User:Dr Gangrene/Abbey of Saint-Hubert

The former abbey of Saint-Hubert (which was called the Abbey of St. Peter in Ardenne), located in Saint-Hubert in Belgique, was a Benedictine abbey founded by St. Bérégise. Founded in 687 by Pepin of Herstal, it was suppressed in 1797. The current basilica of Saint Hubert is the old abbey church.

Legend
Legend has it that Plectrude, the wife of Pepin of Herstal, during a visit in her dominion of Ambra in Ardenne, stopped beside a stream, the Andaïna, close to the ruins of the old castle of Ambra, for a rest. After a very strong gust of wind which troubled the animals and men, a letter that was stitched with gold wire fell to her feet. Very moved, she gathered her people, and returned quickly to Herstal, where she told her husband of the event and showed him the path. Pepin consulted his chaplain, St. Bérégise, a former monk of the abbey of St. Trond who was seconded to the court, to discover the meaning of the text. Bérégise saw in it a message from heaven: God himself had chosen the location ("où beaucoup d'âmes passeront de la terre au ciel"), so that pious men would work there for the benefit of many souls and for evangelisation. Pepin granted a charter of foundation with a first endowment, and ordered his chaplain to found a religious community there. Since before the year 700, a group of regular clergymen was established in Ambra (Andain) under the direction of Bérégise. He was their superior for about a quarter century.

Renaissance under Saint Hubert
A century later, despite a promising start, the abbey seemed to stagnate or even decline. Around 815, a delegation of clerics went to the bishop of Liège, Walcaud, to request his help. After the decision of the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 817, Walcaud organised an exchange between the monks of Ambra (Andain), qui s'en iront reprendre la collégiale Saint-Pierre de Liège, ancienne abbaye fondée par Saint Hubert lui-même, avec le groupe des moines bénédictins qui quitteront ce même monastère pour Ambra et y établir l'abbaye bénédictine de Saint-Pierre en Ardenne, afin d'y vivre suivant la règle et la régularité bénédictine et de favoriser au mieux l'évangélisation de l'Ardenne. This new abbey became the southern branch/subsidiary of the diocese, with annual pilgrimages of the faithful to the tomb of the saint, rendus obligatoires dès ces années (croix banales). La refondation est achevée en 825 avec la translation à Ambra du corps de Saint-Hubert, premier évêque, fondateur et saint patron de Liège, lui qui fixa à cette ville sa destinée en y installant l'évêché. Saint Hubert est déjà réputé pour être l’apôtre et le patron de l’Ardenne.

The abbey's fortunres soared, carried also by the monastic movement of the 10th century and the enthusiasm of the crowds which came together in pilgrimages at the tomb of Saint Hubert. Around the abbey, a town was created, with the name Saint-Hubert, which eclipsed completely the first name Ambra and the later name of Andain. The abbey also had a great religious, cultural and artistic influence. In the course of the centuries, it founded several priories: Saint-Pierre devant Bouillon, Saint-Michel de Mirwart, Saint-Brice de Sancy (57), Saint-Michel de Cons-la-Grandville (54), Saint-Sulpice de Prix (08), Saint-Thibaud de Château-Porcien (08) et Sainte-Marie d'Évergnicourt (02) and several other daughter churches, such as Converserie, Chauvency-Saint-Hubert… elle héritera aussi de deux collèges de chanoines, Nassogne and Waha. The abbot was the seigneur of a territory which comprised a large number of villages in the Ardennes and further afield. He thus retained feudal rights as a proprietor, suzerain, vassal, collateur, seigneur and even as sovereign in more than a thousand villages and hamlets between the Meuse and the Rhine, as far as Langres, Trier-Koblenz, Reims-Laon, Mechelen…

Prosperity
Spiritually, the abbey depended on the diocese of Liège, but temporally, its prosperity and influence attracted political greed, which sought to compromise its independence and neutrality, which had been recognised by Charles V in 1522. Over the centuries, France, the Netherlands, Liège and the Duchy of Luxembourg, tried to ally with or coerce the abbey of Saint-Hubert according to their views and needs. It was often obliged to compromise with troublesome protectors and "friends", while hoping for better times. In particular, it sought a powerful protector, apart from its advocatus, in the pay of Luxembourg, to escape the appetite of Luxembourg and the Burgundian, Spanish and Austrian Low Countries. It found this protector in the kings of France, from Louis XI to Louis XV.

Jacques Charneux and Bernard Wodon described the abbey in the following way during its time of prosperity:

The soul and vital pivot of the Ardennes for more than a millennium, the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Hubert - the most considerable institution of the region - counted amongst the most illustrious of western Europe. Sanctuaire vénéré et célèbre d'un culte de renom international, centre religieux et intellectuel, c'est aussi le noyau d'un domaine étendant ses possessions de la Champagne à la Hesbaye jusqu'à la Moselle. Enfin, siège d'une terre seigneuriale dont l'indépendance et la neutralité parfois contestées ont fait d'elle l'enjeu de convoitises, l'abbaye hubertine offre l'aspect d'une institution monastique mais aussi politique.

