SAINT-MICHEL, MONT. — An ancient abbey in the department of Manche (France), situated on a rocky islet forming 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 s. Audeberto, bishop of Avranches, built an oratory in honor of s. Michele on the summit of Mont-Tombe; in the 10th century this was replaced by a Carolingian church, over which the Romanesque Basilica arose in the 11th century. The islet subsequently began to be called 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 seek shelter on the islet around the monastery attached to the church. In 966 Riccardo I, duke of Normandy, installed there Benedictines from Fontenelle (St-Vandrille), since the sanctuary was much frequented by pilgrims. In 1203 part of the monastic buildings was burned by the troops of Filippo Augusto, who wished to take the islet from the dukes of Normandy. The monks were compensated, rebuilt the abbey, and began its fortification, completed in 1228 and called the « Merveille ». S. Luigi visited the sanctuary in 1254. The English unsuccessfully attempted to occupy it between 1423 and 1434; in 1469 Luigi XI established the royal chivalric order called St-Michel. Commendatory abbots then arrived, however, and monastic discipline deteriorated to such an extent that in 1622 the Benedictine Congregation of S. Mauro entered the abbey, remaining there until its suppression in 1790 by the French Revolution. The monastic buildings were used as a prison until 1874, when they were declared historical monuments; restoration work began thereafter.
(photo Molinard)
SAINT-MICHEL, MONT - Choir of the abbey church of M. S. M. (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 the « du Gouffre » leads to the guards’ hall of the 13th century. A second staircase, called the abbey staircase, leads to the abbots’ residence and the abbey church (1022-1135). The nave and transept are still Romanesque; the choir, with its ambulatory and five radiating chapels, dates from 1450-1521; the whole was restored between 1898 and 1914; the high altar, in pink granite from Burgundy, was consecrated in 1927. The monks’ residence, with its superb three-storey façade, constitutes the « Merveille »; on the upper floor, beside the refectory, is the cloister, with four ambulatories supported by 227 small columns and decorated in various ways. Elements dating from the 10th to the 12th century remain from the original abbey, including the crypt of the aquilon from the 11th-12th century, the chapel of S. Stefano, the guesthouse, and the crypt known as the western crypt, that is, the Carolingian church reinforced and enlarged in the 11th century. Beneath the cloister is the knights’ hall, divided into four naves by three rows of columns with foliate capitals. The fortification walls still preserve various towers. In the borough, the parish church dates from the 11th century, with additions from the 16th; the baptismal font is from the 13th century. - Vedi tav. CII.