Abbey of
Notre Dame
de Veniere
VENIERE
France
Foundation
1933
Abbot
m. Danielle Darosey
Address
257 Rue de l’Abbaye
Veniere
71700 Boyer
FRANCE
Official website
Characteristics
Mother Danielle Darosey
Community of Veniere
The Monastery
Our monastery is located in the Burgundy region of France in the village of VENIERE, a few kilometers from the magnificent abbey of Tournus, between Cluny and Cîteaux, not far from Taizé. The monastery is located on 9 acres of land, surrounded by the village.It is here, after the insecurity of World War II and a series of moves, that our community finally found a fertile home with true stability, the joy and fraternity of monastic life, united in peace around our Mother Abbess.Our motto is “rooted in love,” according to Paul’s word to the Ephesians.The community currently has about thirty nuns:the oldest is 97 and the youngest is 42 years old.
In the period following the Second Vatican Council, the community worked a great deal on its liturgy, especially the Divine Office. We chose to keep the Gregorian antiphons of the Antiphonary and to sing psalms in French. This solution has provided a certain balance between Latin and French which has been embraced by the whole community.
Our guest house (totally renovated in 2010) receives a very diversified stream of guests and provides a welcoming venue for our local diocese.
The History
Our monastery was founded on 29th April 1933 as a small daughter house of Jouarre Abbey, and established in the village of Oulchy-le-Château, in the French Diocese of Soissons. It became an independent Priory on 31st May 1939.Unfortunately, the Second World War broke up shortly thereafter, and the nuns had to seek shelter, first in the Department of Tarn, and then in Dordogne.Thanks to the Benedictine monastic communities of Dourgne and En-Calcat, which came to their rescue, they were able to survive. Having returned to the Diocese of Soissons after the war, the nuns found a badly damaged house, which soon became too small as the number of new nuns was increasing. In 1948, therefore, with the assistance of Benedictine monks from the Pierre-qui-Vire monastery, the community moved to Burgundy and settled in La Loyère, a village in the Diocese of Autun. It was integrated in the Subiaco Benedictine Congregation in 1955, and continued to grow, thanks in particular to the help of three additional nuns secunded by the Dourgne monastery. The Priory moved to its current location in Venière in 1963, and in 1971, it was raised to the status of an Abbey and elected its first Abbess. In 1991, nuns established a small foundation in Congo on land provided by the neighbouring Benedictine monastery of Bouenza. But war forced the sisters to leave and close the monastery.
The Activities
Hospitality based on St. Benedict’s Rule invites us to receive “any guest who happens to arrive at the monastery just as we would receive Christ Himself”. Through its guesthouse (hotellerie@abbaye-veniere.fr), the Abbey of Our Lady of Venière is able to host family and friends, as well as individuals or groups seeking to nourish their interior life through a retreat. This enables them to put aside the daily rush and focus on the essential, which is to listen to the Lord and follow in His footsteps.
For fifty years, the community has been specialising in small painted icons of Patron Saints for every first name. Through this artwork, it contributes to evangelize, as each icon is provided with a summary of the saint’s life and merits. Our collection includes saints from all times and every continent. Other creations from our “Travail et Joie” workshop include gifts for major events in one’s religious life: birth, baptism, communion, etc. Our greeting cards featuring a little nun called “Moinette” bring messages of hope and trust. Through new techniques, we are able to offer bespoke items, both large and small, such as pictures for a small oratory or larger works for schools or churches, such as stations of the Way of the Cross (www.boutique-des-prenoms.com).