Abbaye Notre-Dame de la Paix - Chimay

The history of Notre-Dame de la Paix Abbey begins with the donation of the lands of Gomerfontaine, in the diocese of Rouen (south of Beauvais in the Oise department) by Count Hughes de Chaumont and his wife, on their return from the Holy Land, as a sign of gratitude. They donated them to the Order of Cîteaux in 1206-1207 , with a view to establishing a women's community there.

It was on October 13, 1266, under the abbate of Dame Agnès, that the church was consecrated by Monseigneur Eudes Rigaud, Archbishop of Rouen. This date has been used over the centuries to celebrate the inauguration of the church.

The Notre-Dame de Gomerfontaine Abbey was closed in 1792 during the French Revolution . It has been largely destroyed. What remained was later turned into a farm.

In 1801, Bonaparte signed the Concordat with the Holy See. After twelve years of revolutionary unrest, religious peace has been restored. One of the sisters of Gomerfontaine, Pauline Ducastel, wants to return to the monastic life she was forced to give up. In 1804 she succeeded in founding a small community in Nesle (diocese of Amiens). It was there that she undertook to restore monastic life according to the customs of Gomerfontaine.

To establish itself in a broader context and facilitate the full return to the celebrations of Gomerfontaine, the community decided in 1816 to transfer it to Saint-Paul-aux-Bois in a former Benedictine priory , which for a time was occupied by the Oratorians inhabited.

The 1905 Law of Separation of Church and State in France forced nuns to leave their monastery because they offered education. Like thousands of others, they therefore crossed the French-Belgian border. They settled in Hainaut, in Fourbechies, and then came under the “authorship” of Abbot de Scourmont in Forges-lez-Chimay. Thanks to the monks of Scourmont, they acquired an estate on the outskirts of the town of Chimay where they settled on August 14, 1919.

On October 13, 1925, on the 659th anniversary, the new church in Chimay was inaugurated by Monsignor Rasneur, Bishop of Tournai. Keeping the date of October 13 confirms that the current community is indeed the continuation of that of Gomerfontaine.

Those who still call themselves "nuns of Saint-Paul-aux-Bois" were then given the name of the nuns of "Notre-Dame de la Peace" by the Abbot General of the Order, Augustin Marre.

In the 1950s , new construction and major works were carried out in Chimay. The most important are the construction of an infirmary (1953), the transformation of the abbey's choir, decorated with a rose window and stained glass windows by Bonaventure Fieuulien (1959), the addition of the bell tower (1963), the installation of a new cross in the choir, work by the Brabant artist Yves Bosquet (1997) and the design of a meeting room (2019).

In 2016, there are only five nuns left. Meanwhile, horticultural activities, breeding, weaving, bookbinding, the manufacture of hosts… all these economic activities disappeared. The south wing of the monastery was first rented out and converted into an outpatient clinic and then into a shelter for disabled children.

The abbey will open to visitors for the first time in 2016.

The sisters' monastic life is dedicated to praising the Lord and experiencing the living God. Offices, work and reading alternate and cross the day in a simple and quiet atmosphere.

The monastery's guest house has 6 rooms, with the possibility to accommodate 10 people who want to share in the daily life of the community. At the entrance there is a shop selling priestly and religious vestments made by monastic artisans.

Willem Vandenameele