France : The carmel of Chambery to close

Carmel of Chambery.

The prioress of the Carmel of Chambery, in Savoie, Sr. Bernadette de Jesus, has announced the closing of her convent, which currently holds around 20 nuns. According to La Croix on November 21, 2016, the decision was motivated “by reasons of age,” “health concerns,” “the difficulty of managing from day to day, despite outside help,” and finally “the impossibility of finding” a sister “capable of taking over the task of prioress and remaining a community that is able to welcome and form new postulants.” The fate of the buildings is not yet known.

With this scheduled departure, “an important page in the Catholic history in Savoie will turn, but also in the history of the city of Chambery,” explained Archbishop Philippe Ballot of Chambery in a press release dated November 18, 2016. The Carmel of Chambery was founded on December 8, 1634, dissolved in 1793 at the Revolution, and reestablished in 1825. Installed initially in the neighborhood Reclus, the Carmelites then built a monastery just outside the city gates where they lived until the Revolution. When they returned in 1825, the nuns purchased land on the hill of Lemenc where they lived from 1832 until today.

(Sources: kipa-apic.ch – La Croix – DICI no. 346, 09/12/16)

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