Mont Saint-Michel

MONT SAINT-MICHEL. - Ancient abbey in the department of the Manche (France), situated on a rocky islet that forms a granite hill; since 1879 it has been joined to the mainland by a 2-km causeway.

The mount (78 m high) was originally called Mont-Tombe. In 708 St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built an oratory on the summit of Mont Tombe in honor of St. Michael, which in the 10th century was replaced by a Carolingian church, upon which the Romanesque Basilica rose in the 11th century. The islet came to be called successively St-Michel-en-Tombe, St-Michel-en-Mer, St-Michel-au-Péril-de-la-Mer, St-Michel-du-Mont and finally Mont-St-Michel.

The Norman invasion drove some refugees to take shelter on the islet around the monastery attached to the church. In 966 Richard I, Duke of Normandy, installed there the Benedictines from Fontenelle (St-Vandrille), since the sanctuary was much frequented by pilgrims. In 1203 part of the monastic buildings was set on fire by the troops of Philip Augustus, who wanted to take the islet from the dukes of Normandy. The monks were indemnified, rebuilt the abbey and began its fortification, completed in 1228 and known as the « Merveille ». St. Louis went to the sanctuary in 1254. The English tried in vain to occupy it between 1423 and 1434; in 1469 Louis XI instituted the royal knightly order known as St-Michel. However, commendatory abbots came and monastic discipline grew so lax that in 1622 the Benedictine Congregation of St. Maur entered it and remained there until the suppression in 1790 at the hands of the French Revolution. The monastic buildings were used as a prison until 1874, when they were declared historical monuments; from then on their restoration began.

(phot. Molinard)
SAINT-MICHEL, MONT - Choir of the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel (1450-1521).

The abbey church was restored to worship in 1922; the principal pilgrimage takes place on 29 September, the feast of St. Michael. Access to the abbey is through a fortified gate from which a steep staircase known as "du Gouffre" leads to the 13th-century guardroom. A second staircase, called the abbey staircase, leads to the abbots' residence and to the abbey church (1022-1135). The nave and transept are still Romanesque; the choir with its ambulatory of five radiating chapels dates from 1450-1521; everything was restored between 1898 and 1914; the high altar of pink Burgundy granite was consecrated in 1927. The monks' dwelling, with its superb three-storey facade, constitutes the "Merveille"; on the upper floor, beside the refectory, is the cloister with four galleries supported by 227 small columns and with varied decorations. Of the primitive abbey there remain elements from the 10th to the 12th century, including the 11th-12th-century crypt of the eagle, the chapel of St. Stephen, the guest house and the so-called west crypt, that is, the Carolingian church reinforced and enlarged in the 11th century. Beneath the cloister is the hall of the knights, divided into four naves by three rows of columns with foliate capitals. The walls of the fortifications still preserve various towers. In the village the parish church dates from the 11th century with 16th-century additions; the baptismal font is from the 13th century. - See plate CII.

Enrico Josi