Abbaye de la Maigrauge
Origin of the name Abbaye de la Maigrauge
In German the abbey is called « Magerau », a name which, like its French form, remains unexplained. It is dedicated to Mary, with John the Baptist, and its church to the Assumption.[1][3]
Founding of Abbaye de la Maigrauge
A laywoman, Richinza, and a small group of companions received from the parish priest of Tafers, on 3 July 1255, permission to live at the western edge of his parish, on the banks of the Sarine. Count Hartmann V the Younger of Kyburg, lord of Fribourg, gave them the land, and the lords of Maggenberg, Vivy and Mettlen also endowed the house. Until the end of the 15th century its property included vineyards on the shores of the lakes of Neuchâtel and Geneva, and above all land in the Sense district. La Maigrauge was the first convent of women in Fribourg, and the only one until the 17th century.[1][2]
History of Abbaye de la Maigrauge
1255. On 3 July, Richinza and her companions obtain from the parish priest of Tafers the right to settle. This document is regarded as the act of foundation.[1][2][3]
1259. Hartmann V the Younger of Kyburg gives the land to the community.[2]
1261. The community joins the Cistercian order (in 1262, according to another source) and comes under the paternity of the abbot of Hauterive. From then on its superior bears the title of abbess.[1][2][3]
Around 1284. The church is consecrated.[1][3]
Around 1350. The church is remodelled in Gothic style. The nave loses two bays and becomes a basilica.[1][3]
1424. For the first time, the convent's advocate is a man from the town of Fribourg.[1]
1457. La Maigrauge enters into co-burghership with Fribourg.[1]
1518. At the town's request, Cistercian abbots visit and reform the convent.[1][3]
1602. The nuns ask to return to the strict rule.[2]
1625. Forty-five nuns sign their commitment to perpetual abstinence. In the first half of the century Guillaume Moënnat, abbot of Hauterive, introduces the strict observance, and Abbess Anne Techtermann (1607-1654) embellishes and enlarges the house.[1][2]
1648. The convent acquires its first organ, in 1648-1649.[3]
1660. On 17 November, during Compline, a candle left in a cell sets the abbey on fire. The cells, cloister, refectory and dormitories, built of wood, are destroyed, but the church, the chapter house and the abbess's lodging are spared.[1][2][3]
1848. The radical government wants the convent to disappear « by extinction ». The abbey of Hauterive, its support, is suppressed. In 1849 Abbess Marie-Bernardine Castella has to hand over the property and archives to the State and stop receiving novices.[1][2]
1857. The convent may again receive novices.[1][3]
1901. La Maigrauge joins the Mehrerau congregation.[1]
1963. The abbot of Hauterive becomes father immediate again, and a monk of Hauterive is once more the nuns' confessor.[1][3]
2011. Mother Marianne Zürcher is elected abbess.[2]
Historic sites in Abbaye de la Maigrauge
Abbey church. Built in the second half of the 13th century, the church has kept its original form only in the choir, where the stalls of the late 14th century are still in place.[1][3]
Holy Sepulchre. This 14th-century Holy Sepulchre (around 1330) is a painted wooden coffin whose lid opens onto a nearly life-size wooden statue of the dead Christ. It is attributed to a master from southern Germany.[1][3]
Organ. Aloys Mooser repairs the first organ in 1806-1807. Ludwig Mauracher builds a new one in 1881, and the old one is sold in 1885 to the parish of Onnens. Back at La Maigrauge in 1986, it was reconstructed by the Mathis workshop of Näfels, and its case still holds about 150 pipes by Mooser.[3]
Convent buildings. The convent wings have had their present form since the rebuilding that followed the fire of 1660. The Baroque lantern of the bell tower dates from that time.[1][3]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Maigrauge, La » (Kathrin Utz Tremp), version du 22.10.2009
- Abbaye de la Maigrauge, « Histoire »
- Orgues et vitraux, « Fribourg (La Maigrauge, abbaye) » (texte revu en juillet 2020)
Other villages near Abbaye de la Maigrauge
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