The Cistercian monks will leave the Abbey of Notre Dame des Neiges in September

The Trappist monks (Cistercians of the strict observance) of Notre Dame des Neiges will leave the abbey next September. For two years, they have been thinking about their future. Just before Christmas, they made their decision. They will be leaving the abbey in the coming months. They don’t know where to go today. They could be accommodated in the many Trappist abbeys in France.

Eight monks including three novices

The situation was no longer tenable. The conventual chapter has only three monks. It is within this body that all decisions are made. And then there is the daily work: the abbey welcomes many pilgrims or hikers up to 40 people to take care of. It is the main income of this great abbey. The buildings which as a whole are after the great fire of 1912 have been very well maintained, a new wood-fired boiler has just been installed, but there are not enough monks to manage everything, even with the help of the three employees. The decision was therefore imposed on them.

What will become of this place?

No one can answer this question today, but the wish of the monks and the mayor of Saint-Laurent-les-Bains is for a new religious community to take over the abbey. A larger community that could better manage the abbey. Nothing is decided today. The Father Abbot and the Bishop of Viviers are working on the question.

We must keep a welcoming activity here. Emile Louche, mayor of Saint-Laurent-les-Bains.

The mayor regrets the departure of the monks. This child of the country knew this abbey receiving many pilgrims in the 70s. The activity is reduced today. Hikers on the Stevenson path (GR 70), pilgrims regularly stop at the abbey. Mayor Emile Louche wants this activity to continue. He also hopes that a religious community can take over the abbey. And in general, the inhabitants of the neighboring towns are very attached to the presence of the monks. For many years at the end of the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century, many families placed within the abbey a child who became a monk.