Abbaye de Saint Pierre sur Dives
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A Thousand Years After the Countess Lesceline...
Was it post-millennial fervour that helped her to overcome her mourning ? The Countess Lesceline founded a Benedictine community on the banks of the Dives River on an estate left to her by her husband. However, the cold reception of local residents forced the nuns to leave, and they were replaced by monks.
The locals were not unwelcoming however. It is said that they later helped in the rebuilding of the monastery. More recently, we know of their attachment to the renovation of their abbey, which was destroyed during the Revolution.
In this way, the Countess Lesceline's work has survived for a millennium. The church reflects this long history ; it is a synthesis of architectural and decorative styles : Gothic arcades, stalls bearing the imprint of the Italian Renaissance, a 17th-century main altar... On the crosspiece, a meridian line indicates, in the noontime light, the day's Zodiac sign, reminding us that God is Eternity ruling over man's time on Earth. In the chapter house, which has been returned to its 13th-century splendour, you will remember, just as the monks doÂ… Some part of them remains here, something more than a memory.
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