The nuns, a tractor and a special abbey

The photo we have published on this month’s cover was used, along with others, by the nuns of the Abbey of St Mary of Boulaur, a small town in the South West of France, in the Occitania region, diocese of Carcassonne, to launch their crowdfunding campaign on the CredoFunding website. The fundraising goal is to “build a Cistercian barn for the 21st century, which is both modern and open, and rooted to the land and history that looks to the future”. The 31 farming nuns want to recreate a monastic farm and pose smiling on a powerful tractor that was given to them to help them work their 45 hectares, a small farm, which is a source of livelihood for the community. The photo illustrates the page on the website intended for the sale of their products. They also have twenty-six bedrooms that they rent, as both a monastic hostel and village houses equipped with independent kitchens. The core of the ancient abbey front is from the 12th century.  The Cistercians arrived there in 1949 and began by restoring the monastery.  (DCM)