A little history
Saint Bernard with his abbot's crozier, holding the Benedictine rule for the Cistercian order he reformed, Saint-Bernard church, Fontaine-lès-Dijon
Au 12è The first monks settled in the woods of Villers-la-Ville in Walloon Brabant (Belgium) in the 11th century. By 1125 Bernard de Fontaine, abbot of Clairvauxborn in Fontaine-lès-Dijon in 1090, was a Burgundian monk and reformer of Catholic religious life. He died on to theClairvaux AbbeyHe was canonised in 1174 and thus became Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. He was proclaimed Doctor of the Catholic Church (Doctor mellifluus) in 1830 by the Pope Magpie VIII. This The same year, during his visit to a place called "la Boverée", he indicated the place where a new abbey would be built. In 1146, Blessed Laurent, the first abbot of Villers, with 12 monks and 7 brothers, came to settle in .
Pius VIII Painted by Clemente Alberi around 1830. Civic Picture Gallery of Forlì.
The abbey seen from the west - Engraving by Vorstermans the Younger (1659)
N.B : Today's Villers-la-Ville Abbey is located on a different site from the one established in 1125.
This abbey of Villers-la-Ville, whose canonical name is " Villers-en-Brabant abbey "sometimes incorrectly referred to as Villers-la-Ville abbey "At the time, it was a monastery of the Cîteaux order and one of the first daughters of the Abbey of Clairvaux. It was protected from an early date by the Dukes of Brabant, and was soon fertile. Visit XIIIe century marks its apogee. Between the XIVe and XVIIe Over the centuries, the abbey went through a succession of calm and troubled periods, during which the monks left the site on nine occasions for reasons of insecurity. At XVIIIe In the 19th century, the abbey enjoyed its second golden age, marked by a great architectural ebullience. After the French Revolution, the monastic community had to disperse, and the abbey was sold as national property.
Discover the Villers Abbey podcast: https://villers.be/fr/podcast
Creation of the parish of Villers-la-Ville
Our Lady of the Visitation
This parish was formed later, around the year 1200. It was also partly called Hollers, which was a franchise, this part was located on the other side of the river. "la Thylle". The side where the church is located was called Villers-la-Ville as it is today. In the beginning, Villers was only a chapel dependent on Marbaix; there was a vicar who lived there and acted as parish priest. Tilly and Wagnelée, situated very close to Villers-la-Ville, were in the same situation and both depended on the lords of Marbaix. There is a tomb of these lords and their wives in the choir of the church on the left as you enter, where you can see their epitaphs. The chapel is very old and its tower has not always had the same shape as today's church. The choir was not there, and the chapel was entered through a small lateral door on the side that now serves as the baptistery. The choir was added in 1731, and the chapel contains an altar remarkable for its antique figures, carved in oak with many figures that are usually referred to as Bethlehem, representing the story of the Blessed Virgin from the time she was betrothed to Saint Joseph until the time of her death. This altar was erected in 1593 and dedicated to Saint Anne. The church's patron saint is Our Lady of the Visitation.
For 300 years the parish of Villers-la-Ville was dependent on Marbaix. Since then, it has had independent parish priests.
List of parish priests in Villers-la-Ville
See also : https://geniwal.be/nos-pistes/karolus/cures-et-vicaires-des-environs-de-villers-la-ville-vers-1892/
Iconographic sources :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_de_Clairvaux
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbaye_de_Villers
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_frBE1000BE1000&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Images+de+Villers-la-Villes&fir=VG_HzUs1oax4OM%252C1nDJw7-PlPM1zM%252C_%253B3HGGsvUjVrP4UM%252CaUu8w1lEKYSkSM%252C_%253BeqbSxlyQohhX6M%252CN9c-oqQ7d_XbuM%252C_%253BE-UVkH16OfND_M%252CRZWhb5lPOTlFjM%252C_%253BOeP5zHFvHWStJM%252CN9c-oqQ7d_XbuM%252C_%253B_g4NV1VyuNkf8M%252CRZWhb5lPOTlFjM%252C_%253BaqRqyXUOxKqwyM%252CN9c-oqQ7d_XbuM%252C_%253BRu-4nHUy_Vh3GM%252CN9c-oqQ7d_XbuM%252C_%253B3tC4g9jWpAkbjM%252C_E6knGaZjMKziM%252C_%253BjYxOoV_2dVvogM%252CN9c-oqQ7d_XbuM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kR8E6hE6slu4-aLxLGbdtN1BOTqGQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7gJy2ptz3AhWN16QKHUJMAI4QjJkEegQICRAC&biw=1920&bih=912&dpr=1
https://www.paroissevillerslaville.be/
Ps :The article above has been extracted from a donation of old manuscripts deposited at GéniWal and updated with some texts from Wikipedia.
