Abbaye Sainte-Cécile de Solesmes

At the entrance of the village of Solesmes, the spire of the abbey church of St. Cecilia stands on a hillside overlooking the left bank of the Sarthe. There, seven times a day and once at night, the Benedictine nuns gather to celebrate the prayer of the Church. In 1866, thirty years after he revived the monastery of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes for monks, Dom Gueranger completed his work by founding a monastery of nuns at whose head he placed the young Mother Cécile Bruyère. She became the first abbess.

The nuns follow the Rule written in the sixth century by St. Benedict for the monks, with necessary modifications in our time and approved by the Church. In the spirit of this Rule is contemplative life, in silence and solitude of the cloister, away from the turmoil of the world, so that a continuous dialogue with God. Under the guidance of the Abbess who takes the place of Christ, the monastic community is a large family where all are trying to spread divine love fraternal charity in a considerate and sensitive.

The main work of the monastic life is a celebration that is both simple and solemn divine which the Eucharist is the center and summit "Singing God, praise God and contemplate its beauty unblemished, that's all Art of the monk, "said Mother Cécile Bruyère. As the nuns did they desire to make their liturgy worthy of the Divine Majesty, including their song: the Gregorian melodies beautifully translated texts from the Word of God and are an inexhaustible source of contemplative prayer. It also feeds through lectio divina which any nun devotes a substantial portion of the day.

Manual labor is also honored to sustain the monastery. In the words of St. Benedict in his Rule: "They are truly monks if they live by the labor of their hands." If, in the Benedictine rule, there is "nothing harsh or too painful," research the "one thing necessary" requires giving up some property to bind with the paschal mystery of Christ and reach the true liberty of the children of God and purity of heart.

Removed from the world but he remains quietly present, the nuns of Sainte-Cécile of Solesmes know that their silent adoration remember that every man aims to meet God. They are deeply supportive of the Church and the man of today and try to collaborate in building the spiritual kingdom of Christ "that God may be all in all".