History Abbey Notre Dame de Fidélité

The abbey is located high up on a plateau overlooking the Durance valley, at about twenty kilometers from Aix en Provence, and is the home of a community of nuns living according to the rule of Saint Benoît.

The monastery of Notre Dame de Fidélité was founded in 1967, near the village of Jouques. Sent by the Abbey of Saint Louis du Temple in Limon (Essonne), a small group of nuns settled in Pey de Durance in farm buildings surrounded by several hectares of vines.

Near the village of Rosans, in a valley in the Hautes-Alpes, a farmhouse was renovated to accommodate the first nuns. Thanks to the generosity of their families and friends, they began to build a monastery, which was completed in 1999. The community takes the name of Notre-Dame de la Miséricorde, echoing the encyclical of Jean- Paul II Dives in Mericordia (1980).

Mercy Sunday is the first Sunday after Easter and attracts many believers and pilgrims every year.

In 2002, the monastery became an abbey and first convent of the Françoise Mathieu religious community.
Today, the community counts about twenty nuns.
It has a large host workshop, a bookbinding workshop and various crafts (liturgical ornaments, hazelnut honey, canned fruits, etc.).

Since its creation, the nuns have decided to plant a vineyard which currently covers an area of ​​6.5 hectares (mainly Grenache, Merlot, Karadok and Syrah).

Over the years, they have also planted a large orchard, lavender and installed hives on the monastery grounds.

Recently, they discovered an old olive grove, which had been suffocated by the pine forest: the olive trees were moved, replanted and they now cover nearly 2 hectares.

Under the Provençal sun, the fruits of the orchard (apricot, plum, almond), grapes, olives and lavender, like all their plantations, are grown naturally.

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