Immensi Tremor Oceani | Mont St. Michel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into  hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

- Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, Pope Leo XIII, 1886 -

The bishop awoke with a start, his face dripping with sweat that soaked his sheets. He dressed and knelt in prayer, his heart filled with gratitude. He had asked God to give him a sign, and the Almighty had done so. When he rose again and looked out the abbey's small window, the sun's rays were beginning to stretch out across the countryside. As he felt the warmth, his forehead seemed to burn at the sunlight's touch.

He came down the stairs and greeted his fellow monks, who nodded to their bishop. They ate their meal in silence in the basement kitchen, then ascended the stairs as a group, their heads bowed in prayer. When the morning service concluded, the bishop came down the steps to talk to some of his brothers. The sun now filled the abbey chapel, and as he approached the monks, their gaze went from quiet contemplation to astonishment and, was that horror? One raised a trembling hand and pointed to his forehead.

St. Aubert and St. Michael

At the turn of the 8th century, the small village of Avranches on the northern coast of France lost its bishop. The townspeople met and prayed for God's wisdom as they elected a new leader, and the Holy Spirit seemed to move among them. Some even claimed to hear the voice of God say, "Aubert the Presbyter will be your bishop." The choice seemed a natural one, as Aubert was popular, well-educated, and devout. He accepted the new position and became the spiritual shepherd of the small farming community far from the hustle and bustle of medieval society.

In the year 708, Bishop Aubert received a vision from the archangel Michael, commander of the heavenly host, who instructed the cleric to build a church in his honor on Mount Tumba, a hill on a small tidal island about a mile off the coast. When the vision ended, Aubert thought it was only a dream or, perhaps, a demonic deception. Several weeks later, Michael appeared a second time and again commanded him to build the church. This time Aubert recognized the heavenly sign, but a combination of piety and caution led him to seek God before acting rashly. He prayed for a heavenly sign or wisdom to determine whether this was truly the Almighty's will.

The third vision from Michael was terrifying, as the mighty heavenly warrior scolded the bishop for his disobedience. The angel pressed his finger into Aubert's forehead repeatedly and demanded that he build the church on Mount Tumba. Aubert then asked where, precisely, the house of worship should be placed. Michael told him that he would find a bull that had been stolen from its owner at the site. The dream then ended. Supposedly, Aubert awoke to find that the angel's finger had burned a hole clear through his skull—which never healed and served as a constant reminder of his refusal to follow instructions the first time.

As word spread through Avranches about the bishop's vision, the people gathered outside the abbey. They eagerly awaited word of where it would be built, and when Aubert set out for the island mount, a large crowd followed. The group crossed the muddy flats at low tide and ascended the large hill, singing hymns and offering prayers as they walked. When they reached the summit, Aubert found a bull amidst the shrubs exactly where Michael the archangel had said it would be. He sat down on a nearby rock and gave orders to begin construction immediately. He would take his place there daily for the next year until the church's completion, and it was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel in October 709. 

When Aubert died eleven years later, his remains were placed in the church's vault. Pilgrims worshipped at the saint's shrine for the next thousand years until it was looted during the French Revolution. Today, his only surviving relic is a preserved skull in the Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches. Scholars doubt it to be the actual skull of St. Aubert and believe that the hole is actually the results of prehistoric trepanning, boring or scraping a hole into one's skull, either to relieve pressure after a concussion or to let evil spirits out of one's body.

