Story
In a shaded and picturesque site rise the Romanesque constructions, of Cistercian spirit by their sobriety and their rigour. The whole is dominated by an Anglo-Norman tower which already heralds Gothic architecture.
Nestled in the hollow of the Thar valley since the 12th century, the abbey of La Lucerne has benefited from remarkable preservation and restoration work for 60 years.
This architectural ensemble strikes by the intimacy and the strength of its history led by passionate men. The emotion is born from the absolute counting of the Premonstratensian architecture, its great luminosity and the preserved authenticity of its environment.
Since 1959, the Abbey of La Lucerne has been under restoration. Under the aegis of Abbot Marcel Lelgard (1925-1994), the Fondation Abbaye de La Lucerne d'Outremer continues the reconstruction of the medieval monastic complex.
The Romanesque abbey church with its western portal, the Romanesque washbasin unique in Normandy, the cellars with groin vaults, the refectory surmounted by an overturned ship's hull framework in paneled oak, the gatehouse with the old courtroom and the bakery, the guest room, the tithe barn and the dovecote, allow visitors to understand the medieval monastic complex of La Lucerne. This visit should be completed by the extent of the site to the edge of the forest, with the eastern gate and the abbey dwelling dating from the end of the 17th – beginning of the 18th century.
Spirituality
On September 8, 2022, Fathers Guillaume Antoine and Henri Vallançon, priests of the diocese of Coutances and Avranches, were installed at the Abbey of La Lucerne by Mgr Laurent Le Boulc'h, bishop of the diocese.
"Our world is in search of favorable places in which people can freely rest, take distance and height from their daily lives, discern, find meaning and aspiration. The Catholic Church hears this call which whispers hollowly in the contemporary world. She then wishes to offer her aesthetic, cultural, biblical and liturgical resources to help quench the most authentic thirsts of men and women today (…) In the context of our time, the Cultural and Spiritual Center of the Abbey de La Lucerne will welcome people in search of biblical study, artistic expressions of faith, a peaceful link to history.»
Archbishop Le Boulc'h, September 8, 2022 in La Lucerne.
The mission of the priests at the abbey is not parochial. It consists in animating a spiritual and cultural center.
The Divine Office and Mass are sung every day at the abbey church (timetables on the website www.abbaye-lucerne.fr).
Following on from the work of Father Marcel Lelgard (1925 – 1994), the priests joined the “Canonial Fraternity of the Abbey of La Lucerne”.
