It was not a coincidence that the Holy Father dedicated his catechesis last week to St. Odon, second abbot of Cluny. The abbey is celebrating its 11th centenary this year.
Cluny Abbey to begin 1100th anniversary
celebrations on Saturday
Cluny, France, Sept 10 (CNA).- The French city of Cluny is preparing to begin a year of celebrations for the 1100th anniversary of the famous Cluny Abbey.
Cluny Abbey then (before the French Revolution), Cluny today.
The abbey, founded in the year 909, was instrumental in the spread of Christianity and the development of monasticism in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Bishop Benoît Rivière of Auton, Chalon and Mâcon will celebrate a Mass in Cluny on Saturday, the Italian bishops' news service SIR reports. The twelve gates of the city will be symbolically opened to mark the beginning of the Year of Celebrations.
Fr. Pierre Calimé, spokesman of the diocese, said celebrants want the anniversary to be “above all a spiritual event” and not only a celebration of a cultural and artistic heritage.
“The great work of Cluny is the life of thousands of monks entrusting themselves to the Rule of Saint Benedict,” he explained.
“Cluny 2010 must be an opportunity to rediscover what the heart of the abbey is: ‘Do you want the true life?’”
Fr. Calimé praised the virtues of Cluny’s founding abbot, St. Odo, and said the Benedictine Rule contains aspects and lessons still relevant to today’s laity. This relevance has inspired the idea of holding some workshops on the Benedictine Rule and of holding a talk on Cluny’s order.
Planned events include a High Mass for the dead on November 2 and the commemoration of St. Hugh, the sixth abbot of Cluny, on April 23, 2010
Here's a report from a French site:
Cluny is in northeast France, a few miles to the west of Macon [see map), about 60 miles north of Lyon, the nearest big city. After most of the abbey complex was sacked during the French Revolution, it has never been rebuilt to its previous scale.
One of Europe’s most ancient religious buildings, the Abbey of Cluny, will commemorate its 1100th anniversary in three Franche-Comté towns, Gigny, Dole and Baume-les-Messieurs from the 10th to the 12th of September with a series of topical lectures and religious music concert by candlelight.
In 909, Cluny’s founder, the Abbott Bernon left Franche-Comté with six monks from Gigny and six from Baume les Messieurs to establish Cluny, which will be later known as one of the most important abbeys in Western Europe.
Those three cities houses masterpieces sharing a common history with the Cluny Abbey. Visitors of Gigny will discover its 10th century abbey and the preliminary features that inspired Cluny’s religious building. Dole will also display its impressive range of holy statues portraying prophets and apostles. Finally, Baume-les-Messieurs will open the doors of its abbey which shelters a priceless 16th century altarpiece, a showpiece for Cluny’s religious influence.
Located in Eastern France, Cluny’s medieval heritage will be celebrated during more than a year through a wide range of events organised across Europe.
Exhibitions, concerts and lectures will retrace the history of the abbey, from its regional influences to the spreading of its architectural style throughout the continent, under the auspices of the Cluny Site Federation.
Created in 1994, the Federation includes 126 religious sites, spread across six European countries.
For more information relating to the Cluny Abbey’s 1100th anniversary visit
www.sitesclunisiens.org