Marco

Marco Lattimore

Vazelay abby currently known as Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine located in Vazelay France is the Romanesque church in its country and is only ten years newer than the Noter-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Church was Built on land that was previously a roman villa and was donated by King Charles the Bald in 868. the Curch then saw a influx of pilgrims when monks claimed to find the tomb of st. Mary Magdalene(1050ad) The first abbot of the monastery was Benedictine abby at cluny Eudeswho over saw the vazelay. In the early eleventh century the original church was destroyed by norman invaders. In 1096 under abbot artaud construction on the churches current basilica began. When the basilica was founded (July 1120) the abbot tried to tax the town to rebuild the church which caused the towns people to murder the abbot and burn the abby. "Abbot Renaud de Semur, later Archbishop of lyons raised the basilica from ruins and added an abbot's palace. The basilica's Romanesque nave was completed in 1125 and the narthex was built around 1140-50. The original choir was destroyed by fire in 1165 and rebuilt in the Gothic style." The abby then saw three more revolts douring the 12th century. after all this the Church success in the form of pilgrims and historic events such as.


 * "In 1146 St. Bernard of Clairvaux preached the **Second Crusade** in front of the basilica.
 * On Pentecost, 1166, **St. Thomas á Becket** used the pulpit of Vézelay to pronounce excommunication against the clerics who, to gratify King Henry II, had violated the rights of the Church.
 * In July 1190, Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip Augustus met at the Basilica Sainte Madeleine to begin their journey on the **Third Crusade**.
 * In 1217, **St. Francis of Assisi** founded the first French community of Friars Minor at Vézelay."

The success of the Church the diminished due to another church in the St. Maximin in Provence claimed to have the body of st. Mary Magdalene. due to this claim the number of pilgrims drastically dropped off in the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1538 King Francis 1 and the monks turned the church in to a collegiate Church. Odet de Chatillon the brother of the abbot of vazelay then became a calvinist. In the 16th centurie wars of religion the Church was converted on to a stable and storage space and all the possetions of the church were burned."During the **French Revolution** the ancient monastery buildings were destroyed and sold at auction. Only the basilica, cloister, and dormitory escaped demolition." In 1840 the church was restored under the order of the archbishop (future cardinal) and gave the Church a rellic of the saint which was a gift to his predescor from martin IV in 1281. The final restoration to the church was done in 1840.

"In the spacious narthex, the great **central tympanum** depicts the Mission of the Apostles, or the preaching the Good News that Christ commanded at Pentecost. In the center is a large figure of Christ seated within a mandorla (almond-shaped halo). Bolts of lightning (or rays of light) shoot out from Christ's hands and hit the apostles in the heads. St. Peter, recognizable by his keys, sits closest to the right side of Christ."

The nave was built between 1120-40 Nave sources: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/vezelay-basilica.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9zelay_Abbey