In my road warrior ways sometimes I come to see some wonderful off the beaten path monuments hidden in these lovely towns. I found me new pictures in my cd rom vault and combine with other in previous post to do this one for you and me, The town of Malestroit is in my beautiful Morbihan and my lovely Bretagne of my belle France. I need to tell you about the Monastery of the Augustinians Sisters of Malestroit !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
At 4 Faubourg Saint-Michel ,you see the wonderful Monastery of the Augustinians Sisters, and next door the Chapelle Notre Dame de Pontmain of the Monastery of the Augustinians of the Immaculate Conception. The Augustinian Sisters Monastery is renowned for the help and care that the sisters provided to the wounded during WWII. The 17C chapel, and the reception of the Community, the cemetery with the tomb of Mother Yvonne-Aimée and the park are open to all.
The garden of the monastery of the Congregation of the Augustinian Sisters, in the heart of the medieval center, is worth a visit. The monastery garden, located on Rue Mère Yvonne-Aimée, where the La Motte garden previously stood, was inaugurated on July 16, 2021. It is located on the site where the chatelaine, at the time of the feudal castle of Malestroit, once had its garden. At the initiative of the Community of Augustinians of Malestroit, the creation of this park required months of work,. On the same July 16, 2021, the Community of Augustinian Hospitallers of Malestroit celebrated the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mother Yvonne-Aimée of Jesus. This is where the nun lived for more than 25 years and where she has been buried in the small cemetery for 74 years. The rose bushes that bloom in the parterre of the monastery garden, in the center of the lawn, come from a variety of roses given to Mother Yvonne-Aimée a long time ago, and which she loved to care for.
I think its worth telling you the history of this wonderful institution, The Order took root and originated in the Monastery of the Religious Hospitallers of Dieppe (Seine-Maritime 76), whose antiquity is such that in the 17C, it was spoken of as having been established almost immemorial. Beginning in 1635, this monastery founded several monasteries in turn at the request of the bishops. The first foundation was in Vannes (Morbihan 56). Then, foundations multiplied in France and even in Canada in 1639. These monasteries constituted the Order of the Hospitallers of the Mercy of Jesus. The French revolution of 1789 expelled and dispersed them. But in 1803, the city of Vannes (see posts) recalled seven of the former Religious Sisters of the Saint Nicholas Hospital, who were in Vannes. They gathered on Rue de la Loi, happy to be able to resume their religious life. The material conditions there were also very difficult: they had to feed, heat, clothe, launder, furnish, and maintain their homes at their own expense. Having learned that the Brothers of Lamennais wanted to sell a large building in Malestroit, the Augustinian Sisters of Vannes purchased it, thanking the Lord for having provided them with this residence where they hoped to be able to continue their vocation: to serve God in prayer and among the poor. They arrived in Malestroit on October 25, 1866, very well received by the population, and dedicated their new monastery to the Immaculate Conception. Here again, the beginnings were difficult: the house, unoccupied for many years, had no place to make a fire, the roofs were leaky, and everything else was missing. They opened a small boarding school, while waiting to set up a place to establish a hospital. On October 6, 1867, 6 students were welcomed. Construction was undertaken to enlarge the house and also to be able to receive old women. And here came the Laws of 1902 against teaching Congregations in France. They then said to themselves that it would be wiser to abandon teaching and return solely to caring for the sick. On April 7, 1915, the French army arrived in Malestroit, (WWI), and the rooms were chosen as a military infirmary. Once again, the Hospitallers were busy at the bedside of the wounded. In 1919, the project of a surgical clinic was relaunched. Certainly everything was still very modest, but little by little the improvements followed; on the first floor: bedrooms, an operating room with its annexes, a consultation room. New construction was needed. On June 21, 1928, the first stone of what would become the current clinic was blessed. The work progressed well: a year later, it was inaugurated. The driving force behind this daring project was this young 28-year-old sister, Sr. Yvonne Aimée. In 1939 (WWII) ,as we have seen since their foundation in Vannes, the Augustinians put themselves at the service of the wounded. The sisters, by welcoming and hiding the wounded from the maquis, the prisoners, the resistance fighters, were fulfilling their duty as Hospitallers of Mercy, even if they took great risks. Mother Yvonne Aimée, Mother Marie Anne, Sister Marie de la Trinité, and the clinic itself, were decorated at the end of the war by General de Gaulle. With peace restored, Mother Yvonne Aimée, who devoted herself selflessly to the Order’s various monasteries in France, England, and Africa, was elected the first Superior General of the Federation of Augustinians in 1946. In 1946, Mother Yvonne-Aimée founded the Federation of Augustinians of the Mercy of Jesus. The Canadian monasteries themselves formed a separate Federation. Present on three continents and in seven countries (France, England, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Canada, and Paraguay), they strive to remain open to the world’s distress and the needs of the Church, especially in the face of new forms of poverty. The Augustinian community living in the monastery is now composed of 26 Sisters. They follow the Rule of Saint Augustine , founder of a new form of consecrated life, which could be called the “monks in the city”. This rule is characterized by the very high importance of fraternal life.