In the 15th century, the "legend of Saint Hubert" developed: the saint converted at the sight of a stag sporting a cross in its antlers. Spread by the hungers, this legend, widespread in several countries in the west, added new pages to the already rich hagiography of Hubert, who was also a miracle worker, healer of rabies and nervous illnesses, patron saint of foresters, lumberjacks, tanners, butchers, since the 9th century: Saint Hubert remains the apostle and patron saint of the greater region of the Ardenne.

At least from the 10th century, the monks made a name in developing and training a particular race of hunting dogs, with a particularly well-developed scent. Apart from hunting, the robust and enduring bloodhounds, known in French as chiens de Saint-Hubert, were used for searching for travellers lost in the forest. Every year, the abbey offered three pairs of them, and three couples of birds of prey or of park (??), to the king of France. Ces chiens sont connus aujourd’hui sous le nom de ‘chiens de Saint-Hubert’.

End and suppression
In 1797, the French Revolution definitively sent the monks of Saint-Hubert into exile. The last abbot, Nicolas Spirlet found refuge with the frères mineurs capucins de Montjoie, mais il y meurt la même année.

Between 825 and 1795, no less than 56 abbots governed the l’abbaye bénédictine de Saint-Pierre en Ardenne (Saint-Hubert).

From October 1797, the abbey and its goods were sold at auction. Tout y passe, jusqu'aux christs en fonte le long des routes ! Vendue le 10 au sénateur français Jean Barthélemy Lecouteulx-Canteleu, l’abbaye avait été cédée par lui, le 20 à M. Pierre Bouques, propriétaire à Paris.

It was threatened with destruction by the new owner, but several inhabitants of Saint-Hubert decided to make every effort to save this monument; but their zeal was greater than their resources, they were at the point of failing when they had the idea of contacting Mgr Pisani de la Gaude, bishop of Namur. Adoptant avec bonheur cette idée pieuse, Pisani engagea les fidèles à fournir les sommes nécessaires au rachat, et s'associa les évêques de Gand, d'Aix-la-Chapelle et le chapitre métropolitain de Malines qui firent faire des collectes dans toutes les églises de leurs diocèses respectifs.

He also contacted Jean-Évangéliste Zaepffel, bishop of Liège, on 26 June 1807. Le prélat s'empressa de répondre à cet appel et prescrivit des collectes dans son diocèse par décret du 27 juillet. On parvint ainsi à rassembler les sommes nécessaires pour récupérer l'église et la mettre en état de servir au culte. Le 7, l'acte du rachat fut signé et l'église conservée à la religion et aux arts. Le diocèse de Liège, grâce à l'évêque Zaepffel, figura pour une partie importante dans les sommes recueillies.
 * Source : ;

The Abbey's buildings
The buildings which have survived are comparatively recent:
 * The abbey's church (turned into a basilica in 1927) dates back to the 16th century, although certain parts date back to the 11th and 13th centuries. The interior was constructed between 1526 and 1564. The façade was reworked and took its current form around 1700 (frère Bérégise, moine convers). Les tours jumelles datent de la même époque. Le frontispice de la façade représente la conversion de Saint Hubert ; il est surmonté de la statue du saint du grand sculpteur liégeois, Jean-Arnold Hontoire, de même que les statues de Saint Pierre et Saint Paul. Une intéressante crypte gothique se trouve sous le chœur de l’église ; son pavement est du 15th century.

It became a parish church in 1809, and was then elevated to the rank of a minor basilica (Basilique des Saints-Pierre-et-Paul) in 1927 on the occasion of the 1,200th anniversary of the death of Saint Hubert.


 * The abbot's palace, in the Régence style, was constructed in 1729 by the abbot Célestin De Jongh, whose arms are inscribed on the pediment. A veritable abbot's chancellery/chancery, the building needed to be prestigious, as it was also destined for high-ranking visitors who visited the abbey. It was rendered unto the Belgian state by the province of Luxembourg in 1844 and, after serving as the central administration of the département des Forets and then of the Tribunal d'instance and a sub-prefecture of the département de Sambre et Meuse until 1814, it finally hosted the administration of the arrondissement and the tribunal de première instance until 1839, when Saint-Hubert lost all its rights to Arlon, Marche and Neufchateau. As compensation, it became a rehabilitation school for youths for 120 years. Since 1960, the abbey has accommodated part of the State Archives, including the important archival collection of the old abbey from 1070 to 1797, and the cultural services of the province de Luxembourg.