Lasallian Feast of Our Lady of the Star

The Lasallian Feast of Our Lady of the Star was celebrated on Saturday May 8th.

Montebourg Abbey

The origins of devotion to Our Lady of the Star date back to 11th Century France and begins with the legend* of two Benedictine monks. In 1080, while making their way through a thick oak forest in Normandy, the monks came upon a beautiful hill, La Museresse, which reminded them of Monte Cassino in Italy. They are accidentally separated one night when one of them, sleeping in a boat, is carried out to sea by the tide, ultimately arriving in England. According to legend he eventually becomes the Bishop of Salisbury. Brother Roger, distraught at the loss of his companion, returns to La Museresse.

Alone and in despair, he prays to Our Lady to watch over him. In a dream, he has a vision of a star falling from the sky, setting all the trees alight, with a gleaming white church rising from the ashes. In his dream he hears beautiful music, and a voice directing him to build a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary at the foot of the hill. Upon awakening, he discovers burnt bushes nearby, at the exact spot where he dreamt of the marvellous star crashing to earth. He makes a vow to build a chapel in her honour, whom he now calls Our Lady of the Star. At first it is only a hut covered with branches. Around this chapel he begins to cultivate the ground.

The story goes that William the Conqueror, while viewing a fleet of his ships from the top of La Museresse hill, saw Brother Roger in his garden, and went down the hill to visit him. After their visit, William decreed that an Abbey be built on the spot, and he and his successors became its benefactors. The town of Montebourg, Normandy, was eventually established at the top of the hill.

In 1152 the Archbishop of Rouen dedicated the first Abbey church to Mary under the title Our Lady of the Star. Only five years later it was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in 1250 and prospered until the sacking of the abbeys by Richard III and the Act of Dissolution in 1399. Restoration of the Abbey and the monastic discipline of the monks were further disrupted by the Hundred Years War. In 1448, a monk by the name of Brother Denis Clemence restored order to the community and wrote a history of the traditions of the Abbey and the story of Our Lady of the Star.

On June 14, 1562, the Abbey was ransacked by more than 2,000 Huguenots. Many of the Abbey’s records and the statue of Our Lady of the Star were burned. Catherine di Medici provided some relief to the impoverished Abbey in 1576, but the number of monks had decreased markedly. By 1771 there were only two Benedictine monks remaining. The Abbey was sold at auction in 1791. During the years of the French Revolution it was used as a storage barn. Little by little it was dismantled between 1801 and 1818.

At the request of the Bishop, the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Mercy, who followed the Rule of St. John Baptist De La Salle, began rebuilding the Abbey. It was rededicated to Our Lady of the Star, along with the school, on August 19, 1892. In 1903 all religious were expelled from France. A former pupil of the Brothers purchased the Abbey and school buildings in hopes that the Brothers would one day return, which they did in 1922.

Lasallian devotion to Our Lady of the Star began in 1938 when the small community at Montebourg were incorporated into the De La Salle Brothers. In 1951, on the 800th anniversary of its founding, the Abbey was rededicated to Our Lady of the Star in the presence of Brother Athanase Emile, the Superior General. In 1955, Brother Denis, Vicar General, proclaimed Our Lady of the Star as Queen and Mother of Christian Schools. On May 1st, at a ceremony attended by Brother Nicet Joseph, Superior General, the statue of the Virgin of Montebourg was pontifically crowned by the Bishop of Coutances. The De La Salle Brothers left Montebourg in 1986, but the school (an Agricultural School) remains part of the network of Lasallian Schools of the District of France.

*Alternative legend of the beginnings

Once upon a time, a monk left Savoy and upon his arrival in Montebourg, a star told him that his wandering was at an end. God was waiting for him here so that he could found an oratory dedicated to the Queen of the Heavens, Our Lady of the Star: Notre Dame de l'Etoile. When notified of the wonder that had occurred in his duchy, William the Conqueror granted the monk the necessary land and revenues to build a monastery.
And the centuries passed.

In 1842, the Vicar General of Coutances acquired what was by then only an enclosure of ruins, and set it up for the Brothers of Mercy, which he had just formed in order to promote Catholic education in the countryside. From there, the brothers pursued their work.

http://www.chateaux-france.com/abbaye-notre-dame-de-l-etoile/