The community of the brothers from the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem will bring an end in 2027 to a presence that has marked the spiritual life of Mont Saint-Michel for a quarter of a century. The diocese of Coutances and Avranches announced this week that the monks will leave the Norman abbey as part of the internal reorganization process currently underway in the community, although the sisters will remain at the sanctuary and will continue to develop their mission there.
The news represents the closure of a stage that began on June 24, 2001, when both the male and female institutes of the Fraternities of Jerusalem arrived at Mont Saint-Michel by the invitation of the diocese. Since then, their presence has become part of the spiritual landscape of one of France’s most emblematic pilgrimage sites, where thousands of pilgrims, tourists, and visitors converge each year, drawn by the history of the abbey, its religious dimension, and the landscape it offers.
According to the diocese in a statement, the brothers have already begun to be redistributed to other destinations within the community, and their definitive departure will take place in the summer of 2027. The sisters, however, will continue to reside at Mont Saint-Michel and will continue to collaborate closely with the sanctuary and the diocese.
A mission that will continue with the sisters
The departure of the brothers will not be interruption in de religious activity at the abbey. The diocese has wanted to highlight that the mission entrusted to the Fraternities of Jerusalem will continue through the permanence of the sisters, who will continue to ensure, ensuring the reception of pilgrims and visitors, as well as the celebration of liturgical offices.
This work will be developed in collaboration with the Community of St. Martin, who is responsible for de de Mount Saint w Mount Saint-Michel sanctuary and the Pontorson parish, which has for Jahr several years been participating in the pastoral care of this important pilgrimage center.
The objective, according to the diocese, is to guarantee that Mont Saint-Michel continues to be a place of prayer, evangelization, and spiritual reception, despite the reduction of the presence of the Fraternities.
A community born in the heart of Paris
The history of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem began in Paris in 1975 by the Hand of the French priest Pierre-Marie Delfieux. His founder had passed a period of eremitic life in the desert of Hoggar, in Algeria, experience that would mark deeply the carismatic of the future community.
A was his return to France, Delfieux proposed an unusual intuition in the contemporary monastic life: to recover the tradition contemplative of the Church, but living not in isolated locations, but in amid of big cities. With the support of de The then archbishop of Paris, the cardinal François Marty, the Fraternities of Jerusalem were born.
Their motto, «In the heart of de City, in the heart of God», summarizes a spirituality that seeks to unite liturgical prayer, adoration, and brotherly life with the evangelizing presence in urban environments marked by secularisation.
Over the years, the community spread to various countries and new foundations were opened in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Canada, and other locations. Their communities are known for the care of liturgy, the chanting of the offices, and spiritual reception of those who seek silent and prayer spaces in amid of pace of life modern.
An anniversary marked by gratitude
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