Frigolet Abbey (French : Abbaye Saint-Michel de Frigolet) is a grand Premonstratensian monastery complex in Southern France. It is located in the territorial commune of Tarascon, in the region of the Montagnette, the parishes of which are served by the canons of the monastery. It was originally associated with the Order of Saint Benedict.
The monastery, dedicated to Saint Michael, was founded about 960 at Frigolet by Conrad I of Burgundy on one of the numerous hills which lie between Tarascon and Avignon. It was initially occupied by Benedictine monks from Montmajour Abbey.
By the 12th century, the abbey was home to a community of Canons regular. A document from 1133 lists the prior of the canons as Guillaume of Loubières. The chapel of Our Lady of Good Remedy dates from this period. The canonical Augustinian community lasted until 1480, when the canons petitioned the Holy See to suppress the monastery. This request was granted by Pope Sixtus IV, at which time the monastery was abandoned. The chapel, however, remained a popular pilgrimage site. [1]
In 1647, the Order of Saint Jerome were given possession of the derelict monastery. They worked to restore it, at the same time expanding the complex, enlarging the choir and sacristy, and erecting a chapter house. The community did not stay long, however, and were replaced in 1661 by the Discalced Augustinians. The friars of this order continued the work of the Hieronymites, but also did pastoral care in the surrounding region, providing support to the local clergy. [1]
At the time of the French Revolution, it was suppressed and sold by the French First Republic.
After the Revolution it changed hands frequently, eventually acquired by a priest, Edmund Boulbon who purchased it from another priest from Cucuron, Toussaint de l’Estrac, who was a chaplain from the Convent of Our Lady of Visitation in Vaucluse, Avignon.
Edmund Boulbon (born 14 January 1817) entered the La Trappe Abbey at Bricquebec in 1850, wishing to lead a more dedicated religious life. Acting on the advice of the Trappist superiors, he left the abbey and undertook the restoration of the Order of Norbert of Xanten. On June 6, the feast day of Saint Norbert, Boulbon received the white habit of the Premonstratensians from the hands of the Bishop of Soissons, Paul-Armand de Cardon de Garsignies at Prémontré Abbey.
With the consent of Archbishop of Aix, Georges-Claude-Louis-Pie Chalandon, Boulbon took possession of Frigolet and, having admitted several novices, commenced community life there. He erected a church in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was solemnly consecrated on 6 October 1866. The monastery was canonically erected as a priory on 28 August 1868 by a pontifical decree, and as an abbey in September 1869, with Boulbon as its first abbot.
On 8 November 1880, under the French anti-clerical laws, the Abbey of Frigolet was seized and the monks expelled. Eventually, however, they were permitted to return.
Boulbon died on 2 March 1883. His successor, Paulinus Boniface, named abbot on 10 June 1883, undid by poor administration the work begun by Boulbon. After a canonical visitation by Archbishop of Aix, François Xavier Gouthe-Soulard, Paulinus was deposed, and the direction of the abbey entrusted to Denis Bonnefoy.
Up to this time, Frigolet Abbey with the priories it had founded had formed, as it were, a separate congregation with an organization of its own, having no connection with the other abbeys or the General Chapter of the Premonstratensian order. This state of affairs was changed by a decree of the Roman Curia, dated 17 September 1898, when the congregation of Frigolet was incorporated into the order.
Denis Bonnefoy, who was made abbot on 21 March 1899, died on 20 September of the same year. The canons of Frigolet then chose for their abbot Godfrey Madelaine, then prior of Mondaye Abbey, Calvados, the author of L'histoire de S. Norbert and other books. Under his administration, Frigolet Abbey sent missionaries to Madagascar, and founded priories at Conques and Étoile (now in Authon, Loir-et-Cher) in France, and at Storrington and Bedworth in England. [2] Meanwhile, the French Republic had framed new laws against all religious institutes, and on 5 April 1903 the canons, again expelled from their abbey, took refuge either in Belgium, in Norbertine abbey in Leffe, or in the priory at Storrington in England.
