OUR LADY OF LA FERTE, BURGUNDY

 Day 10: May 20

La Ferte Abbey

La Ferte Abbey was founded by Stephen Harding in 1113 as the first daughter house of Citeaux Abbey, the mother house of the Cistercian reform. This was one of the four primary abbeys of the Cistercian Order to which all other Cistercian houses were affiliated. The abbey enjoyed the generosity of the entourage of the Dukes of Burgandy. 

However, in the years 1165-1166, the abbey was caught up in conflicts between Hugh III, the Duke of Burgandy and Counts Gerard of Macon and William of Chalon. The roaming brigands known as the Tard-Venus occupied the abbey in 1362. Though it was fortified in 1415, it continued to be looted in 1562 and 1567. The Protestant troops of Gaspard de Coligny set the abbey on fire in 1570. The church, the sacristy, the chapter house and an adjoining room were the only surviving parts of the abbey. The abbot Francois de Beugre obtained necessary permission to sell lands for the reconstruction of the abbey. The reconstruction ended in the 17th century by his successor Yves Sauvegeot. The last abbot, Antoine-Louis Desvignes de la Cerve, commissioned a scheme of interior redecoration from the local architect Rameau, for which he granted him a pension.

The abbey was dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution, by which time the community numbered only 14 monks, and some of the outbuildings were occupied by the workers, some of them women, from the cotton factory which had been established elsewhere on the site. The buildings were sold as national assets and largely destroyed, including the abbey church.

The Virgin of the Annunciation

In an inspired architectural frame, with ornaments decorated with miniatures, a haloed woman is kneeling. In her left hand she holds an open book. Her right hand is raised and shows her astonishment. No doubt she is the Virgin Mary receiving the blessing of the Archangel during her prayer. The simple gesture of the hand, the serious face, the mysterious look, evoke the innocence and the intensity of the life of the virgins of Fra Angelico.


Prayer of St Anselm

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin;
give me strength against thine enemies,
and against the enemy of the whole human race.
Give me strength humbly to pray to thee.
Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers,
through the merits of thy most sacred nativity,
which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy,
the hope and solace of its life.


When thou wast born,
O most holy Virgin,
then was the world made light.

Happy is thy stock, holy thy root,
and blessed thy fruit,
for thou alone as a virgin,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
didst merit to conceive thy God,
as a virgin to bear Thy God,
as a virgin to bring Him forth,
and after His birth to remain a virgin.

Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner,
and give me aid, O Lady,
so that just as thy nativity,
glorious from the seed of Abraham,
sprung from the tribe of Juda,
illustrious from the stock of David,
didst announce joy to the entire world,
so may it fill me with true joy
and cleanse me from every sin.

Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent,
that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity
may put a cloak over all my sins.

O holy Mother of God,
flowering as the lily,
pray to thy sweet Son for me,
a wretched sinner.

Amen.

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