Issue No. 19

Visiting the 12th century
Abbaye Notre-Dame de
Sénanque in May before its
renowned lavender fields
had burst into vibrant
bloom, Martha McCormick
discovered equal beauty in
its austere Romanesque
interior.
Located near Gordes in Provence, the
abbey is occupied by a community of
Cistercian monks. The Roman Catholic
Cistercian Order grew from a late 11th
century reform movement started by monks
who wished to return to the pure traditions of
monastic life practiced in Saint Benedict’s
time.
Following the strictures of Cistercian design,
the abbey lacks decorations such as
frescoes, sculptures, or stained glass
windows with Biblical illustrations.
According to the early founders, these
ornamentations were meant for lay people
who had little access to the Bible.
Decoration brought them closer to God. For
the devout monks, however, such
embellishment was unnecessary and would
distract them from prayer. Thus, the
decorative elements allowed are those of
the architecture itself: vaults, arches,
stairways, transepts, capitals and columns.
These were constructed using the finest
methods because the Cistercian monks
highly valued craftsmanship. Stonecutters
were particularly prized, and each initialed
the stones they cut as a matter of pride.
One might think this austerity creates a
rather drab place. But instead, the austere
décor heightens the beauty of the pale gray
stone and the purity of line.
Added to this is the welcoming of light: la
vrai Lumière—the true light—a symbol of
God.
According to an early founder, Saint
Bernard: “…shadow and darkness shall
disappear and the splendor of the true Light
will invade the whole space…”