Church, Monastery, and Fortress

In 933, Avranches and its surrounding lands came into the possession of William Longsword, Count of Rouen and ruler of the Duchy of Normandy. Thirty years later, William's son Richard I visited St. Aubert's church with a company of Benedictine monks, whom he installed in the church. Now a monastery, Mont St. Michel (or "St. Michael's Mount" in English), became a center of spiritual and secular learning because of its distance from the towns of Normandy and Brittany and its easily-defended location. In 1017, Abbot Hildebert II began to expand the monastery by constructing an enormous platform on the mount's summit. This level space would include new dormitories for the monks, a library and brewery, and a garrison for soldiers in times of war. The greatest part of the project was the mass of buildings on the mont's north side facing the sea, called "la merveille" or "the marvel." It begins nearly three hundred feet above the sea and rises another one hundred sixty feet skyward to the platform's base and the doors of the church. Inside are dormitories, cellars, and other religious and military structures. The construction process took almost four centuries and was plagued by several fires and the collapse of parts of the platform, but in 1520 the beautiful choir was installed in the church and a mass celebrated to re-consecrate the monastery—which was now so large that it could be seen from the low hills around the town almost eight miles away.

Mont St. Michel played an integral role in the intertwined histories of England and France during the Middle Ages. Its isolated island locale and high walls meant that it was one of the only fortresses in French history never to be taken (and if you visit, you can clearly see why). The monks supported Duke William of Normandy in his claim to the English throne and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, a priceless relic of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In gratitude for their support, William gave the monks lands in southern England to build additional monasteries. During the 12th century, the monks received support from local nobles in Cornwall in the far west of England to build a smaller copy of Mont St. Michel on a tidal island near Penzance. Called St. Michael's Mount, it remained associated with its Norman and French counterpart until the Hundred Years' War.

In that long conflict, the English repeatedly besieged Mont St. Michel, which by that time had grown very wealthy and influential in French political and spiritual life. Two year-long sieges, in 1423 and 1433 failed to capture the fortress, which was guarded by Norman and French soldiers. (Visitors to the mont can still see two iron cannons left behind by the English during the second siege outside the main gate near the parking lot.) According to some contemporary accounts, the heroism and resilience of the defenders at Mont St. Michel inspired the nation of France to press on, and Joan of Arc supposedly commented that she drew strength from their example. King Louis IX, son of Charles VII who had defeated the English in the war, founded the Order of St. Michael as the highest chivalric order in France. Its motto, immensi tremor oceani, or "the tremor of the immense ocean," recalled the image of the Archangel Michael looking out over the Atlantic from his golden statue atop the church at Mont St. Michel. King Louis hoped that the mont might be the order's headquarters, but it was too far from Paris to make this possible. Nevertheless, the monks of Mont St. Michel benefitted greatly from their home's heroic reputation. Pilgrims traveled to the mont from across Europe, stayed in the nearby towns or in the small cottages at the base of the hill, where they drank beer brewed by the monks, ate lamb raised by the local peasants, and hiked up to the monastery each day to pray.

Prison, Ruin, and World Heritage Site

The Protestant Reformation and religious wars in France that followed took a heavy toll on Mont St. Michel. Although it escaped attack during these strife-ridden times, most of its monks departed to join battle against the Huguenot Protestants. Demand for the beer produced at Mont St. Michel dried up, so to speak, and its wealth slowly diminished. By the time of the French Revolution, few monks remained. In that cataclysm, the revolutionaries expelled the remaining clerics and turned Mont St. Michel into a prison for captured émigrés, nobles and their followers who tried to escape the radical new conditions in France. Mont St. Michel became Mont Libre, "Mount Freedom," an ironic name given the site's new use. It remained a prison until the time of Napoleon III, when it was closed in 1863 and leased back to the bishop of Avranches. 

Nine years later, the new Third Republic government took over administration of Mont St. Michel and designated it as a national monument. The mont was in shambles thanks to years of neglect and the stresses of wind and tide. Some politicians in Paris suggested it be demolished and the hill returned to its natural state. Instead, the government chose to rebuild the monastery according to Abbot Hildebert's original plans. The author Victor Hugo, author of the novels Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, had previously suggested it be preserved, and his campaign bore fruit when the government assigned the noted architect Édouard Corroyer to supervise the restoration. Corroyer spent the next fifteen years working on the project and is responsible for the architectural marvel that still inspires visitors to this day. Mont St. Michel was opened to the public for the first time as a tourist attraction in 1945 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Today, it is the most-visited location in France outside Paris and is visited by more than three million people each year.

