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Communauté
du Chemin-Neuf

History

Almost a thousand years of history ...

XII^th century

Early in 1101, Benedictine monks settled in the north-east part of Lake Bourget
in a high mountain valley of Cessens, hence the name of Haute-Combe (Upper Combe).

After the passage of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a monk and a great reformer of the Cistercian monastic movement, the monks became Cistercian and came down in 1137 to the other side of the lake. The land was donated by the family of Savoy to Amadeus of Clermont Hauterives, the second abbot.

XII^th to XV^th century

The abbey had great spiritual influence during this period.
Recently restored through close cooperation (State, General Council of Savoie, the European Union and the Chemin Neuf Community), the Hautecombe Docking Barn was built when the first members of the Savoy family were buried at Hautecombe. Forty princes and princesses were buried later.

XV^th to XVI^th century

The management entrusted to abbot administrators more interested in enjoying the immediate income of the abbey, as opposed to maintaining the property and monks, caused the Abbey to fall slowly into ruins.

XVIII^th century

During the French Revolution, the abbey was declared a national asset.
It was sacked, and then transformed into an earthenware factory, and finally abandoned for 17 years.

XIX^th century

The king of Sardinia, Charles Felix, seduced by the beauty of the place, turned it into a mausoleum in memory of his ancestors. He entrusted the restoration of the church to a Piedmontese architect, Ernest Melano. Then, in 1826, he called upon the Cistercian monks again so that they may lead a life of prayer there.

XX^th and XXI^st century

In 1922, the Benedictine community of the Sainte-Madeleine de Marseille Abbey, of the congregation of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes settled in.

The last king of Italy, Umberto II of Savoy, was buried in 1983 and his wife Queen Marie-José in 2001.

In 1992, the Benedictine Community went to a priory in Ganagobie.
The abbot and the archbishop of Chambery asked the Chemin Neuf Community to pursue the vocation of prayer and hospitality of the Abbey.

Architecture >>

Reception in the abbey : +33 4 79 54 26 12 - Fax : +33 4 79 54 29 94
E-mail : accueil.hautecombe-at-laposte.net

Visits, shop : +33 4 79 54 58 80 - Fax. +33 4 79 54 29 94
E-mail : librairie.hautecombe-at-wanadoo.fr

Abbaye d’Hautecombe - 73310 SAINT-PIERRE-DE-CURTILLE
Website : www.hautecombe.org
© Communauté du Chemin Neuf