LERINS
From our special correspondent
“I have absolutely no memory of the first time I set foot on Île Saint-Honorat, off Cannes. It was with my parents, I was a baby. It was the mid-1950s, before Vatican Council II, and my mother had remained at the door of the abbey. I grew up very far from the Mediterranean since we lived in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne), temple of municipal communism, near Ivry-sur-Seine where Madeleine Delbrêl lived. A decisive spiritual experience for me.
The vocation tree
I later returned to Lérins when I was a medical student. But it was when I came back from two years of cooperation in the Soviet Union – which makes sense when you come from Villejuif – that I asked myself questions about the meaning of my life. Tempted to go to Africa, I finally found a job in a medical center in Essonne.
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Taking advantage of a week’s break, I retired here in January 1982. To tell the truth, nothing extraordinary happened until it was time to take the boat back to the mainland. I must admit that something very impressive has happened: I have known what I call the tree of vocation. As I walked past, I told myself, in an extremely strong way, that my place was there. I told it recently and this story has become proverbial in the community that never fails to remind me of it to tease me. I returned in July of that same year, 1982, then I entered the monastery on September 8. Almost 40 years!
At 65, I cannot say that I have certainties about my monastic vocation, but concerning my choice for this place with this community, there is a form of evidence. Being a monk elsewhere has not crossed my mind, although I have frequented other communities such as that of the abbey of Kergonan (Morbihan).
June 22, 2021. In France, in Cannes, on the Île Saint-Honorat, the monks of Lérins proceed to bottle the liqueur made from the plants of the island. / Frederic Pasquini for La Croix
Commitment to the community
I admit that it may sound strange to those who know the beauties of the island, the gentle sound of the sea and the scent of plants, but for me the landscapes are second. It is difficult to explain it, but my attachment to the Abbey of Lérins is primarily due to its community. It’s not quite the one I discovered when I got home, but it’s still very international. Today, we have Italians, Belgians, Catalans, a Franco-Cameroonian… Respect for diversity is natural and is part of community genetics.
For me, it is very clear that the way to God passes through life together. In fact, I cannot imagine a life other than in community. A week of solitude is perfect, but beyond that, very little for me. At the abbey, I first took care of the kitchen. It was the discovery of unknown gifts and I ended up being responsible for it. Feeding the brothers well, making them happy, these are things that matter. After returning from two years of study in Rome, I was then put in charge of the imposing library and the formation of the community.
Prior in 1995, I was elected abbot in 1998 at only 43 years old while my predecessor, Bernard-Nicolas Aubertin, became bishop of Chartres. Really, I didn’t think I would be elected: it was a bit brutal. You don’t have time to think! I could only see God’s will in it, although I confess that I had no idea what it meant. I am not alone, I draw on the experience of the elders of the community. I was very close to one of them, who died 15 years ago. For a long time after his death, I couldn’t help but walk past the door to his old cell from saying to myself: “Hey, if he was still there, I would have asked him such and such a question”.
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The history buff that I am is deeply touched by the fantastic past of this abbey. The monumental traces, the bell tower, the tower, strike me and inspire me. But, it’s true, I am even more sensitive to the characters and to what I can perceive from them spiritually and in literary traces. I have a deep sympathy for the first monks and for Honorat, our founder at the beginning of the Ve century. He is my local model as abbot, in his way of making decisions, for his taste for the community. Especially since the Ve century resonates with what we experience today. It was not an easy time in a world that is predominantly not Christian. This speaks to the Catholic kid from Villejuif that I was, drop of water in a communist ocean, and who experienced what the Church of France is now experiencing.
Between sky and sea
How obviously can we not also mention the landscapes that are part of our life here? It’s a bit like the Garden of Eden. This is what one of the first monks of Lérins, Eucher de Lyon at Ve century. For him, the island presented itself to the monks, like the paradise they will contemplate later. In our monastic life, something specific comes from this insularity. For my part, I usually go around the island. It is a kind of refuge, of interior retreat. She’s not very tall, but believe it or not, it’s never quite like the day before. It’s extraordinary ! I have been around it for years but I never tire of it. In such an aggressive world, I love to share the peace and beauty of this island on Twitter.
Monastic life pushes us to be more sensitive and to contemplate what is beautiful: a tiny flower but also its brothers. Sometimes I say to myself: “Damn, this brother managed to do that, I wouldn’t have imagined it”. It fills me with joy. This magnificent nature, from which we notably derive wine and olive oil, also represents a responsibility because it is fragile and threatened. In recent years, we have been fully committed to preserving this setting as much as possible, but without closing ourselves off.
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Openness shapes our community. We are certainly on an island, but only twenty minutes by boat from Cannes, a city that is not just flashy. It is not limited to what the people of Cannes call the golden triangle. Except on stormy days, we are the least remote abbey in the world. Even if we look at the major events in Cannes from afar. To feel comfortable here, you have to be with this posture of openness to the world. Let’s be clear: if you only feel good with very pious Catholics, you should not enter Lérins Abbey. As soon as you step out of the fence, you encounter very different visitors and tourists. Of course, we must not be overwhelmed. Managing all of these people can be a bit tricky at times.
Hospitality is part of the vocation of the community
Eucher de Lyon wrote a book called Contempt of the world, the other side of monastic life. But God loved the world so much that he gave his only son. We are all in the world as human beings. The fight against worldliness does not depend on the fact that we welcome a lot, we lead it within ourselves. In its history, the island has never been partitioned. There are moments of real solitude, especially in winter, but if I had wanted a very secluded place, I would have become a monk elsewhere.
The health crisis has given us a remarkable experience in this regard. During the first confinement, after the anxiety of the beginnings, we can say that it was paradise. From March to the end of May: no one on the island! She was just ours. But during the second confinement, we saw acutely that we were missing something. Hospitality is part of the vocation of the community. Already in Honorat’s time, many people came to see him and lamented if a storm prevented them from reaching the monastery. I am keenly aware of having inherited a lot, but my temperament does not lead me to want to leave something to posterity. With the community, I am a link in the transmission of this spiritual, natural and material heritage. “
Lérins Abbey: 1,600 years of history
Lérins Abbey was founded between 400 and 410 by Saint Honorat who settled on the Mediterranean island, now bearing his name, with a few companions. While the community enjoyed great influence, he was appointed Bishop of Arles.
During its long history, the monastic life is regularly upset, subjected to the attacks of the Saracens, the Genoese and the Spaniards. In January 1788, due to the reform of the monastic orders carried by the monarchy, the abbey was closed and its property put under control.
In 1869, Mgr Joseph-Antoine Jordany, bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, who recovered the island, decided to cede it to the congregation of Sénanque, which today calls itself Cistercians of the Immaculate Conception. Monks settled in the fall of 1869. After the Second Vatican Council, the community of Lérins opened up to welcoming many tourists to the island. Today, it has twenty monks. Father Vladimir Gaudrat has been its abbot since 1998.
Make known the rule of Saint Benedict
Chapter 1: Types of monks
« It’s a site that there are four kinds of monks. The first is that of the cenobites, who live in a monastery and fight under a ruler and an abbot. »
“I chose the first chapter on the different species of monks because it is the one that best defines what life together is. For me, it refers to the first Christian community in Jerusalem, described in the Acts of the Apostles. Monastic life is not arbitrary but is part of a tradition to be interpreted, inscribed in time.
In contemporary Western culture, the individual and his or her development are put in the foreground, but we too often forget to say that the development comes through the community, that it implies small renouncements. In the current period of crisis, this manifests itself in a hardening of points of view, with the risk of ending up, even in the Church, only with people who think like us. However, without a common life, man can no longer stand up. “
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