Why Solesmes?

In Solesmes is a Benedictine Monastery with a rich and important history in the life of France and the Liturgy of the Church Universal.  The first religious settlement here was around the year one thousand.  For the next seven hundred years it had a rough history with battles being fought all around it often disrupting the prayer life of the monks and the villages around it.  All of this misfortune culminated in the French Revolution and the laws that closed all the monasteries and scattered the monks.  The buildings and grounds fell into disrepair and monastic life in France ceased.

View of the Sarthe River and the town of Le Port de Juigne from  Solesmes.

In 1833, Rev. Prosper Gueranger, a diocesan priest (like the ones at Incarnation) heard that the remains of the old priory at Solesmes was going to be sold.  He asked his bishop if he could get donations to buy the land in the homes of restoring monastic life to France.  With the bishop's permission he bought the land and along with a few other young priests began to reside work and pray at Solesmes along the bank of the Sarthe river.

Dom Gueranger was a very gifted individual and explored many historical books about the Benedictine way of life.  He became the first Abbot when in 1837 the Abbaye Saint Pierre was recognized by the Holy Father.  Under Dom Gueranger's watchful eyes the monastery grew in numbers and the needed buildings on the grounds were restored or erected.  As the monastery grew it founded other monasteries throughout France and indeed all the world.  Dom Gueranger also helped found the nearby Benedictine Convent of Sainte Cecile (about a twenty minute walk on the other end of town). Today there are 24 monasteries rooted in Solesmes on three continents across the globe.

The central focus of all monastic life is the Liturgy (our work in praising God).  The monks at S. Pierre study about the many aspects of the Liturgy; especially Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.  I came to know of this monastery first hand when I was a Liturgy student with the Benedictines at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant'Anselmo in Rome.  My first visit here was in the early 1990's with Father Fonti when we were students in Rome.

Today there are about 60 monks, both priests and brothers here at S. Pierre.  Their sole work - if you can call it that - is the Liturgy.  They do not make or sell jams, chocolates, vestments or booze.  They celebrate and chant the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours in Latin eight times a day (A later entry will talk about the Monastic day and the Liturgy of the Hours).  They sell CDs of their chants and textbooks of their works on the Sacred Liturgy to support themselves.  They live very simple lives.

The Abbaye is along the Sarthe River in the Loire Valley.  It is beautiful countryside.  The river is flanked by small villages.  Many like Solesmes don't ever have a traffic light.  As I arrive here I can tell that Spring is just ready to burst forth as birds are chirping out my window and many buds are looking to blossom.

View of the Gardens and the old "Cooling House" from my window in the retreat house.

So who comes to Solesmes besides priests on Sabbatical?  Well, the retreat house will be filled next week for Holy Week.  There will be 30 retreatants of all ages.  Groups come by the bus load at times to pray some of the day with the monks in the abby church.  School children, like the ones I encountered on Thursday pass through, too.  In the summer months they stay for a few days in like dormitory buildings on the grounds as they hike through the countryside.

The others who come to Solesmes are those who never leave:  the brothers and priests.  S. Pierre becomes their home and extended family.  Mostly from France, but some are from all over, they feel God's call to monastic life.  Many were very successful in their former lives.  Ironically, today many of the monks are from Versailles.  Famous for the lavishness of the French Monarchy before the Revolution, today there seems to be many vocations from that enclave just on the outskirts of Paris.

I'm not the only American here either!  One of the priests here is from Hartford, CT.  Fr. Michael has been here well over 25 years.  He was working in the DC area when he decided there was more to this world.  Another monk I met here was from Bayside.  That's right, our Bayside!  Fr. Gregory wasn't even Catholic when he heard about Solesmes!  He was an accomplished organist and came here to further his musical studies.  After returning to the New York he became Catholic and came back to Solesmes; this time inquiring about religious life.  Father Gregory left the Loire Valley in 1994 when S. Pierre founded a monastery in Lithuania, part of the former Soviet Union-extending the Benedictine life to another part of the world.

So I could not think of a better place to begin my Sabbatical.  The Abbaye S.  Pierre is a prayerful place in a beautiful setting.  I am excited to celebrate Holy Week, the Easter Octave and even our Parish Feast of the Annunciation, this year on April 8, with Dom Gueranger's Benedictine Family at Solesmes.