Frigolet AbbeyNave of the abbey church.Chapel of Our Lady of Good Remedy in the abbey church. Thebaroque chapel and decoration was funded by the formerQueen of France,Anne of Austria in 1638.Pope Pius IX crowned the image by a formal decree in 1869.CloisterChapter houseStations of the Cross
The monastery, dedicated toSaint Michael, was founded about 960 at Frigolet byConrad I of Burgundy on one of the numerous hills which lie between Tarascon andAvignon. It was initially occupied by Benedictine monks fromMontmajour Abbey.
By the 12th century, the abbey was home to a community ofCanons regular. A document from 1133 lists theprior of the canons as Guillaume ofLoubières. The chapel of Our Lady of Good Remedy dates from this period. The canonical Augustinian community lasted until 1480, when the canons petitioned theHoly See to suppress the monastery. This request was granted byPope Sixtus IV, at which time the monastery was abandoned. The chapel, however, remained a popularpilgrimage site.[1]
In 1647, theOrder of Saint Jerome were given possession of the derelict monastery. They worked to restore it, at the same time expanding the complex, enlarging thechoir andsacristy, and erecting achapter house. The community did not stay long, however, and were replaced in 1661 by theDiscalced Augustinians. Thefriars of this order continued the work of the Hieronymites, but also didpastoral care in the surrounding region, providing support to the local clergy.[1]
The venerated patriarchal image ofSaint Joseph, crowned by Pope Pius IX by pontifical decree in 30 September 1874.
After the Revolution it changed hands frequently, eventually acquired by a priest, Edmund Boulbon who purchased it from another priest fromCucuron, Toussaint de l’Estrac, who was a chaplain from the Convent of Our Lady of Visitation inVaucluse,Avignon.
Edmund Boulbon (born 14 January 1817) entered theLa Trappe Abbey atBricquebec in 1850, wishing to lead a more dedicated religious life. Acting on the advice of theTrappist superiors, he left the abbey and undertook the restoration of the Order ofNorbert of Xanten. On June 6, thefeast day of Saint Norbert, Boulbon received the white habit of the Premonstratensians from the hands of theBishop of Soissons, Paul-Armand de Cardon de Garsignies atPrémontré Abbey.
With the consent ofArchbishop of Aix, Georges-Claude-Louis-Pie Chalandon, Boulbon took possession of Frigolet and, having admitted severalnovices, commenced community life there. He erected a church in honour of theBlessed Virgin Mary, which was solemnly consecrated on 6 October 1866. The monastery was canonically erected as apriory on 28 August 1868 by a pontifical decree, and as an abbey in September 1869, with Boulbon as its firstabbot.
On 8 November 1880, under the French anti-clerical laws, theAbbey of Frigolet was seized and the monks expelled. Eventually, however, they were permitted to return.
Boulbon died on 2 March 1883. His successor, Paulinus Boniface, named abbot on 10 June 1883, undid by poor administration the work begun by Boulbon. After acanonical visitation by Archbishop of Aix, François Xavier Gouthe-Soulard, Paulinus was deposed, and the direction of the abbey entrusted to Denis Bonnefoy.
Up to this time, Frigolet Abbey with the priories it had founded had formed, as it were, a separate congregation with an organization of its own, having no connection with the other abbeys or theGeneral Chapter of the Premonstratensian order. This state of affairs was changed by a decree of theRoman Curia, dated 17 September 1898, when the congregation of Frigolet was incorporated into the order.
Denis Bonnefoy, who was made abbot on 21 March 1899, died on 20 September of the same year. The canons of Frigolet then chose for their abbot Godfrey Madelaine, then prior ofMondaye Abbey,Calvados, the author ofL'histoire de S. Norbert and other books. Under his administration, Frigolet Abbey sent missionaries toMadagascar, and founded priories atConques and Étoile (now inAuthon, Loir-et-Cher) in France, and atStorrington andBedworth in England.[2] Meanwhile, the French Republic had framed new laws against allreligious institutes, and on 5 April 1903 the canons, again expelled from their abbey, took refuge either in Belgium, in Norbertine abbey inLeffe, or in the priory at Storrington in England.
The community at Leffe suffered severely from the German occupation duringWorld War I: some were killed, and the rest were driven into further exile. Frigolet was reoccupied by the Premonstratensians in 1923 and remains in operation, although the communities at Leffe and Storrington also continued.
The abbot of Frigolet from 1946 was P. Norbert Calmels, later distinguished as the Abbot-General of the Premonstratensian order from 1961 to 1981, during which time he participated in theSecond Vatican Council.
Pope Pius IX was favorable towards the Frigolet abbey through the following approbations:
Approved the restoration project of the monastery via apapal audience granted to theBishop of Soissons, Paul—Armand de Cardon de Garsignies on 4 December 1856.
Raised the monastery to the rank of a fraternal priory via hispapal bullDomus Princeps which he signed and notarized on 28 August 1868.
Raised the status of the priory to the rank of anAbbey, providing the creation of its first abbot via a papal brief signed on 6 June 1869, which appointed Edmund Boulbon as the first abbot in September 1869.
Granted acanonical coronation towards the venerated image of "Our Lady of Good Remedy" via the Bishop of Puy, Pierre le Breton on 31 August 1869. The 12th—century original chapel of the Marian image was reconstructed withbaroque ornamentation under the benefactress and patronage of the formerQueen of France,Anne of Austria.
Granted acanonical coronation, assigned to Friar Gabriel Mollevaut, towards a venerated image ofSaint Joseph on 30 September 1874, now venerated in its own chapel within the abbey.
Pope John Paul II issued a pontifical decree titledSacra illa ædes that raised one of its structures to the status of aminor basilica on 12 June 1984.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Abbey of Frigolet".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
