13. Luxeuil-les-Bains to Annegray

Around 593, Colomban and his companions obtained permission from King Childebert to found a new monastery in the castrum of Luxovium.
It is likely that the first monastic buildings were on the site of today's abbey. The various reconstruction works of the abbey have erased the traces of the first monastery buildings.
The present monastic complex was built in the 17th and 18th centuries as part of a restructuring of the monastic movement initiated by the reform of Saint-Vanne and Saint-Hydulphe.
Today it is a Diocesan House which accommodates pilgrims and a private college which welcomes 220 pupils. The architecture of the House, its past impregnated with prayer, manual and intellectual work, offers an ideal setting for reflection, silence and renewal. Visits are organised by the Southern Vosges Tourist Office.
More information : Wikipedia

The particular fame of the lace of Luxeuil is essentially due to the enormous diffusion which it knew under the second empire. Until the Second World War, embroidery occupied dozens, even hundreds of female workers in the town and the surrounding communes.
At the conservatory: discovery of lacemakers at work and exhibition of needlework and original creations. Practice of lace and introductory and advanced courses.
Free visit from 2pm to 5.30pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Free entrance.
More informations : la Dentelle de Luxeuil website

From the 14th to the 15th centuries the town of Luxeuil was independent from the County of Burgundy. Merchants benefited from a favourable tax regime compared to that of the County of Burgundy. This must have been the main reason for the establishment of a Lombard family, the Jouffroy, trading in cloth between Flanders and Lombardy. They left us the two most beautiful buildings of the city, the house known as the house of Cardinal Jouffroy and the Aldermen's Tower which houses a museum. Its stone balcony is one of the oldest in France, observe the facade with its richly decorated gargoyles.
The Maison du Bailly (Thiadot Hotel, 15th and 16th centuries) and the house known as "François 1er" (which has no connection with the King of France) are worth a visit.
QR codes are affixed to the buildings for your information.

When, in 590, Saint Columban, a monk from Ireland, decided to found a monastery among the ruins of the ancient Luxovium, his first concern was to build a church, probably a modest one, around which the cells of his first disciples were grouped. Since that time, several churches have been rebuilt following destruction and fires, but always on the same site. Since no archaeological excavations have been carried out in the basilica, it is difficult to reconstruct the history of this church. During the laying of the hot-air galleries at the end of the 19th century remains of walls not symmetrical to those of the church were discovered and many sarcophagi.
The construction of the present building began in 1215 and was completed in 1330. While cathedrals were being built in France, the monks preferred the rigour and austerity found in Cistercian churches of that time. The Gothic style rubbed shoulders with the Romanesque style reflecting the architectural evolution of the buildings in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Admire the most beautiful organ case in the region dating from 1617, still in perfect condition. The pulpit comes from Notre-Dame de Paris deposited in the 19th century at the request of Viollet-le-Duc who judged the piece of furniture to be not in conformity with the Gothic style of the Parisian cathedral. The choir stalls come from the cathedral of Saint-Etienne de Besançon destroyed by Vauban to build the citadel.
The Cloister
Together with the former abbey church, the pink sandstone cloister is the last medieval element of the Benedictine monastery of Luxeuil.
On the keystones of the vault, one can discover the coats of arms of three successive abbots who contributed to its construction in the 15th century. Although one of its wings was amputated during the Revolution and all but one of its arcature decorations were removed, it offers visitors an ideal setting to stroll around admiring the south façade of the abbey palace, begun in 1550 and completed a century later.

The Morbief was dug by the monks of the Abbey of Luxeuil in the 12th century to supply water to the monastery's tanneries. A stream used to run through the lower part of the town, it was fed by the springs of the Banney forest that you will cross at the beginning of your stage. The Morbief's water intake is upstream in the Breuchin valley at La Lie aux Moines and crosses the town to join the Breuchin towards the west. From the 18th century onwards, the canal was used as a source of hydraulic power for the first ironworks. Today it has become a place for walking.
In order to have a regular flow of the canal the monks built the Etang de la Poche, still active for the regulation of the canal, and the Etang Saint-Valbert, which has now disappeared.

The date of the creation of the village of Saint-Valbert is not known, but it is very likely that its history is confused with that of the monks of Luxeuil. As early as the High Middle Ages, sarcophagi were extracted from the quarries near the hermitage of Saint-Valbert. The first quarrymen, monks and laymen lived in the village, which was supplied by numerous springs.
Today one can admire the 19th century church, superbly restored in 2017, and the nearby wash-house. A very dynamic commune of 200 inhabitants.

Of all the men who illustrated Luxeuil Abbey, Saint Valbert is without doubt the one who had the greatest influence and whose memory has been best preserved.
Around 620, a young lord on horseback, fully armed, presented himself to the monastery in front of Abbot Eustaise. He wanted to flee the world and devote his life entirely to the service of God: his name was Valbert or Waldebert (in the popular language Vaubert or Gaubert).
According to the monk Adson who wrote his life 250 years after his death, the future Saint retired as a hermit in the forest 5 km from the monastery of Luxeuil. This is where the monks of Luxeuil came to get him in 630, after the death of Abbot Eustaise. Valbert succeeded him, continuing the work of his predecessor, a disciple of Saint Colomban. Under the abbatiate of these two abbots, the monks of Luxeuil swarmed several dozen monasteries in Gaul during the 7th and 8th centuries. This site was saved from oblivion and embellished by Doctor Gilles Cugnier, president of the Association of Friends of Saint Colomban in the 1960s.

The composition of the sandstone found in these forests is specific for sharpening edged weapons. For many centuries man has been extracting grinding stones from the rocks outcropping in these woods. After the extraction there remains a bowl in the rock and local legends have assimilated the sites to the tales of witches or sorcerers who sacrifice animals during occult rituals. In previous centuries, these stories told by hearth corners on local farms replaced today's television.

In der Tradition des keltischen Mönchtums zogen sich die Mönche vor den großen Festen des Christentums aus der Gemeinschaft zurück, um zu beten, zu fasten und zu meditieren.
Der heilige Kolumbaner pflegte sich in eine Höhle zurückzuziehen, die eine Stunde Fußmarsch von Annegray entfernt liegt. Von dort aus konnte er seine Brüder in Annegray sehen. Die Vita Columbani erzählt, dass eines Tages ein Bär seine Höhle besetzte, er befahl ihm, diesen Ort zu verlassen, was das Tier tat, ohne zu protestieren, diese Episode wird in vielen Vita von Mönchen Jünger von Colomban wiederholt werden.
Nutzen Sie die Stille und die Schönheit der Landschaft, um eine Pause einzulegen.
Diese Website wurde von Dr. Gilles Cugnier, dem Präsidenten der Vereinigung der Freunde von St. Kolumbien, vor dem Vergessen gerettet und verschönert.