Paris1972-Versailles2003

Let me bring out to Normandie again. We have come here several times especially when living in Versailles , and lately even from the Morbihan and have plenty of posts on the region, However, found me again new picture from my cd rom vault that should be in my blog. This was a nice find ,worth the detour !! Therefore, let me tell you about the Abbey Notre Dame du Bec of Le Bec Hellouin !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.

The village of Le Bec-Hellouin is located in the department of Eure no 27 , in the Normandie region of my belle France. It benefits from the label of the most beautiful villages in France. The village owes its origin and its name to the abbey which was founded there by the knight Hellouin around 1035 , It is 23 km from Pont-Audemer, 45 km from Rouen, 43 km from Évreux, 143 km from Versailles, and 402 km from my current home, The Bec-Hellouin is crossed by the departmental road 39 which links Neubourg to Pont-Audemer; and by the departmental road 38 which links, among others, Bourgtheroulde to Bernay. We got here a while back from Versailles along the A13 Autoroute de Normandie to exit/sortie 25 taking the A28 to exit/sortie 13 taking the N138 to junction with the D39 and the town,

I had read and had curiosity to come here but in my road warrior trails did not stop long enough, just found me one older picture in one of my cd roms and decided to do justice with a post on it, Bear with me, this is worth coming back,eventually, As such most of the text comes from wikipedia as no time to get me brochures passing in the village.

The Abbey Notre-Dame du Bec and ancient Abbey Logis (12C, 15C, 17C and 18C) The current abbey consists of the chapter room and the cloister of the 17C and of majestic 18C convent buildings. The Abbey church of the 14C, only the foundations remain. There is little or no continuity between the abbey library under the old regime and that which the community has been trying to reconstruct since 1947. The old cloister of the 13C having been destroyed, the current cloister was built in the middle of the 17C. The buildings, reconstructed in the middle of the 18C by the monks of the Congregation of Saint-Maur, are of Regency style. The current abbey church, located in the old refectory, was dedicated in 1969, It is perpendicular to the Bec stream and its wing measures 75 meters. At right angle, the current refectory wing extends over 66 meters.In the south, at right angle, a first pavilion with balcony in front of the central window houses, on the second floor, the current infirmary. Finally, again at a right angle, a last west -oriented pavilion housed the old nursing house of the 6C , then, staircases of the 18C gave access to the floors. The Tour Saint-Nicolas facing it, on the left, the old porterie and, on the right, the abbey house (see pic).The Saint-Nicolas tower which dominates the monastic buildings built initially between 1644 and 1666 and refurbished in the 18C. It served as a bell tower so that the four large bells it contained did not leave the towers of the abbey portal. It is a square construction of more than eleven meters with a norman style side. Until 1810, it was surmounted by an arrow fifteen meters high destroyed by a fire. The bells were destroyed during the French revolution. Each angle has a buttress surmounted by two monumental statues: Saint Mary, Saint Benoît, Saint Nicolas, Saint John, Saint Michael, Saint Jacques, Saint Louis and Saint André. On the western side is inscribed in Latin: “Mary”, “Savior of the world has mercy”, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God” and on the eastern side: “Jesus is the son of God”.

Other things to see here as Le Bec-Hellouin is located on one of the journeys of the pilgrimage of Mont Saint-Michel, cultural route of the Council of Europe, on the path coming from Amiens by Rouen and Montfort-sur-Risle. The Sainte-Françoise-Roman monastery. Founded in 1950 by Jeanne de Wavrechin, this monastery of Benedictine Oblates is located at a place called Saint-Martin-du-Parc; and the Saint-André Church.

A bit of history I like tell us that the Notre-Dame du Bec Abbey was founded in 1034 by Herluin, or Helloin, hence its name, knight of Count Gilbert de Brionne.The arrival of the Italians Lanfranc de Pavie, prior and master (Écolière) of the monastic school, then Anselme de Cantorbéry, originally from Aosta, the Bec becomes one of the main homes of intellectual life of the 11C: the Future Pope Alexandre II studied around 1050 as well as a number of future legates and bishops. For almost a thousand years, the Notre Dame du Bec Abbey has been linked by history to the diocese of Canterbury, England, to which it gave three archbishops. The influence of the monastery begins to be felt with the creation of the Bec school, in 1045, by Lanfranc de Pavie, arrived in 1039 in the community to become prior of the abbey. It is, like other Benedictine monasteries in the 11C, open not only to the Oblates but also to the sons of aristocrats intended or not for an ecclesiastical career,Anselme, which arrived as a student in 1059, becomes prior and scholar of Bec, in 1063, when Lanfranc is placed by William the Conqueror at the head of the Saint-Etienne Abbey of Caen (see post). When Lanfranc was appointed, in 1070, still by the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, Archbishop of Canterbury, the student and the master, both Italians, continue at a distance an epistolary relationship made of mutual respect. Becoming, the primate of England, Lanfranc comes to devote, on October 23, 1077, the new church which he had helped to build in the presence of the bishops of Bayeux, Évreux, Lisieux, Sées, Le Mans and many Norman lords, French and English. Herluin died in 1078 and Anselme succeeded him as abbot of Bec until he succeeded, in 1093, in Lanfranc at the Archbishop of Canterbury, The conquest of England in 1066 by the Duke William of Normandy, the barons concert the abbey many domains in England: thus the village of Tooting Bec, today in the London suburbs,it takes its name from what the abbey had the land , In 1742, Father Commendary was a prince of blood, Louis de Bourbon-Condé, count of Clermont. The prince razes and rebuild the convent buildings leaving the splendid 18C abbey, currently visible.Yves Alexandre de Marbeuf, already bishop of Autun then Archbishop of Lyon, succeeded him in 1782. He was the last abbot of Bec before the French revolution. The French revolution expelled the last monk, in 1792, and for ten years the buildings suffered various degradations and looting. The chartrier is burned, the pillaged library, the hammered sculptures. In 1802, Napoleon transformed the Bec into the deposit of stallions for the use of the army, dependent on the stud farm, and saved it from total destruction. The abbey church and the chapter room were sold as a stone quarry in 1809. The merry -go -round was installed in the 17C cloister, and the large stable in the Maurist refectory of the 17C (the current abbey church). The conventual buildings were transformed into stables and barracks and, in 1845, the horses also had access to the second floor by the staircase of the mornings whose design with large steps, not very high, allows this ascent, In Cormeilles en Parisis, a Benedictine Olivetaine community, engaged in the ecumenical movement, wishes to take root in a place where the Anglicans come to commune in the memory of Lanfranc and Anselme. The State takes charge of the restoration and putting work in a minimum state of habitability, then passed the buildings at the Bec safeguard association which immediately made them available to the monks in 1948 It was not until 1948 that the Olivetan monks of the Mesnil-Saint-Loup communities and Cormeilles en Parisis settled there and restored to the abbey its spiritual and international influence. The abbey then developed , in particular for ecumenism, advocated by Vatican Council II, which the abbey lives in its privileged links with Anglican communion. The abbey is now managed by the Center for National Monuments of France.

The town of Le Bec Hellouin on its history/heritage : https://www.lebechellouin.fr/decouvrez-le-bec-hellouin/histoire/

The official Abbey Notre Dame du Bec : http://www.abbayedubec.com/

The Center of National Monuments of France on the abbey : https://www.bec-hellouin.fr/

There you go folks, another dandy in historical Normandie, a nice encounter in my road warrior tours of always ; memorable moments for us too. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Abbey Notre Dame du Bec of Le Bec Hellouin !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!