Saint-Martin du Canigou Abbey

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The Beatitudes Community at Saint-Martin du Canigou Abbey

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The Beatitudes Community was founded by two couples who were friends in 1973. They decided to live in community and share their possessions, following the example of the early Christians. The community is one of many "new communities" that appeared in the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council and in the movement of Charismatic Renewal, a spiritual movement that took off starting in the 1960s.

The Beatitudes Community has been marked since its origin by the biblical episode of Pentecost, that is, it is committed to being open to the action of the Holy Spirit. The community's purpose is union with God for each of its members, through prayer, praise, liturgy, and fraternal life.

This commitment radiates through apostolic endeavors, meaning encounters and sharing of their ideal, and works of charity. Thus, the community took charge of managing a hospital in Congo, began organizing summer camps for young people, launched its own radio station as well as a publishing house.

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In the 1990s and 2000s, the community continued its expansion in France and abroad to the four corners of the world, from Vietnam to Mexico and from New Zealand to Peru via Mali.

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The Beatitudes Community is nourished by the diversity of individual paths of its members: it brings together consecrated Sisters, consecrated Brothers, some of whom are priests, and lay people, single or married. In short, it's a large family which, after many stages, was established on December 8, 2020 as an Ecclesial Family of Consecrated Life under diocesan law. It is part of the public body of the Church and depends on the dicastery for consecrated life.

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Saint-Martin du Canigou Abbey: a thousand years of spiritual presence

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Canigou Abbey is literally a thousand-year-old monument, dating from the year of grace 1009. Founded by Guifred II of Cerdanya, related to the counts of Barcelona, it housed a Benedictine monastery.

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The earthquake of 1428 that struck Catalonia damaged the bell tower of the abbey church. In 1779, only 5 monks remained living in the abbey and they then asked to leave the premises in 1783. Confiscated during the Revolution, it was resold to a local owner, who used it to house his flocks and shepherds. For more than a century, the abbey was therefore deprived of spiritual presence.

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It was not until 1902 that the Bishop of Perpignan undertook the reconstruction of the abbey which would be completed by Father Dom Bernard de Chabannes between 1952 and 1982. The Bishop of Perpignan then entrusted the Saint-Martin Abbey in 1988 to the Beatitudes Community for spiritual animation, tourist visits, and maintenance of the place.

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The abbey is millennial because of its history, but also millennial by its altitude, at 1,055 meters high. It takes about three-quarters of an hour of walking, taking the abbey path, between the village of Casteil and the abbey which cannot be accessed by car. There is some elevation gain and it's steep, but what joy and what beauty (we totally recommend it!!)

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The abbey is a jewel of Catalan heritage, it's a flagship of the region's first Romanesque art! It was ranked the tenth favorite monument of the French in 2022. It is also a tourist site and a magnificent stopping point praised by all for its absolute beauty. Each year, some 26,000 visitors stop at Saint-Martin du Canigou Abbey, as well as some pilgrims on this secondary southern route to Santiago de Compostela.