The community at Leffe suffered severely from the German occupation during World War I: some were killed, and the rest were driven into further exile. Frigolet was reoccupied by the Premonstratensians in 1923 and remains in operation, although the communities at Leffe and Storrington also continued.
The abbot of Frigolet from 1946 was P. Norbert Calmels, later distinguished as the Abbot-General of the Premonstratensian order from 1961 to 1981, during which time he participated in the Second Vatican Council.
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.
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns, or monasteries of monks or nuns. Houses of canons regular and canonesses regular also use this term, the alternative being "canonry".
Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was canonized by Pope Gregory XIII in the year 1582, and his statue appears above the Piazza colonnade of St. Peter's Square in Rome.
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons, is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church founded in Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Premonstratensians are designated by OPraem following their name.
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology.
Whithorn Priory was a medieval Scottish monastery that also served as a cathedral, located at 6 Bruce Street in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway.
Evermode, or Evermod, was one of the first Premonstratensian canons regular, and became the lifelong companion of Norbert of Xanten, who founded the order in France in 1120.
Floreffe Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, the second of the order to be founded, situated on the Sambre at Floreffe, about 11 km (6.8 mi) south-west of Namur, Wallonia, Belgium.
Prémontré Abbey was the mother house of the Premonstratensian Order and was located at Prémontré about twelve miles west of Laon, département of Aisne, France.
Strahov Monastery is a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1143 by Jindřich Zdík, Bishop John of Prague, and Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia. It is located in Strahov, Prague, Czech Republic.
Tupholme Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey close to the River Witham some 10.5 miles (16.9 km) east of the city of Lincoln, England and one of nine such abbeys within the historical county. The Witham valley in Lincolnshire is notable for its high concentration of monasteries—there were six on the east bank and three on the west—all presumably drawn to the area by the usefulness of the River Witham for transport and by the wealth that it transported. The abbey was largely destroyed by 1538, after being seized during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Windberg Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery in Windberg in Lower Bavaria, Germany.
Bonne-Espérance Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey that existed from 1130 to the end of the 18th century, located in Vellereille-les-Brayeux in the Walloon municipality of Estinnes, province of Hainaut, Diocese of Tournai, in present-day Belgium.
Our Lady of England Priory in Storrington, West Sussex, England is the former home of Roman Catholic priests belonging to a Community of Canons Regular of Prémontré, after the place where they were founded in France in 1121. The priests are also known as Norbertines after Norbert of Xanten, the Founder of the order. Because of their white habits, another name for members of the Order is White Canons. The priests follow the Rule of St Augustine.
Mondaye Abbey is a French Premonstratensian abbey in the Bessin countryside at Juaye-Mondaye, Calvados, nine miles to the south of Bayeux. Founded in 1200, it is the only Premonstratensian house still active in Normandy, with two dependent priories at Conques and Tarbes.
Bois-Seigneur-Isaac Abbey is a former Augustinian abbey in Wallonia, then a Premonstratensian priory, dependent on Averbode Abbey and now occupied by the Lebanese Maronite Order. It is located in Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, Belgium.
Berne Abbey, a Dutch abbey of the Premonstratensians, or Norbertines, in Heeswijk, North Brabant, is a religious community in the Netherlands. It has 27 brothers and priests.
St. Norbert Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery of Canons Regular of Premontre, located in De Pere, Wisconsin. The Abbey is named after Saint Norbert of Xanten, the founder of the order, after whom, members are known as, "Norbertines". St. Norbert Abbey was established in 1898 by Norbertines from Berne Abbey in the Netherlands. St. Norbert's is the oldest religious community of its kind the United States, serving as the Mother Canonry to Norbertines across North America.
Daylesford Abbey is a Roman Catholic monastery of Canons Regular of Premontre, located in Chester County, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia. The Abbey is named after Daylesford, Pennsylvania, where the Norbertine Fathers established the foundation that developed into the Abbey.
Ardenne Abbey, the Abbey of Our Lady of Ardenne, is a former Premonstratensian abbey founded in the 11th century and located near Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe in Calvados, near Caen, France. It is now occupied by the Institute of Contemporary Publishing Archives. Several buildings of the abbey have been preserved, including the church. These are protected as historic monuments.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Frigolet". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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