Couvent de Montorge
Origin of the name Couvent de Montorge
The convent bears the name of Montorge, the part of the town of Fribourg above the Sarine, and in German that of « Bisemberg ». Neither name has been explained.[1][3]
Founding of Couvent de Montorge
Jacques Vallier (or Wallier), from Solothurn, co-lord of Saint-Aubin and childless, founded the convent in 1626. It was the first convent of women founded in Fribourg during the Counter-Reformation. The nuns are Capuchins, enclosed Franciscan sisters, who came from Gerlisberg, in Lucerne. The church is under the patronage of Saint Joseph and was built, like the convent, to the standard plan of the order.[1][2][3]
History of Couvent de Montorge
1626. The Fribourg government authorises the foundation on 27 March, and the foundation stone is laid the next day.[1]
1627. The altarpieces of the three altars, in carved and gilded wood, are made in 1627-1628. The painting of the right-hand altar, dated 1627, bears the arms of Pierre Reyff, the founder's cousin, and of his wife Vérène Python.[2]
1628. Four sisters from Gerlisberg move into the new building. The same year the refectory receives a Mannerist mural decoration, and a relief with the founder's arms is set above the entrance.[1][2][3]
1635. The church of Saint-Joseph is consecrated.[1][3]
Around 1640. Jean-François Reyff makes the small altarpiece of the oratory of Notre-Dame-des-Ermites, in the garden.[2]
1642. The nuns' choir receives its altarpiece of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with a view of the convent.[2]
1668. A Baroque walnut grille with rich plant decoration closes the nuns' choir.[2][3]
1740s. Stucco tombs are set up in the church.[2]
1746. Brother Anton Scheck makes the inlaid revolving hatches of the choir in 1746-1747. He also makes the tabernacle of the high altar, adorned in 1749 with silver appliqués by Jacques-David Müller.[2]
1757. The entrance door receives carved panels in Régence style.[2]
Around 1780. A guest building is added against the west wing.[2]
1810. Aloys Mooser builds the organ, whose decoration Joseph Huber carves in 1810-1811. Around the same date the nave receives neoclassical stucco and a false basket-handle vault.[2][3][4]
1844. Louis Roelly and his son Louis-Alexis cast the bell.[2]
1857. After the Sonderbund war the sisters could neither manage their estate nor take novices. They regain that right in 1857.[1]
1971. The interior of the church is restored.[2]
1988. The Kuhn workshop restores the Mooser organ.[3]
1992. The exterior of the church is restored in turn.[2]
Historic sites in Couvent de Montorge
Church of Saint-Joseph. A rectangular building under a steep pitched roof houses the nave, the choir and the nuns' choir, vaulted and separated by a partition wall. The furnishings, of very high quality, are original, and the whole has undergone no major alteration.[2][3][4]
Altarpieces. The high altar shows the Holy Family between Saint James the Greater and Saint Barbara, with the founder's arms. The left altar bears a Virgin and Child, the right one Saint Francis handing the rule of the Third Order to Saint Louis and Saint Clare. The paintings are attributed to Louis Vallélian, and the Mannerist altarpieces are among the early works of Jean-François Reyff.[2][3][4]
Convent and garden. The buildings form a two-storey quadrangle around a cloister. The south wing holds the refectory, chapter house, novitiate and infirmary. The garden, on the edge of the Sarine cliffs, is bounded by eight oratories, among them Notre-Dame-de-Lorette and Notre-Dame-des-Anges.[2]
Organ. Aloys Mooser's balustrade organ survives in its original state.[2][3][4]
Remains in Couvent de Montorge
Painting cycles. A Life of Saint Francis in eighteen paintings and a Life of Saint Joseph in eight, attributed to Louis Vallélian (1627-1629), adorned the church. They were removed in 1971.[2]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Montorge » (Kathrin Utz Tremp), version du 27.11.2008
- Inventaire suisse des biens culturels d'importance nationale (PBC), fiche KGS 02093, « Monastère des Capucines de Montorge et église Saint-Joseph », d'après le Guide artistique de la Suisse (SHAS)
- Orgues et vitraux, « Fribourg (couvent de Montorge) » (texte revu en juillet 2020)
- Fribourg Région, « L'église et le monastère de Montorge »
Other villages near Couvent de Montorge
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