The Catholic Congregation of Savigny (Savigniac Order) started in the abbey of Savigny, situated in northern France, on the confines of Normandy and Brittany, in the Diocese of Coutances. The Catholic Congregation of Savigny ( Savigniac Order) started in the Abbey of Savigny, situated in northern France, on the confines of Normandy This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. Brittany (Breizh bʁejs Bretagne; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a former independent Celtic kingdom and Duchy, now incorporated into It originated in 1105 when Vitalis of Mortain established a hermitage in the forest at Savigny in France. Saint Vitalis of Savigny (ca 1060 — 16 September, 1122) is the Canonized founder of the Savigny Abbey and the Congregation of Savigny Although today's meaning is usually a place where a Hermit lives in seclusion from the world hermitage was more commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group
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Founding
Vitalis was a Canon of the Collegiate Church of St. Evroul. "St Evroul" redirects here For the abbey see Saint-Evroul-sur-Ouche. He resigned his prebend to embrace an eremitical life under Robert of Arbrissel in the forest of Craon (Anjou). A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic Cathedral or Collegiate church and is a type of canon. Robert of Arbrissel (c 1045 - 1116) was an itinerant preacher and founder of the abbey of Fontevrault. Craon is the name of several communes in France Craon, in the Mayenne department Craon former commune of the Meurthe-et-Moselle Leaving the latter, he retired to the forest of Savigny (1105), where he built a hermitage.
The number of disciples who gathered around him necessitated the construction of adequate buildings, in which was instituted the monastic life, following the Rule of St. Benedict, interpreted in a manner similar to the Cistercians. The community wore grey habits. Rudolph, lord of Fougeres, confirmed to the monastery (1112) the grants he had formerly made to Vital, and from then dates the foundation of the monastery. Once firmly established, its growth was rapid, and it soon became one of the most celebrated in France. The founder was judged worthy of canonization, and many of his successors in the abbatial office, as well as simple religious of the Abbey, were canonized or beatified by the Church; the best known of them being Saint Aymon.
Expansion
It founded daughter-houses such as that at Furness Abbey and Calder Abbey, both in Cumbria, England. Furness Abbey, or St Mary of Furness is a former Cistercian Monastery situated on the outskirts of the Cumbrian town Barrow-in-Furness Calder Abbey in Cumbria was a Savigniac monastery founded in 1135 by Ranulph de Gernon 2nd Earl of Chester and moved to this site following a refoundation Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy From the number of its foundations Savigny became the head of a Congregation, numbering thirty-three subordinate houses, within thirty years of its own inception. In 1119 Pope Celestine II, then in Angers, took it under his immediate protection, and strongly commended it to the neighbouring nobles. Pope Celestine II (died March 8, 1144) born Guido di Castello, was Pope from 1143 to 1144
Under Geoffroy, successor to Vital, Henry I of England established and generously endowed twenty-nine monasteries of this Congregation in his dominions. Henry I (c 1068/1069 – 1 December 1135) was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror, the first King of England after the Norman Saint Bernard also held them in high esteem, and it was at his request that their monks, in the troubled times of the Antipope Anacletus II, declared in favour of Pope Innocent II. St Bernard, St Bernard or Saint Bernard may be People Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 Saint Bernard Anacletus II, born Pietro Pierleoni, (died January 25 1138) was an Antipope who ruled from 1131 to his death in a schism against
Administrative merger with the Cistercians
By 1147 the Order was experiencing financial and administrative difficulties. Abbot Serlo of Savigny, third successor of the founder, found it difficult to retain his jurisdiction over the English monasteries, who wished to make themselves independent. He determined to affiliate the entire Congregation to Citeaux, which was effected at the General Chapter of 1147. Cîteaux Abbey (French Abbaye de Cîteaux) is a Roman Catholic Abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, Several English monasteries objecting to this, were finally obliged to submit by Pope Eugene III (1148). Pope Each of the newly affiliated houses was surveyed, and brought within conformity of the strictures and standards of the Cistercian order.
Later history
Little by little discipline became relaxed, and Commendatory Abbots being introduced (1501) it never regained its first greatness. In 1509 it was pillaged and partly burned by the Calvinists, and records of the following year mention but twenty-four monks remaining.
It continued to exist until the Revolution reduced it to a heap of ruins, and scattered its then existing members. Of all its former dependencies remains only La Grande Trappe, a daughter of the Abbey of Breuil-Benoit, which was a direct filiation of Savigny. La Trappe Abbey or La Grande Trappe is a Monastery in Soligny-la-Trappe, Orne, France, and the house of origin of the Order
The church, a model of Cistercian architecture, was restored in 1869, and now serves for parish purposes.
References
- Anthony New. A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales. Constable.
Sources
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia