Vacation / Travel Supplement

Catholic France: Benedictine pilgrimage explores French art, culture and religion

Pilgrims enter the small chapel at the convent in Nevers, France, where St. Bernadette Soubirous prayed daily before she became too ill to go there. (Submitted photo/Thomas Rillo)

By Thomas J. Rillo (Special to The Criterion)

FRANCE—In late March, 37 pilgrims departed for a Benedictine Heritage Pilgrimage through France hosted by two monks of Saint Meinrad Archabbey.

Benedictine Brother Maurus Zoeller, a guest master for the Abby, and Benedictine Brother Martin Erspamer, a well-known liturgical artist who works in a variety of media, guided the pilgrims through France, starting with a tour of Paris on March 24.

The “City of Light” has many parks, monuments, museums and churches.

Our first stop was Notre Dame Cathedral, and we were awed by its size and beautiful stained-glass windows.

Next we visited the Cluny Museum in Paris, known as the National Museum of the Middle Ages. It houses many medieval artifacts, including an ancient tapestry collection. Most impressive were the statues of beheaded martyrs of the early Church.

Another Paris stop was the Church of St. Germain des Pres, which was built in the sixth century and is the oldest church in Paris. Its abbey was the center of intellectual activity within the early French Catholic Church, and it was destroyed during the 1789 French Revolution. Only the church was left standing.

It was sad to see the damage to wonderful stone carvings and statues throughout France from the revolution.

That afternoon, some of the pilgrims visited the Louvre National Museum to view Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Mona Lisa and other noted works of art displayed there.

On the third day of the pilgrimage, we departed for Chartres, a beautiful city with a 13th-century Gothic cathedral that is famous for its soaring towers and most complete collection of medieval stained-glass windows in the world. Fortunately, few were damaged by the bombings during World War II.

The next day found us exploring the Abbey of St. Peter, called Saint Pere on Valies. The sanctuary of the abbey is known to go back to at least the seventh century.

Next, we visited the U-shaped crypt in Chartes Cathedral, perhaps the longest crypt of all the cathedrals in the world.

The day ended with a visit to the International Stained-Glass Center. Established in 1980, the center is just 50 meters from Chartes Cathedral and located in one of France’s remarkable Gothic cellars. A permanent exhibition presents the history of stained-glass art, how to interpret the stained-glass windows in Chartres Cathedral, and the restoration and manufacturing techniques.

A new day found the pilgrims visiting the Abbey of Saint Benoit sur Loire south of Chartres. The abbey has been a pilgrimage site since 673 when the relics of St. Benedict were reportedly brought there.

The Chartres abbey is an elegant example of 11th- and 12th-century architecture, and has a large collection of Romanesque and Gothic sculpture.

Father Jean Marcel, a French Benedictine monk, led our tour through the monastery then took us down to the crypt where the relics of St. Benedict are said to repose.

For Brother Maurus, this opportunity to pray near St. Benedict’s remains was one of the highlights of the pilgrimage.

In the small city of Nevers, we visited the hospital and convent home of St. Bernadette Soubirous.

Seeing the room in which St. Bernadette spent her final days was a highlight for many of the pilgrims. She died of cancer and tuberculosis at age 35.

St. Charles Borromeo parishioner Helen Coghlan of Bloomington remarked that it was the highlight of the pilgrimage to see the incorrupt body of St. Bernadette in her black and white habit, lying as if asleep below the altar top in a glass enclosure.

Travel the next day brought the pilgrims to the city of Bourges, where they visited the early Gothic Cathedral of St. Etienne patterned after Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The cathedral houses remarkable sculptures and beautiful 13th-century stained-glass windows in a collage of bright colors.

Leaving Bourges, we visited the town of La Charte sur Loire, a monastic city founded by a Benedictine abbot from Cluny. Loire is the name of a large river that flows south in France.

After leaving the monastic city, we traveled to the small medieval town of Vezelay for a four-day stay.

The hotel is located at the foot of a hill that the pilgrims of yesteryear climbed reverently. It is a very small town with a very large church at the top of a very steep hill.

The town has centuries-old architecture, cobblestone streets and walks. Small shops line the one street climbing upward to the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene.

Seashells placed in the cobblestone streets mark the early pilgrim path from the basilica to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and to the Holy Land. The seashell was the symbol of St. James, who was reputedly at Santiago de Compostela.

In 1870 and 1876, further relic donations of St. Mary Magdalen prompted anew the pilgrimage movement.

From Vezelay, we traveled to Cluny, the center of Benedictine monasticism in the Middle Ages. The abbey that was once the largest in Europe was the motherhouse of more than 1,000 monasteries. Only one wall remains of the historic monastery, which was destroyed during the French Revolution.

After Cluny, we visited the Abbey of St. Philibert, a fortress-like Romanesque church dating from the 11th century.

A short drive to Berze la Ville brought us to Chappelle Des Moines before returning to Vezelay.

The following day, we departed for Chateanunef en Auxois, one of the most beautiful villages in all of France. The turreted towers transform the village into a fairy-tale setting. The village dates back to the 11th century. The chateau and quaint houses have red tiled roofs.

We continued on to the 12th-century Cathedral of St. Lazare, which houses the relics of St. Lazarus and is renowned for its Romanesque sculptures.

A drive through Morvan National Forest brought us to Abbey de Pierre qui Vire, founded in 1850 by Benedictine monks who were famous for their pottery and cheeses.

Day 11 included a visit to the Cathedral of St. Etienne de Auxerre, a 13th-century Gothic cathedral.

Next, we went to Pontigy Abbey, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1114 along the Serein River. St. Thomas Becket spent two years in exile from 1164-66 at this abbey.

Day 12 found us traveling to Fontenay Abbey in Burgundy, a highlight of the pilgrimage for most of us. The abbey was founded in 1118 by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It is one of the oldest Cistercian abbeys established from Citeaux, the first monastery of the Cistercian order started in 1098. The buildings are well preserved, and it is the most complete example of monastic life in Europe.

Brother Martin explained that the Benedictines built their monasteries on hills and the Cistercians constructed their abbeys in valleys.

Twelve of the pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis represented Bloomington, Tell City, Columbus, Nineveh and Ramsey.

The Benedictine Heritage Pilgrimage gave the 37 pilgrims a strong sense of heightened spirituality, and a great deal of knowledge about the artistic and cultural sites in France.

The beauty of the undulating green hills of rural France, the myriad of hedgerow fences, the antiquity of the small villages, and the images of the white sheep and cattle grazing in pastures will be forever remembered by the pilgrims.

(Thomas J. Rillo is a member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington, a Benedictine oblate of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and an occasional freelance writer for The Criterion.) †