Territorial Abbey Of St. Maurice Dagaune
The territorial abbey of Saint-Maurice Agaune is a very old monastery located in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
It was founded in 515 by the future king Burgundian saint Sigismund at the site of an older shrine housing the remains of Maurice Agaune , martyr of the third century , built by Theodore , the first bishop known to the Valais.
City of Agaune has also taken his name and is now called Saint-Maurice , the abbey has played a major role in regional history and today is the oldest abbey of Western Europe in activity to have been occupied permanently. The first king of Burgundy transjuran , Rudolph , was crowned.
Originally and until the ninth century , is the laus perennis , which applied. The monks were then replaced by canons who adopted the rule of St. Augustine in 1128.
Summary |
The location of the abbey was a sacred place from at least Roman times. An altar Rome dedicated to the nymphs there was found near the source is also dedicated to the nymphs.
It seems that Theodore (also called Theodule), first bishop of Wallis and sitting in Martigny, who founded the first Christian sanctuary in 381 by transferring the remains of the martyrs in a chapel attributed to Maurice and his companions killed. The sanctuary was enlarged in the fourth century.
The abbey itself was inaugurated on 22 September 515 by the future king Burgundian St. Sigismund. While his father Gondebald remained faithful to the Arian , Sigismund had embraced the Catholic orthodoxy (no distinction at the time) and made the Abbey, upon accession to the throne in 516 , a place of pilgrimage for his people who had to follow him in his faith. The first basilica dates from this period, and the baptistery , to proceed according to the rite of the partial immersion , which can still be visited.
Sigismund installed a community of monks there and built a new basilica, facing is - west , at the foot of the rock. The monks instaurrent the laus perennis , which means "everlasting praise. Indeed, choirs of monks it turns day and night to ensure a continuous prayer. The place thrived for two centuries.
In 574 , the abbey was destroyed by the Lombards. After their departure, the basilica was rebuilt.
The number of monks has gradually declined in the seventh and eighth century and they become secular canons. Due to landslides, the basilica was rebuilt in the eighth and eleventh century , still in an east-west.
In the mid- ninth century , Hucbert , brother of the Emperor Lothair II , seized the abbey. Killed 864 in a battle at Orb , he was replaced as head of the abbey by his conqueror, Conrad , Count of Auxerre. The progeny of the latter, or the kings of Burgundy, Rudolph I. to III Rudolph lead the institution until about one thousand. Abbey returned to ecclesiastical hands afterwards.
On 15 February 1018 , at the request of his friends, the king of Burgundy, Rudolph III , gives or rather went to the Abbey of St. Maurice d'Agaune the treasury of Saw , of Lully , of Commugny , half of Pully , Oron-le-Chatel , the Principality of Vuadens , Bouloz the plaid Vevey , Lutry , Vouvry , Ollon , Villy , Naters , some rights to Saint-Maurice and all the pastures of Chablais.
In 1128, Amadeus III of Savoy who was the lay abbot ( 1103 - 1147 ) helped the renaissance of the Abbey of St. Maurice by installing regular canons according to the rule of St. Augustine.
A major workshop of silversmith Roman seems to have been held to XII and XIII century.
The rule is not followed strictly in Saint-Maurice from the fourteenth century. It is restored in the seventeenth century and the common life resumed from 10 September 1642.
Following a new landslide, the basilica was rebuilt in the seventeenth century , following the direction north - south this time. In 1693, fire destroyed almost completely the abbey buildings to be rebuilt in the early eighteenth century.
In 1942 , another landslide destroyed part of the new church and steeple. These buildings were restored after the war and the church obtained the title of basilica minor in 1948.
Archaeological excavations are underway at the site of primitive shrines. The treasure of the abbey and the excavations can be visited.
Organization
The Abbey was never dependent on a diocese and a bishop, as it benefited from its foundation of the Pontifical immediacy , that is to say it directly to the Pope and his alone. After a nullius dioceses, it becomes' territorial abbey '. This means that the Abbot of Saint-Maurice has his own spiritual jurisdiction over the abbey community as well as the parishes in his territory.
Canonical autonomous congregation therefore, Abbey currently has 45 religious, including a bishop, two brothers and 42 priests canons. All do not live in the abbey, some living outside in a parish in the territory of a parish in the diocese of Sion and then outside to perform other pastoral duties. The canons indeed serve 14 parishes of the diocese of Sion, lending a hand to it.
The parishes are territorial abbey five in number:
- Abbey Basilica, built in the parish, including the Abbey, the basilica, the college chapel and home Vrolliez St-Jacques (senior citizens);
- the parish of St. Maurice and Mex, including the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Scex ;
- Parish Vernayaz ;
- Parish Salvan ;
- Parish Finhaut.
These include about 6,000 Catholic parishes.
The Abbey of St. Maurice has a college with a semi-private status of establishment because it is the property of the canons, but is governed by a Concordat of 1806 between the abbey and the State of Valais. Indeed in 1806, the Valais recognizes the college as an institution of public utility and participates in its funding. Even today, directing the establishment canons and two of them teach, namely the canon Ineichen (also president) and the canon Salina (also prefect of the internship).
Treasure
Among the many exhibits, there were a few special items:
- the shrine of Father Nantelme, dating from 1225 ;
- the shrine of St. Sigismund of children, dating from the thirteenth century ;
- the great shrine of St. Maurice, dating from the thirteenth century ;
- the shrine of the Holy Thorn, offered by Louis IX of France ;
- cabinet Teudric, Merovingian , dating from the seventh century ;
- the vase of sardonyx, dating from before the Christian era and enhanced with silver Carolingian ;
- the ewer of Charlemagne, the Carolingian period, the Byzantine enamels;
- the head reliquary of St. Candide, dating from around 1165.
See also
Related article
Bibliography
- Saint-Maurice Agaune (collective), in The Canons Regular of St Augustine in Valais, Basel 1997 (Helvetia Sacra, IV / 1)
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