Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The abbey of Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours in Blauvac has its origins in the upheavals of the French Revolution. In 1790, the Constituent Assembly banned religious vows, pushing Augustin de Lestrange to found monasteries in Switzerland to escape persecution. The French invasion of 1797-1798 forced the religious to flee to Russia and Prussia. At the Restoration, the nuns returned to France and moved first to Vaise (Lyon), then to Maubec near Montélimar in 1834, where they adopted the name Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours and opened an orphanage (1847-1931). Several abbey girls are founded from this dynamic community.

Starting in 1991, the Trappistine sisters moved to Blauvac, Vaucluse, after leaving Maubec because of financial constraints and the decline in vocations. The first church, defective, was rebuilt and consecrated in 2006. In the 21st century, the community, composed of 18 sisters of different nationalities, diversified its activities: production of hosties (20% of the French market in 2021), manufacture of pillows in goose feathers, and management of the economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.

The abbey is headed by three successive abbesses at Blauvac: Mother Marie Dominique Delheure (until 1998), Mother Anne-Emmanuelle Devèche (1998-2025), and then Mother Bénédicte de la Croix Avon (since 2025). Its economic and spiritual role remains central, with an online shop and local partnerships, while perpetuating the Cistercian tradition of prayer and work.

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