Life at the Mont Today

Visiting Mont St. Michel requires a bit of traveling, as it is not near any major cities. But it is well worth the trip. The drive out to the mont takes you through beautiful pastures and farmlands. When I first visited, there was little more than a rickety pedestrian bridge stretching across the tidal mudflats, but now there is a modern two-lane paved road for busses and horse-drawn carriages—in case you want to enhance the fairy-tale imagery of your visit. The weather varies greatly, but if you can go on a day when the skies are clear, the beauty of Mont St. Michel takes your breath away. It looks like something out of The Lord of the Rings—which, incidentally, it is in a way, as Peter Jackson used Mont St. Michel as a basis for the white city of Minas Tirith in the trilogy. The town at the base of the mont is crowded but charming, a cluster of hotels and shops inhabited by about thirty families who make their homes there. The hike up to the monastery itself will leave you breathless, literally, and there is no elevator or tram, so bring a good pair of shoes!

Mont St. Michel is still a functioning monastery (and also a brewery). The monks and nuns spend most of their time in seclusion and prayer but will occasionally interact with visitors. They are quiet but friendly in a French sort of way, and they enjoy talking about the history of the mont and their lives there. In 2018, the Catholic website TheologyofHome.com published an interview with Father François de Froberville of the Fraternity of Jerusalem, the monastic order that now resides at Mont St. Michel. He spoke of their mission and their life on the mont: "Our mission is contemplative, looking for God in the desert of the city, finding solitude in the city. People are reminded that they are Christian when they visit the abbey." Father François said that life was difficult despite the beautiful surroundings. "The abbey is not well lit, and there are few windows. A person must be very mature to live the contemplative life here." He also said that the monks enjoy interacting with visitors, especially children, who are often invited to participate in the Mass. "When we ask the children if Mass was too long, they smile and say 'no,' while the parents look on with surprise. It is the richness of our liturgy that keeps them interested." Finally, Father François discussed the different attitudes toward monastic life in France today. "The age of anti-clericalism seems to be over. The young people are curious about us as compared to the older generations who still remember the anti-clerical attitudes of France from the 1960s. But those younger than sixty are open to Christianity in a way not seen for a long time. They think it's cool."

Learning from History

So what can an old monastery teach us? Spiritual lessons aside (though there are many), if you take a trip to or look at a photo of Mont St Michel, you actually see a picture of the societies in which we live. This is true whether you live in the United States, France, or any other country in the world. What do you see when you look at Mont St. Michel? The base is rocks and trees, pictures of nature, of the world free from human society or innovations. Rising up from what Thomas Hobbes called "the state of nature" are the walls and pillars of civilization, its foundations rooted in natural rights and fundamental truths. We have built marvels of human ingenuity around the world, physical, technological, and philosophical. Our planet is a testament to mankind's ability to rise above the natural impulses of the caveman, to build a world where we can live together, for the most part in peace. Strife has left scars on humanity, as wind and rain has marred the face of Mont St. Michel, but we endure as we have endured. Sometimes governments must step in and correct our course, and occasionally we have had to come together to overcome great obstacles, but the walls of our civilization remain strong. At the summit of Mont St. Michel is the church of St. Aubert, its pinnacle crowned by a shining gold statue of St. Michael the Archangel, an image of the divine. Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or any of the many other religions we follow, each of us searches for meaning in our lives. Even those who follow no religion have the same desire in their hearts, a question about our place in the world, our purpose, our destiny. Nature, civilization, and faith are the three features of every society in which we live. We may disagree on politics or religion, and there are those among us who might seek to sow division and profit by it, but each one of us, no matter what country we call home or language we speak, is part of a community of humanity. Historic places like Mont St. Michel remind us of our common heritage, and if we have the will to understand what they can teach us, they show that there is more in this world that unites us that what divides us.