Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune
Encyclopedia
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. It is situated against a cliff in a section of the road between Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and the Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont . The pass itself and the villages on each side of it, such as Gondo, are in Switzerland...
(to northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
). The abbey itself is a territorial abbacy
Territorial abbot
A territorial abbey is a type of particular church within the Roman Catholic Church.Normally an abbot is the superior of an abbey , and exercises authority over a religious family of monks. His authority extends only as far as the monastery's walls, or only to the monks who have taken their vows...
and not part of a diocese. It is best known for its connection to the story of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion
Theban Legion
The Theban Legion figures in Christian hagiography as an entire Roman legion — of "six thousand six hundred and sixty-six men" — who had converted en masse to Christianity and were martyred together, in 286, according to the hagiographies of Saint Maurice, the chief among the Legion's...
, its practice of perpetual psalmody, and a renowned collection of art and antiquity. The abbey is the center of the picturesque village, which was vacated in the mid 20th century and is wholly owned by the territorial diocese. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
.
History
St. Maurice's Abbey is built on the ruins of a Roman shrine of the 1st century B.C. to the god Mercury in the Roman staging-post of Agaunum, and first came to prominence as a result of a now disputed account by Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyon. Eucherius experienced a revelation that convinced him of the martyrdom of a Roman legion, known as the "Theban Legion", under the leadership of Saint MauriceSaint Maurice
Saint Maurice was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms...
, around 285 A.D., in the area where the abbey is located.
In 515, the basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
of St. Maurice of Agaunum became the church of a monastery under the patronage of King Sigismund of Burgundy
Sigismund of Burgundy
Sigismund was king of the Burgundians from 516 to his death. He was the son of king Gundobad, whom he succeeded in 516. Sigismund and his brother Godomar were defeated in battle by Clovis' sons and Godomar fled. Sigismund was taken by Chlodomer, King of Orléans, where he was kept as a prisoner. He...
, the first ruler in his dynasty to convert from Arian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
Christianity to Trinitarian Christianity.
The abbey became known for a form of perpetual psalmody known as laus perennis that was practised there beginning in 522 or 523. The chants were sung day and night, by several choirs in rotation without ceasing. The practice continued there until the early ninth century.
The abbey had some of the richest and best preserved treasures in Western Europe.
In the mid-ninth century, Hucbert
Hucbert
Hucbert was a Frank and son of Boso the Elder. Therefore he was a Bosonid. His sister was Teutberga, who married Lothair II, a prince of the Carolingian dynasty, the imperial family of Francia...
, brother-in-law of the Emperor Lothair II, seized the abbey. In 864 he was killed in a battle at the Orbe
Orbe
Orbe is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the former district of Orbe and is now part of the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois.-History:Orbe is first mentioned about 280 as Urba. In 1179 it was mentioned as versus Orbam....
river. He was replaced by the victor, Conrad, Count of Auxerre. The offspring of Conrad became the kings of Burgundy, from Rudolf I to Rudolf III. They directed the abbey until around the year 1000.
Boson
Boso of Provence
Boso was a Frankish nobleman from the Bosonid-family, who was related to the Carolingian dynasty, who rose to become King of Provence ....
of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
(879-887) received the abbey in 871 from his brother-in-law Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
. The lay abbot of the abbey succeeded Boson as king and was crowned Rudolf I in 888 in a coronation ceremony at the abbey itself. In 1840, Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...
conferred the title of the See of Bethlehem in perpetuity on the now independent St. Maurice's Abbey. Throughout the history of the abbey, its strategic mountain pass location and independent patronage has subjected it to the whims of war. The abbey was often forced to pay ransom or house troops. Today, it operates a highly-ranked secondary school for boys.
Architecture
The abbey has been built and rebuilt over a period of at least 15 centuries. Excavations on the site have revealed a baptistry dating to the 4th and 5th centuries, a series of four main Carolingian eraCarolingian architecture
Carolingian architecture is the style of north European Pre-Romanesque architecture belonging to the period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries, when the Carolingian family dominated west European politics...
churches built over one another dating from the 5th to the 11th century, and crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
s built between the 4th and 8th century. The current church was first built in the 17th century while the tower dates to the 11th century. Preceding Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral in 946, Chartres Cathedral ca. 1020 and Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.-History:...
ca. 1030, the abbey was an early example of an ambulatory plan with radiating chapels.
The Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
tower was reconstructed in 1945 to repair damage caused by a massive falling rock. The newly installed carillon
Carillon
A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
is the largest built to date in Switzerland.