And a condense history of Mother Yvonne Aimée, born Yvonne Beauvais, in Cossé in the Mayenne department 53 on July 16, 1901. Alfred, her father, was a wine merchant and Lucie née Brulé, her mother was a schoolteacher. The father of the family died when Yvonne was only 3 years old. From then on, the little girl was entrusted until the age of 6 to her maternal grandparents. Her mother had custody of Suzanne, her other daughter. She became passionate about the life of Thérèse of Lisieux. When she returned to live with her mother, she took communion in Toul (dept 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle) in December 1909. A few days later, she confided and wrote: “I dedicate my entire life to Christ.” She attended school for two years in England, then completed her studies in Paris. She was 21 years old when she arrived to convalesce at the Malestroit clinic in Morbihan (56), having contracted paratyphoid fever. She also suffered from severe headaches that would never leave her. It was at this time, through contact with the nuns, that she decided to abandon everything, including the fiancé destined for her, to become a nun. In 1927, she took the name Sister Yvonne-Aimée de Jésus. She was first a cook, then mistress of 35 novices. In 1928, she was 27 years old when she reformed the Community by creating a modern medical and surgical clinic, which opened a year later. In 1935, she became the Mother Superior of the Augustinians. Under the Nazis occupation, Mother Yvonne-Aimée astonished those around her with her courage and composure. She hid and cared for wounded resistance fighters and paratroopers. She even treated wounded members of the enemy camp. She arranged for accommodation at the clinic of General Louis-Alexandre Audibert, head of the secret army of the West, and managed to elude the Gestapo. After the war, she was decorated six times for her acts of resistance, receiving national and international recognition. She also received the Croix de Guerre with Palme in June 1945 in Saint-Marcel (Morbihan 56), and General de Gaulle personally awarded her the Legion of Honour on 22 July 1945 in Vannes (Morbihan 56). In 1946, Rome allowed the founding of the first Federation of Women’s Monasteries and Mother Yvonne-Aimée was elected Superior General. Despite increasingly fragile health, she devoted the last years of her life to her daily tasks, thanks to the love and energy she maintained with God, the guiding thread of her existence. While suffering from high blood pressure, she suffered and died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on February 3, 1951, in her fiftieth year. She was preparing to leave on a trip to South Africa to visit her missionary sisters in Natal. Mother Yvonne-Aimée rests in the cemetery of the Augustinian Monastery in Malestroit. Six years after her death in 1957, her coffin was opened. Her body was immersed in 5 cm of water: it had remained intact! The study of her file, for numerous supernatural manifestations, bilocation phenomena, and others is currently being examined in Rome, with a view to beatification.
The official Monastery of the Augustinian Sisters of Malestroit: https://augustines-malestroit.com/
The Morbihan dept 56 tourist office on the monastery of the Augustinians of Malestroit : https://morbihan.com/a-voir-a-faire/suivez-le-guide/mere-yvonne-aimee-et-le-monastere-des-augustines-malestroit-fr-4411580/
The official Clinic of the Augustinians of Malestroit : https://cliniquedesaugustines.fr/la-clinique/notre-histoire/
The city of Malestroit on its heritage (see circuit du patrimoine): https://www.malestroit.bzh/d%C3%A9couvrir
The local Broceliande tourist office on the monastery: https://www.destination-broceliande.com/en/offers/mere-yvonne-aimee-et-le-monastere-des-augustines-malestroit-en-2279396/
There you go folks, something different in my off the beaten path road warrior ways. This is a must for the nature lover, architecture ,and history buffs like me. We have done some walks along the canal and town always wonderful, worth the detour to the pearl of the Oust. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Monastery of the Augustinians Sisters of Malestroit !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 