian spin-off, this
great monastic order in 529, in places to trade and thrive. Abbeys beautifully situated monastery—
Italy. The Benedictines distilled gradually lost their relevance in a surrounded by lavender—is still
life down to its very basics: ora et brave new humanist world. home to an active community
labora - pray and work. Benedict’s The French Revolution finally of monks. It’s best in late
monastic movement spread north closed the book on monastic life, as June through much of July,
and took firm root in France. By the public rebelled against Church when the lavender bursts
1100, the Benedictine abbey of corruption. While many French into bloom. The abbey
Cluny (in Burgundy) controlled abbeys were destroyed, others survive. church is always open to
more than 1,000 dependent abbeys Here are the top ones for travelers. visitors, and it’s possible to
and vied with the pope for control join spiritual retreats here.
of the Church. MONT ST-MICHEL,
But power corrupts—even NORMANDY: FONTEVRAUD ROYAL
Benedictine monks. The abbeys For more than a thousand years, ABBEY, LOIRE VALLEY:
grew rich, and some monks lost the silhouette of this marvelous This 12th-century
sight of their purpose, becoming island-abbey has sent the weary spirits monastic city admin-
soft and corrupt. Another order, of pilgrims and tourists soaring. istered the 150 MONT SAINT-MICHEL, NORMANDY,
the Cistercians, led by a determined Hermit-monks isolated themselves monasteries of the FRANCE ONE OF THE MOST VISITED
and charismatic St. Bernard, took on the rocky island, surrounded by Fontevraud order, TOURIST SITES IN FRANCE
things back to basics. Cistercian mudflats and the sea. The word whose eccentric founder

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