Port-Royal-of-Fields

Port-Royal is an old convent cistercian on the commune of Magny-the-Hamlets in the Vallée de Chevreuse, in the south-west of Paris, which is at the origin of some important establishments.

Port-Royal-of-fields and the Jansénisme

The convent was founded in 1204, and the name is attested as of 1216, but became famous like house of education after the reintroduction in 1609 of the austerity of the discipline for the abbess Jacqueline Arnauld. The Arnauld family granted her patronage to him and, thereafter, the convent was directed by members of this family. In 1625, nuns created in Paris new a Port-Royal, which was called Port-Royal of Paris while its elder became Port-Royal-of-Fields.

On the primitive site, several schools were founded, known under the name of Petites schools of Port-Royal . They became famous because of the exceptional quality of education that one gave to it. In 1634, Saint-Cyran became the spiritual director about it; it was friendly of Jansénius and, as from this moment, the convents and the schools of Port-Royal were attached narrowly to this school of theology.

The atmosphere, made serious study and of piety Jansenist, attracted some great figures of the life Culturelle. Racine was pupil of Port-Royal, and Pascal took his defense against the Jésuites at the time of the controversy Janséniste. Moreover, several important members of the court were close to the Jansénisme, like the duke Louis Charles of Albert de Luynes or Roger of Plessis, duke of Liancourt. The Arnauld family members had risen with important employment like Simon Arnauld de Pomponne, minister of Louis XIV.

However, following the quarrel Jansenist in the Catholicism, the schools of Port-Royal were regarded as sullied with heresy. In 1679, one prohibits the convent from accepting beginners, which condemned it to disappear. The convent itself was removed by a bubble of the pope Clément XI in 1708, the nuns which remained were expelled of force in 1709 and the shaven buildings themselves in 1710.

After the Revolution

Between 1710 and the French revolution, the site of the monastery remained the property of the monastery Port-Royal of Paris. Following the confiscation of the goods of the clergy, it was sold like Bien national in 1791. The farm and the house of the Recluses were sold to a farmer. This part of the monastery became state-owned property in 1951. The other part, comprising mainly the ruins of the abbey itself, was sold to a woman close to the mediums Jansenists, Mrs Desprez. Its family was owner until in 1828, year when the Jansenists managing the Boîte in Perrette, relief fund of the movement, acquired it with another Jansenist, Louis Silvy. This one installed there free schools intended for the children of the area, schools which existed until in 1867. The Société of Port-Royal then repurchased the places and managed them until in 2004 where she entrusted them to the guard of the State, via the Ministère of the Culture. Thus, the entirety of the site of Port-Royal-of-Fields can be visited at present.

The writer Charles Augustin Holy-Beuve gathered very many elements on the history of Port-Royal. These elements were presented to the Academy Lausanne starting from 1837 in a cycle of conferences, and allowed him to write the book Port-Royal , in three volumes, reporting a very complete history of the abbey.

One can still see the remainders of the convent of Port-Royal in the valley of Chevreuse on the territory of the commune of Magny-the-Hamlets.

The abbey of Port-Royal of Paris was in fact an appendix of Port-Royal-of-Fields.

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