Montmajour

MONTMAJOUR. - Benedictine abbey situated on the island of St-Pierre de M., to the north-east of Arles, surrounded by marshes which gave it in Provençal the name of St-Pierre "de la Sagno."

The abbey had its beginning in a group of hermits who occupied themselves with digging the tombs and guarding the cemetery that had grown up there under the patronage of St. Peter. The monastery appears for the first time in the middle of the 10th century, as dependent on the Chapter of St. Trophimus, the cathedral of Arles, from which it was acquired on 7 October 949 by a pious woman named Teucinda, who died in 977, as is read on her tombstone. In 960 its first abbot was Mauring; it then received gifts and privileges and depended directly on the Holy See; Clement IV (1265-68) designated the abbot among the Benedictines, and in the 14th century it became a benefice whose collation was reserved to the Holy See. In the 16th and 17th centuries it became a benefice of the d'Ornano family; several priories scattered throughout Provence depended on the abbey. The double abbey church dedicated to St. Peter, on the southern flank of the mount, was erected in the 10th century, comprising two naves, one of which was cut into the rock; the other consists of a nave with three bays. On the other flank of the mountain a new church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and to all the saints was begun by Abbot Archinricus on 30 May 1016, and was finished under Abbot Roland (1059-72). In 1030 the crypt of the Holy Cross was consecrated there. The two churches were demolished in the works of the 12th century, when around 1150 the construction of the present church of Notre-Dame was begun, finished around 1153; it consists of a nave with two bays with a transept, a semicircular apse within and polygonal without; two side apses and a crypt cut into the rock, with an ambulatory onto which five small apses open. In the transept a chapel was added on the north by Abbot Bertrand de Maussang (1298-1316); while to the east the subterranean chapel of the Holy Cross was erected in the second half of the 12th century. Beside the church was built the cloister, which presents analogies with that of St. Trophimus of Arles; it was restored several times, as in the time of the abbots Pons de l'Orme (1368-80) and Cardinal Pietro De Foix (1450-1462); the capitals present historical scenes or chimeras. From the end of the 16th century the abbey, given in commendam, was in such a state of decay that the archbishop of Arles, Monsignor J. Jaubert de Barroult, entrusted it in 1639 to the Benedictines of St. Maur, who renewed the buildings, later damaged by a fire in 1726; a new plan was approved in 1755. The abbey was secularized by the Revolution in 1790. After some parts had been saved by a private individual, after the Restoration the city of Arles began its repurchase, and in 1872 the restorations were begun. On 19 April 1030, under Abbot Ramberto Pons de Marignane, archbishop of Arles, the "Pardon de M." was instituted on the occasion of the construction of the crypt dedicated to the Holy Cross in the basilica of Notre-Dame, for all the faithful who had contributed to the construction. The indulgence was extended to the following years for the pilgrimage that took place on 3 May, the Invention of the Holy Cross; it then remained in force afterwards as well; Pope Julius II (bull of 6 February 1504) granted the plenary indulgence when 3 May fell on a Friday. Pius IX (bull of 14 July 1851) re-established the pilgrimage, which had been suspended since the time of the French Revolution. At present, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, the indulgence is transferred to the church of St. Anthony in Arles.

Enrico Josi