The region has a wealth of former monastic buildings, some in ruins but some whose churches still survive.
The history of the Duchy of Norm-andy is ineluctably entwined with England’s. The Viking Rollo became Duke of Normandy in 911 by force of arms under the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. His descendant William became King of England in 1066. Normandy remained linked to England until the defeat of King John in the early 13th century when it returned to French control. Henry V seized Normandy in 1419 and it remained under English control for 31 years. The D Day landings took place in Normandy in 1944.
The 7th century was marked by a great flowering of monastic foundations in Normandy, such as Jumièges in 654. After the shock of the Viking raids in the 9th century it took most of the early 11th century for monasticism to be properly restored, largely under the influence of William of Volpiano, the first Abbot of Fécamp, who also designed the Romanesque church at Mont-St-Michel. There was a great outpouring of Romanesque and subsequently Gothic architecture. In the 17th century the Saint Maur congregation from eastern France helped to reform the abbeys.
France is seen historically as a Catholic country but its churches have suffered badly over the years. The Viking raids have already been mentioned. In the 14th and 15th centuries the English wrought immense destruction. The Wars of Religion of the 16th and 17th centuries by no means spared Normandy with many of the towns becoming Huguenot for a time. The commendatory system from the early 16th century led to a decline in spirituality. The French Revolution in the late 18th century destroyed much of the fabric of the monasteries. In 1901 the anti-clerical laws led to the departure of religious communities from France to which they returned after a gap of at least 20 years.
Normandy today has six dioceses: Bayeux-Lisieux (merged in 1802), Coutances, Evreux, Le Havre (erected in 1974), Rouen and Séez. Two Norman cathedrals are in the first rank.
Coutances is a masterpiece of 13th century French Gothic art, dominating the Cotentin, of which it is the capital. The exterior is surmounted by two spires at the west end and a huge lantern tower. There is a wonderful simplicity in its lofty Gothic interior. Some medieval stained glass survives including a window of St Thomas of Canterbury.
Rouen is similarly a masterpiece of the 13th century. Claude Monet made a number of paintings of the west facade in different lights in the 1890s. Three towers dominate the exterior. Various people of historical importance were buried in the building; the heart of Richard the Lionheart remains there among other significant burials. Surviving 13th century stained glass includes the two Joseph windows signed by Clément, the glass painter of Chartres.
Normandy is littered with former monastic buildings. Some are ruins. The greatest and most beautiful of these is the former Benedictine abbey of Jumièges, in a splendid setting in the Lower Seine. The Romanesque western towers and much of the roofless church still survive. The abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution and became a stone quarry. The churches of many other abbeys, however, survive.
The abbey of Cerisy-La-Forêt was originally founded in the 6th century by Vigor, Bishop of Bayeux. The present church was completed at the end of the 11th century. It is remarkable for its apse with three levels of windows. Most of the conventual buildings and part of the nave were demolished in the aftermath of the French Revolution.
The Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen was built in Romanesque style by William the Conqueror after 1066. It escaped the Battle of Caen in 1944, unlike the neighbouring church of St Pierre whose spire succumbed to shellfire from the battleship HMS Rodney.
Holy Trinity Abbey in Fécamp was founded by Benedictine monks in the 11th century. It possesses a tabernacle of the Holy Blood, which is still venerated in the days after Trinity Sunday. The rather sweet herbal liqueur, Bénédictine, was invented here in 1510, with the help of 24 different herbs.
St Ouen in Rouen was originally built by the Benedictines in the 14th century. It has two western spires and a great tower. When suppressed during the Revolution, 24 monks were evicted.
During the 20th century monasticism revived to some extent in Normandy. At the start of the 8th century the Archangel Michael appeared to Aubert, Bishop of Avranches. Mont-St-Michel Abbey, situated dramatic- ally on an islet surrounded by sea, commem-orated the event, founded by Benedictines in Carolingian times. It soon became a major pilgrimage centre. In the main a Romanesque building, the chancel is 15th century Flamboyant Gothic. Today it is sadly the centre of mass tourism with some three million visitors a year. The Benedictines returned from 1966 to 2001 when they were replaced by the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem, founded as an order in 1979.
St-Wandrille de Fontanelle Abbey, on the Lower Seine, was founded by the epony- mous saint in the 7th century. It was one of the first Benedictine monasteries in Norm-andy. Spiritual life declined there after the appointment of commendatory abbots in the early 17th century but was revived by the Congregation of St Maur. It was suppressed during the Revolution, and the church partially demolished. In the 19th century it was purchased by the Irish 3rd Duke de Stacpoole, who was ordained as a priest on the death of his wife in 1872. He restored the property to the Solesmes Benedictines who returned in 1893. Expelled in 1901 by the French Government, they returned again in 1931 and remain. In 1953 Paddy Leigh-Fermor described his stay there in A Time to Keep Silence. The beautiful 14th and 15th cloister is largely preserved.
The Abbey of Bec-Hellouin was originally set up as a Benedictine abbey in 1034. It rap- idly rose to become a major Christian centre, providing two Archbishops of Canterbury – Lanfranc and St Anselm. It was dissolved in the Revolution, and the abbey church destroyed. A community of Olivetan Benedictine monks returned in 1948 and remain. The for-mer refectory is now the abbey church with the sarcophagus of Herluin before the high altar. The site is beautiful and well watered.
The Abbey of La Trappe in the département of Orne was founded by the Count of Perche in 1140. It was initially Benedictine but from 1147 they became Cistercians of Strict Observance. Expelled during the Revolution they returned in 1815. Their neo-Gothic church was built in 1895 before another temporary expulsion.
The Abbey of St Martin-de-Mondaye, a few miles south of Bayeux, was founded by the Premonstratensians/Norbertines in 1200. The current beautiful buildings of the abbey church and the monastery were constructed in the 18th century. Expelled during the Revolution, the monks eventually returned in 1859. They suffered under the Third Republic but came back in 1921. The buildings were badly damaged in 1944.
No survey of Norman Catholicism would be complete without a mention of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the “Little Flower”. She became a Discalced Carmelite nun in Lisieux and died at the age of 24 of tuberculosis in 1897. Her Histoire d’Une Âme was published after death, and was enormously popular. Buried in the Carmel at Lisieux, she was canonised in 1925; the huge neo-Byzantine Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux was built between 1929 and 1954.
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