Even if we had said ‘no’ to the arrival of our brothers from the Barroux to Bellefountaine, they would have had no trouble finding other places. We cannot go against this “traditional” movement. There is a loss of reference points today! It seems to me that after the Council, there was an emphasis on interiority by relativizing the rites, which was right and good… but perhaps we have gone too far in this direction, and besides, not all are able to do without external forms. I believe that, today, the men of this time are in dire need of it.”
Father Samuel Gonçalves, Monastic Commissioner, Bellefontaine Abbey
Twelve monks from the famous abbey in Vaucluse are taking on a residence this Saturday at Bellefontaine Abbey, near Cholet, which was slated for closure. A very significant handover for the Church in France.
Before the cicadas awoke at dawn, two vans loaded twelve monks from the Abbey of Le Barroux in the Vaucluse region. They were likely leaving forever peaceful their haven, surrounded by olive trees and lavender on the foothills of Mont Ventoux. Their abbot, Dom Louis-Marie, accompanied. These twelve men had an average age of forty. Under the guidance of their prior, Father Raphaël, they set off for the village of Bégrolles-en-Mauges in Maine-et-Loire, to to permanently in the settlement of Bellefontaine, near Cholet. They arrive in time for Compline, by the exhausted stifling heat but radiant, already visited the first Le Barroux foundation in France, the Abbey of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Garde, in Lot-et-Garonne.
They have will only one day left to finalize an event as rare as it is exceptional in the Catholic Church. This Saturday, July 11, the Cistercian abbey of Bellefontaine, founded in 1120, will pass the torch to these twelve Benedictine monks, known for their attachment to Catholic “tradition” and the Tridentine Mass , to according to the ritual in use until the Second Vatican Council chants. They profess their fidelity to the Pope, recognized this council, but particular defend the ancient tradition of the Church, in its Gregorian. Founded in 1970 by Dom Gérard Calvet, the Benedictine community of Le Barroux is one of the major symbols of the traditionalist movement in France.
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