Solesmes, Abbey of Saint Peter. – A monastery founded in 1010 in Maine (France) by Geoffrey of Sablé, with the assistance of Benedictine monks sent from the abbey of “la Couture” in Le Mans.
Initially, it was a small priory whose history remains obscure until the Hundred Years’ War, during which the monastery was destroyed by the English, while the Romanesque church remained intact. After the priory was rebuilt, it enjoyed great prosperity during the 15th and 16th centuries. Its priors, especially Dom Bougler (d. 1556), enlarged the church, adorning it with precious works, including the so-called sepulchres of Our Lord and the Virgin, by unknown artists, among whom some Italian hands can be discerned (1475–1553). Shortly afterward, the priory passed into commendam; one of its best commendatory priors was the Italian Tommaso Bonzi, an emulator of St. Charles Borromeo. In 1664, Solesmes joined the Congregation of St. Maur, which in 1723 rebuilt the monastic buildings, except for the church. In 1791, the Revolution dispersed the monks; the prior, Dom de Saecon, and the subprior, Dom Papion, were imprisoned. The monastery passed through various owners, the last of whom, in 1832, began its demolition. At that point, Dom Guéranger (q.v.) took it on lease, then purchased it, and in 1833 restored Benedictine life there. In 1837, Gregory XVI elevated the priory to the status of an abbey, and Dom Guéranger became its first abbot. Solesmes soon became a center of spiritual life and the starting point for a renewal of liturgical piety that spread throughout the Church. The successors of Dom Guéranger (d. 1875), Dom Couturier (d. 1890), Dom Feltoise (abbot until 1921, d. 1937), and the current abbot, Dom Cozien, had to endure persecution by a secularizing government, including exile and expulsions from 1880 to 1882, and exile in England from 1901 to 1922. Yet such trials did not hinder the monastery’s vitality. New buildings were erected in 1895–1900 and in 1936.
The imposing structure on the banks of the Sarthe is an architectural marvel. Besides Dom Guéranger, the abbey has counted distinguished monks in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Dom Pitra (q.v.), later a cardinal and librarian of the Holy Roman Church; Dom Cagin, a noted liturgist; Dom Piolin, historian of the church of Le Mans; Dom Quentin, reviser of the Vulgate and first abbot of St. Jerome in Urbe; Dom Pothier and Dom Mocquereau, restorers of Gregorian chant; and finally Dom Delatte, author of well-known commentaries on the Gospels, the epistles of St. Paul, and the Rule of St. Benedict.
THE RESTORATION OF GREGORIAN CHANT. – Dom P. Guéranger (q.v.), restorer of the Roman liturgy in France, understood that the restoration of genuine Gregorian chant had to be its necessary complement. Guided by his natural taste and the advice of Canon Gontier of Le Mans—who had devoted himself to studying the historical foundations of traditional church music and had published (1859) an important *Méthode raisonnée du plain-chant*—he succeeded in giving the performance of Gregorian melodies in his monastery an artistic and religious character in stark contrast to the complete decadence in which they had long been performed. Since the editions then in use were highly defective, Dom Guéranger realized the need to propose, by methodically returning to the manuscripts, a text that would reproduce the original melodies as faithfully as possible. In 1860, he entrusted the research to Dom Paul Jausions, soon joined by the still-novice Dom Joseph Pothier (q.v.). Their studies and publications definitively opened the way to the reform of Gregorian chant, which Leo XIII repeatedly and effectively encouraged toward the end of his pontificate, revoking the privilege of the previous “typical editions” granted to others. Bl. Pius X had to take this into account when publishing the *Roman Gradual* (1907) and the *Roman Antiphonary* (1912) of the “Vatican edition.” The preparation of these editions was entrusted by the same Pope to the monks of Solesmes, by a motu proprio of 25 April and a brief of 22 May 1904. A commission called “Vatican,” presided over by Dom Pothier, by then abbot of St. Wandrille, was charged with revising the proposed text. This text was to be based on the work done at Solesmes, where an important collection of photographic documents had been assembled, especially by Dom P. Mocquereau (q.v.), a disciple of Pothier, and by a group of monks specialized in these studies. The collaboration between the Commission and the editorial board ordered by Pius X was marked by serious disagreements, and the responsibility for the Gradual—and even more so for the Antiphonary—fell solely on Pothier.
Once the Vatican Commission was dissolved, scientific research continued at Solesmes under the direction of Dom Mocquereau, who in 1887 began publishing the *Paléographie musicale*, and in 1911 the *Revue grégorienne* in Tournai. Notable also are the rhythmic editions, which, despite the debates they provoked, proved highly useful and remain widely used today.
Under the direction of Dom J. Cajot, who succeeded Dom Mocquereau at the palaeographic school, Solesmes continues its scientific research to improve Gregorian editions. The *Antiphonarium monasticum* (1934) in particular gives an idea of the progress achieved. – See pl. LX.