Frigolet Abbey is a Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

, originally Benedictine, in southern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is located on the territory of the commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 of Tarascon

Tarascon

Tarascon , sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.-Geography:...

, in the region of the Montagnette, the parishes of which are served by the canons of the monastery.

Benedictines; Augustinians

The monastery, dedicated to Saint Michael, was founded about 960 at Frigolet by Conrad the Pacific, King of Arles, on one of the numerous hills which lie between Tarascon and Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

. It was successively occupied by the Benedictines of Montmajour Abbey

Montmajour Abbey

Montmajour Abbey is a fortified Benedictine monastery built between the 10th and 13th century on what was then an island five kilometers north of Arles, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, Provence, in the south of France.The Abbey is noted for its 11th-14th century graves, carved in the rock,...

, the Augustinians

Augustinians

The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...

, the Hieronymites

Hieronymites

Hieronymites, or the Order of St. Jerome , is a common name for several congregations of hermits living according to the Rule of St. Augustine, with supplementary regulations taken from the writings of the 5th-century monk and scholar, St Jerome. The principal group with this name was founded in...

, and finally by the Reformed Augustinians.

At the time of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, it was suppressed and sold by the French Republic.

Premonstratensians: 19th century to the present

From that time it changed hands frequently, and was acquired, at length, by the Reverend Edmund Boulbon who purchased it from the Reverend T. Delestrac. Edmund Boulbon, born on 14 January 1817, entered the Abbey of Our Lady of La Trappe at Bricquebec

Bricquebec

Bricquebec, a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.Inhabitants are referred to as Bricquebétais.-History:...

 in 1850, wishing to lead a more active Catholic life. Acting on the advice of his superiors, he left the Trappists

Trappists

The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict...

 and undertook the restoration of the Premonstratensian Order, or Order of St. Norbert, in France.

On 6 June, the feast of Saint Norbert, he received the white habit from the hands of Paul-Armand de Cardon de Garsignies, Bishop of Soissons, at Prémontré Abbey

Prémontré Abbey

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.-History:...

. Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 approved the project in an audience which he granted to Father Edmund on 4 December 1856.

With the consent of Georges-Claude-Louis-Pie Chalandon, Archbishop of Aix, Father Edmund took possession of Frigolet and, having admitted several novices, commenced community life there. In honour of Our Lady Conceived without Sin he erected a magnificent church, which was solemnly consecrated on 6 October 1866. The monastery was canonically erected as a priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 on 28 August 1868, and as an abbey in September 1869, with the Right Reverend Edmund Boulbon as its first abbot.

On 8 November 1880, under the French anti-clerical laws, the abbey of Frigolet was seized and the religious expelled. Eventually, however, they were permitted to return.

Abbot Boulbon died on 2 March 1883. His successor, Paulinus Boniface, named abbot on 10 June 1883, undid by poor administration the work begun by Abbot Boulbon; but, after a canonical visitation

Canonical Visitation

A canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view of maintaining faith and discipline, and of correcting abuses by the application of proper remedies.-Catholic usage:...

 by François Xavier Gouthe-Soulard, Archbishop of Aix, he was deposed, and the direction of the abbey entrusted to the Reverend 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 connexion with the other abbeys or the general chapter of the Premonstratensian order. This state of affairs was changed by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, dated 17 September 1898, when the congregation of Frigolet was incorporated with the order.

Denis Bonnefoy, who was made abbot on 21 March 1899, died on 20 September of the same year. The religious of Frigolet then chose for their abbot Godfrey Madelaine, then prior of Mondaye Abbey

Mondaye Abbey

Saint-Martin de Mondaye 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 canonial abbey still active in Normandy.-Medieval:...

, Calvados, France, the author of "L'histoire de S. Norbert" and other books. Frigolet Abbey sent missionaries to Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, and founded priories at Conques

Conques

Conques is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France.-Geography:The village is located at the confluence of the Dourdou and Ouche rivers. It is built on a hillside and has classic narrow Medieval streets. As a result, large vehicles cannot enter the historic town centre but must...

 and Etoile

Étoile

- Places and Geography :* Place de l'Étoile, a.k.a. Place Charles de Gaulle, a large road junction in Paris, where the Arc de Triomphe is located* Charles de Gaulle - Étoile, a station of the Paris Métro* Massif de l'Étoile, a mountain range north of Marseille...

 in France, and at Storrington

Storrington

Storrington is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. As of 2006 the village has a population of around 4,600. It has one main shopping street...

 and Bedworth

Bedworth

Bedworth is a market town in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England. It lies northwest of London, east of Birmingham, and north northeast of the county town of Warwick. It is situated between Coventry, to the south, and Nuneaton, to the north.In the 2001 census the town...

 in England. Meanwhile, the French Republic had framed new laws against all religious institutions, and on 5 April 1903, the canons, again expelled from their abbey, took refuge either in Belgium, in the ruined former Norbertine Leffe Abbey near Dinant

Dinant

Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...

, or in the priory at Storrington in England.

The community at Leffe suffered severely from the German occupation during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

: 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 Vatican II.

Under Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 the abbey church of Frigolet was raised to the status of a basilica minor.

External links

• Frigolet Abbey website